INTRODUCTION
Public administration is a combination of both theory and practice. According to Stillman
(1980), there is no sharp point in history where the story of public administration theory begins,
just like that of its practice. However, its practice is as old as human civilization. In the United
States, there were two general textbooks on the subject matter of public administration theory
which were regarded as the first attempt at presenting the discipline. These books were written
by two scholars, White and Willoughby published in 1926 and 1927 respectively (Stillman,
1980). Although, the publication of these books marked the birth of public administration theory
as a discipline, it should, at the same time, be noted that there had been several decades of
preparation for the birth of the discipline ever before they were published. For example, the
works and efforts of some United States political leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and
Alexander Hamilton cannot be underestimated in the attention which these leaders gave to the
problems of public administration theory in a futuristic manner (Pfiffer & Presthus, 1967).
Despite these efforts and their relevance to the growth and maturation of public administration
theory, one cannot also down-play or ignore a remarkable essay by Wilson in 1887, eulogized by
Akindele (1994) as serving as the symbolic beginning of the discipline in such a perceptive,
persuasive and influential way both in its analytical and theoretical parlances.
The study of public administration has been characterized by normative approach (political
philosophy, lawmaking and constitutional arrangements) up till the 19th century. According to
Akindele, et.al (2000), as socio-economic life becomes more specialised and complex and, as
well as there continues to be an increase in government functions and responsibilities, there is a
need for the diversification of efforts towards a more empirical analysis of events. He equally
opined that there should be a science of administration, which is theory of public administration,
which shall seek to straighten the paths of government, to make its business less unlike, to
strengthen and purify its organisation, and to crown its duties with dutifulness. These initial
practical and theoretical efforts coupled with that of those who might be called the founding
fathers of public administration and, who were initially trained as political scientists, led to the

As an activity, public administration originated much earlier than its birth as a discipline. One time American president, Woodrow Wilson is thought to be founding father of public administration as a separate discipline because his essay laid the foundation for systematic and separate study of public administration. As Nicholas Henry says, “Woodrow Wilson largely set the tone for the early study of public administration”.

In 1887, Woodrow Wilson introduced Americans to a new field, public administration, with an essay titled, “The study of Administration”. Besides, Wilson’s article on administration, Americans also witnessed “The Reformist Public Service Movement” which planted ideas of public administration in the practical ground – even in streets, says Nicholas Henry.

The evolution of public administration as a separate discipline can be traced in the following phases.

1. The Politics/Administration Dichotomy (1887 – 1926)
2. Principles Of Public Administration (1927 – 1937)
3. The Challenge (1938 – 1950)
4. The Crisis Of Identity (1950 – 1970)
   1. Public Administration As Political Science (1950 -1970)
   2. Public Administration As Management (1950 – 1970)
5. Public Administration As Public Administration (1970 – Present)
6. THE POLITICS/ADMINISTRATION DICHOTOMY (1887 – 1926)

Woodrow Wilson led the first stone of a new discipline in 1887 with the ideas of development of ‘science of administration’ and ‘separation between politics and administration’. However, Wilson did not draw a clear line between the politics and the administration. It was in 1900, when Frank J. Goodnow (known as father of American public administration) separated politics and administration. He wrote in his book, “Politics and Administration” –

“Politics has to do with policies or expressions of the state will,” while “administration has to do with the execution of these policies.”

“The location of politics is the legislature and the higher echelons of the government where major policy – decisions would be made and the larger questions of allocation of values decided upon,” while “the location of administration is the executive arm of government, the bureaucracy.”

According to scholars of this era, separation between politics and administration was necessary so that elected holders and appointed public administrators could work together more effectively as civic leaders. Nevertheless, this idea was overlooked as public administration sought its identity during this period. In 1926, L. D. White in his book, “Introduction to the Study of Public Administration” expressed that;

“Partisan politics should not intrude on administration; the mission of public administration is efficiency; and administration in general is capable of becoming a “value-free” science in its own right.”

This perspectives provided an intellectual base for the next phase of public administration which focused on the idea that like principles of science, there were principles of administration.

2. PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (1927 – 1937)

In 1927, W. F. Willoughby wrote in his book, “The principles of Public Administration” that –

“Public administrators would be effective if they learned and applied scientific principles of administration.”

This suffused the whole management theory into public administration which proved poison for newly born field, public administration. Mohit Bhattacharya writes – “during this period, focus of public administration from ‘public’ was replaced almost wholly by ‘efficiency’.”

Advocates of the principles approach believed in:-

1. Universality Of administrative principles which could be applied to all sorts of organization anywhere regardless of culture, administrative setting, institutional framework, environment, function, mission etc.
2. Principle approach would promote efficiency and economy in administration.

However, in 1935, Princeton University hosted a national conference where it was found that public administration could not be established as separate field of study within the universities.

3. THE CHALLENGE (1938-1950)

During this phase, both the first and the second phase were challenged. It was objected that-

1. Politics and administration could never be separated clearly because in practice, there is close nexus between politics and administration. In 1950, a scholar wrote, “A theory of public administration means in our time a theory of politics also.” And hence, Nicholas Henry says, “With this declaration, the dichotomy died.”
2. Principles of administration were not something big enough.

Herbert Simon and Robert Dahl were in support of the above two objections. In 1947, Herbert Simon in his book, “Administrative Behavior” wrote that –

“A fatal defect of the current principles of administration is that for almost every principle one can find an equally plausible and acceptable contradictory principle.”

In Simon’s conclusion, principles are unscientifically derived and no more than proverbs. He also rejected separation between politics and administration and argued for ‘logical positivism’ in the study of policy-making and relation of means and ends. He observed that decision-making must be derived from the logic and psychology of human choice.

While Robert Dahl in his essay, “The Science of Public Administration” expressed three problems in the evolution of science of public administration –

1. Exclusion of normative consideration from public administration.
2. Exclusion of the study of human behavior from the science of public administration.

• Exclusion of the varying historical, sociological, economic & other conditioning factors from the science of public administration.

By 1950s, both the objections were completely rejected by scholars of public administration. This rejections left public administration without identity, and thus a new phase of evolution of the discipline of public administration took birth.

4. THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY (1950-1970)
5. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS POLITICAL SCIENCE (1950-1970)

In this phase, public administration was reestablished into the mother discipline, political science. But there were several issues such as-

1. Absence of comprehensive intellectual framework for public administration as a separate discipline.
2. And willing of political scientists to engulf public administration into political science.

So observers rightly commented that –“public administration stands in danger of …senescence, and that lusty young giant of a decade ago, may now ‘evaporate’ as a field.”

During 1960s, the American Political Science Association moved officially to rid itself of public administration. So, a scholar pointed that political science seems to have less utility in the education of public administrators. Political science educates for “intellectualized understanding” of public administration, whereas public administration educates for “knowledgeable action”.

2.PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS MANAGEMENT (1950-1970)

As public administration was struggling for its identity, a few public administrationists began searching for an alternative. They found it in ‘management’, called either ‘administrative science’ or ‘generic management’ , which holds that sector, culture, institution, mission, so on and so forth have little consequence to efficient and effective administration, and that “a body of knowledge” – statistics, economics, accounting, operation research, and organization are often needed, and exists common to the field of administration. But it is noteworthy that “management’s focus is exclusively technical, whereas public administration’s focus is both technical and normative.

Finally, it was becoming increasingly clear to public administrationists that neither political science nor management addressed their interest, nor could they. With this, a new phase began.

5. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (1970-PRESENT)

Public administration as public administration is refers to public administration’s successful break with political science and management, and its emergence as an autonomous field of study and practice. So in 1970, public administration declared as an independent discipline with the birth of National Association of schools of Public Administration (NASPAA).

Finally, according to recent research, pioneering of public administration were right on several important counts such as – Professional public administration improves governance, public administrators and politicians work in team to fulfill the public interest, even though elected politicians and appointed administrators do different things, etc.

Public administration happy at last……..

---

References:-

1. Nicholas Henry, Public Administration & Public Affairs
2. Mohit Bhattacharya, A New Horizons of Public Administration
3. S. Polynaidu, Public Administration

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• SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• MEANING,SIGNIFICANCE & NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• In “public administration”

• MEANING, NATURE & SCOPE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Indo-Iranian Journal of Scientific Research (IIJSR)
Volume 2, Issue 1, Pages 119-130, January-March 2018

119 | P a g e Website: http://www.iijsr.com

A Review of External Factors That Determine Foreign Policy Formulation
Zainab Gimba1 and Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim2
1Department of Public Administration, University of Maiduguri.
2Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja.
Article Received: 30 November 2017 Article Accepted: 31 January 2018 Article Published: 13 March 2018
INTRODUCTION
Each nation has the right and power to secure the goals of her national interest in international relations. It is her
supreme duty to satisfy the needs of her people. Each nation wants to be self-reliant in all areas of activity.
However, in reality no nation can achieve cent per cent self-reliance and self-sufficiency. These are ideals towards
which a nation can try to move. The Foreign Policy of a nation is always made and implemented with an eye on the
situation in various regions of the world. A situational change in West Asia or South-East Asia or Africa
necessitates a change or modification of the foreign policies of many nations. ”Nations have always been
interdependent and these are bound to remain so even after attaining high levels of development. “Interdependence
has been an incontrovertible fact of international relations.” It compels every nation to get essentially involved in
the process of establishing and conducting relations with other nations. Each nation establishes diplomatic,
economic, trade, educational, cultural and political relations with other nations. For giving meaning and direction to
her relations with other nations, each nation formulates and adopts a Foreign Policy. It is through its foreign policy
that it tries to secure the goals of national interest in international relations. The behaviour of each nation in
international environment is always conditioned by its foreign policy.
International relations
International relations, to start with, is much broader than foreign policy and international politics in the sense that
it is the sum total of relationships among actors in the international system (Ofoegbu, 1998:2). The actors in the
international system include states of Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United State of America; international
organization such as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), and the
United Nations Organization (UNO); Multinational Corporations such as Coca-cola, Paterson Zochonis, First
Bank; liberation movements such as Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas and Fatah; and individuals such as
Osama Bin Laden and Nelson Mandela. The relationships among these actors may include political, economic,
military, religious and socio-cultural. The political interactions may include opening up of embassies and exchange
of diplomats by states as well as their membership in international organizations. The economic interactions may
include trade between states. The military interactions may include signing of defence agreements and military
ABSTRACT
The paper delves into the external factors that shape and determine a state‟s foreign policy. It also examines some conceptual interpretations as it
relates to the making of foreign policy. The paper adopts library instrument of secondary research to generate its findings. The paper discovers that,
factors such as international organizations, public opinion, states action or inaction etc greatly affect the process of foreign policy formulation of
states. The paper concludes that these external factors are dynamic and they keep changing with the foreign policy posture of states. The paper
recommends drastic adoption of strategies in policy formulation that would be in tandem with a state‟s national interest.
Keywords: External Factors, Determine, Foreign Policy and Formulation

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