Politics and Administration: A Study in Government by Frank Johnson Goodnow

Author:Frank Johnson Goodnow [Goodnow, Frank Johnson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Democracy, Political Ideologies, Social Science, Political Science, Political Process, Anthropology, Asia, History, Cultural & Social, General
ISBN: 9780765805126
Google: GT9yngEACAAJ
Goodreads: 3082826
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2003-01-15T12:31:48+00:00

Chapter VI

The Influence of the Governmental and Particularly of the Administrative System on the Position of the Political Party

IN what has already been said, the attempt has been made to show that the two primary functions of the state were to express and execute its will, and that if the expression of this will were to be something more than a philosophical statement of belief, a counsel of perfection, there must be a coordination of these functions, i.e. that the execution of the will of the state must be subjected to the control of the body which expresses it. This coordination, it has been shown, may be brought about in the governmental system by subjecting all administrative officers to the control of a superior governmental authority which is intrusted ultimately with the expression of the will of the state. In order that this control may be effective and may be found in the governmental system, the administrative system must be considerably centralized. If this coordination of the expression and the execution of the will of the state is not brought about in the governmental system, it must be provided for outside of the government. Where it is found outside of the government, it is to be found in the political party. It must of necessity be found there if the administrative system is not considerably centralized and under ultimate and effective legislative control.

If provision is not made for this coordination in the governmental system, the work of the party is much greater than it is where the governmental organization provides for this coordination. Inasmuch as the party organization is in all cases formed in order to do the work which is devolved upon it by the governmental system, the party organization will be much less complicated and much less centralized under a governmental system which is so formed as to permit the body, charged ultimately with the expression of the will of the state, to exercise an effective control over the agents charged with its execution.

To be more concrete, in a governmental system which, like that to be found in the states of the United States, makes higher executive and administrative officers largely independent of the legislature, and inferior administrative officers largely independent of the higher administrative officers, the party organization must be much stronger, much more complicated, and much more centralized than that of England, where the ministers are at the head of the administration, and are responsible to Parliament. In the one case, the parties must not merely make provision for the election of legislative officers, they must see to it, as well, that officers are provided for the execution of the laws, who will work both in harmony with each other and with the legislature. In the other case, they need provide only for the election of legislative officers, leaving to the legislative body the duty of bringing about the necessary harmony between the execution and the making of the law. In the one case, parties in

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