Knitting the Web of Governance: Rethinking Politics-Administration Dichotomy using Complementary Approach

Abstract

The politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disputed theories of public administration. The dichotomy has been advocated on the grounds that the dichotomous division of labour and authority between elected and administrative officials increases the democratic accountability and planning ability of public administrators. The paper seeks to situate the inseparable nature of political and administrative practices in the web of governance. To achieve this objective, the paper relied on secondary data where scholarly expositions are correlated, synthesized and presented in logical sequence. The paper observed that, public bureaucrats are consciously or unconsciously charged with policy formulation and implementation which in practice, make roles-differentiations difficult. The paper submits that, to ensure efficient and effective service delivery, both political office holders and public bureaucrats should complement each other and interact in cooperative manner, to initiate and implement policies that would promote the well-being of the generality of the populace.