Political Science · Public Administration
UGC NET November 2017 Political Science
Who among the following rejected the politics-administration dichotomy?
AWoodrow Wilson
BFrank Goodnow
CHerbert Simon ✓ Correct
DRobert Merton
Correct answer: (C) Herbert Simon — Herbert Simon rejected the politics-administration dichotomy, so the answer is Herbert Simon.
Explanation
★Herbert Simon rejected the politics-administration dichotomy, so the answer is Herbert Simon.
★Simon belonged to the era of challenge, when the older mechanistic view of administration was questioned.
★Through his behavioural approach he argued that the classical 'principles' were merely contradictory proverbs.
★In 'Administrative Behavior' (1947) he showed that decision-making, which fuses fact and value, cannot be sealed off from politics.
★This helped recast public administration as a distinct, behaviourally grounded branch of social science.
★Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow are wrong because they founded and defended the dichotomy, not rejected it.
★Robert Merton is wrong; he studied bureaucratic dysfunctions and 'trained incapacity', not this dichotomy debate directly.
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