Key Ideas From Henry Dichotomy

Reading Notes for Week 3
Key Idea from Henry: Demise of the Dichotomy
Thesis Statement/Definition of the problem
On page 39 in Public Administration and Public Affairs by Henry, the author examines the demise of the dichotomy of politics/public administration. Dichotomy is the difference between two things that are represented as being different. Politics cause the demise of the dichotomy of politics/public administration.
Argument/Linkages
The demise of dichotomy of politics/public administration focuses on issues such as the internal and external part to public administration. Scholars said that both public administrators and politicians has the right to create and edit public policy (Henry, 2013, p. 39). The external part focus on the
change of dichotomy of politics/public administration. Politics was originally partisan politics only. “By the 1930s, however, ‘politics’ had been expanded in its scholarly meaning to include public policymaking, and public administrators” (Henry, 2013, p. 39). At this point the dichotomy of politics/public administration were facing problems.
The dichotomy of politics/public administration officially failed because a scholar suggest that public administration is the same as politics (Gaus, 1950, as discussed in Henry, 2013, p. 39). Without knowing how politics help public administration, one cannot know the similarities between them?
So what? Politics is the reason for the demise of the dichotomy of politics/public administration. People need to understand that politics is not the same as public administration.