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Separation from Politics
'''The Study of Administration''' is a groundbreaking article written by [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1887, in which he argues for centralization of administration in what would become an [[Administrative State]], with administrators separated from the back and forth of elections and the political process.<ref>[http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/woodrow-wilson-on-administration Woodrow Wilson on Administration]</ref>
'''The Study of Administration''' is a groundbreaking article written by [[Woodrow Wilson]] in 1887, in which he argues for centralization of administration in what would become an [[Administrative State]], with administrators separated from the back and forth of elections and politics.<ref>[http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/woodrow-wilson-on-administration Woodrow Wilson on Administration]</ref>
==Separation from Politics==
Wilson believed that the purity of the bureaucracy could be separated from the muck of the political process. He wrote:
<blockquote>The field of administration is a field of business. It is removed from the hurry and strife of politics; it at most points stands apart even from the debatable ground of constitutional study. It is a part of political life only as the methods of the counting house are a part of the life of society; only as machinery is part of the manufactured product. But it is, at the same time, raised very far above the dull level of mere technical detail by the fact that through its greater principles it is directly connected with the lasting maxims of political wisdom, the permanent truths of political progress.
The object of administrative study is to rescue executive methods from the confusion and costliness of empirical experiment and set them upon foundations laid deep in stable principle.<ref>Study of Administration, Section II</ref></blockquote>
For Wilson, administration was at the height of clarity and reason, whereas politics is far below, stuck in the "dull level of technical detail". In addition, he wrote:
<blockquote>Self-government does not consist in having a hand in everything, any more than housekeeping consists necessarily in cooking dinner with one's own hands. The cook must be trusted with a large discretion as to the management of the fires and the ovens.<ref>Study of Administration, Section II</ref></blockquote>
By separating administration from politics, the people have no direct say in how their government is run. Furthermore, by empowering "the cooks" with a "large discretion", administration(or the bureaucracy) necessarily reaches the inevitable end result of being able to create policy, rules, and regulation, without any input at all from the voting public.
This transcends self-government and heralds a state of [[Bureaucratic Despotism]].
==See Also==
* [[Administrative State]]
==References==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==External Links==
==External Links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=NWrtGbS6whsC&pg=PA197 The Study of Administration], Full Text (June, 1887)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=NWrtGbS6whsC&pg=PA197 The Study of Administration], Full Text (June, 1887)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=33uupwdgNLgC&pg=PA130 The American State from the Civil War to the New Deal: The Twilight of Constitutionalism and the Triumph of Progressivism], The Administrative State
[[Category:Bureaucracy]]
[[Category:Bureaucracy]]