Political Approach to Public Sector Administration: Theoretical Foundations, Operational Framework and Consequences

Some scholars and thinkers in the field of theory and practice of public administration, believe that there is difference between administration in the public sector compared to private sector management. Politics, bestows a special tone, form and content of administration to public organization. Therefore, conceptual arrangement and practical layout of administration in public sector organization should be biased on political values. This approach to public administration has been called in literature as "political approach" to administration in the public sector; an approach that emerged with the advent of the new public administration and became prevalent in many countries, with aim to engage politics in the fabric of administration. In the current era, the influence of politics in the administration is called the politicization of bureaucracy; a phenomenon which entails negative consequences and positive implications. Understanding of the theoretical principles and forms of politicization of the mechanisms operating in the public sector, as well as the analysis of the consequences of such an approach is the ultimate goal of this article.