ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book is about the question whether one can and should make a division within government between something called politics and something else called administration. It traces a path out of the quandary by providing a "conceptual–theoretical" overview of thinking about the politics–administration dichotomy. The book offers an overview of the conceptual development of the dichotomy from its earliest articulations until the present— what Waldo called "a map showing conceptual– theoretical developments". It addresses the following deceptively simple question: What is the meaning of the politics– administration dichotomy? The book primarily addresses the specialized academic community involved in the scholarly debate about public administration and its relationship to politics, but it may also be illuminating to more practically oriented scholars and to practitioners.
