Reprinted here is Goodnow’s original analysis of the distinction between politics and administration.
Note how even Goodnow had to admit that when the function of political decision making
and administration was legally separated, there developed a “tendency for the necessary control to
develop extra-legally through the political party system.” The articulation of the politics-administration
dichotomy also reflected the next phase in the emergence of American public administration.
Whereas the first phase before World War I focused primarily on the evils of patronage and spoils
systems and eliminating corruption in municipal government, the second phase would emphasize the
growth of public spending and the ascendance of the “new management” in government. City managers,
executive budget systems, and centralized and accountability-driven administrative systems were
all key reform themes.