Spicer, Michael
The University of Alabama Press, 2001

In this book, Dr. Spicer examines the dichotomy of politics and administration, which holds that it is possible to separate the activities of politics from the activities of governance. While critiquing Woodrow Wilson's similar opposition to this view, Dr. Spicer explores the historical and philosophical roots of the purposive state. He then looks at the practical problems such a vision creates for public policy in a fragmented, postmodern political culture. Finally, he explores an alternative view of public administration, one based on a civil association model appropriate to our constitutional traditions and contemporary culture.