The Public Administration Theory Primer

Th eories of Political Control of Bureaucracy 251

administration from politics. Th e explanatory orientation and the underlying
logic in theories of political control virtually require a conceptual distinction be-
tween politics and administration, and it is this distinction that provides such
frameworks with their strength—and with their key weakness.
Th e imposition of the dichotomy provides theories of bureaucratic politics,
at least in their traditional form, with considerable parsimony and elegance. Th is
is accomplished through the expedience of ignoring the messy implications of
politics for administration and clearing the way to conceptualize administra-
tion in technical terms with less worry about how these fi t within the values of
a democratic polity. As long as the dichotomy holds, these theories have high
explanatory capacity—they provide a comprehensive, well-ordered explanation
of administration that serves as a solid guide for action. Th e problem, of course,

TABLE 10.1 Th e Performance of Public Administration Th eories

Theory Replicability

p y

W

Parsimony/

Elegance

Exlanator

Capacity

Descriptive

Capacity

Predictive

Capacity

Empirical

arrant

Political

Control of

Bureaucracy

high high mixed mixed mixed high

Bureaucratic

Politics

mixed high mixed high mixed high

Institutional low mixed mixed high low mixed

Public

Management

low mixed low mixed low mixed

Postmodern low mixed low high low mixed

Decision mixed low-mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed

Rational high low-mixed high low mixed low

Governance mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed mixed