Public Administration: History and Thought

Author: Tang Xinglin (Editor) / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: Appropriate treatment within a state, for citizens with superior talent and virtue, even if they cannot be permanently supported, at least they should be allowed sufficient leisure during their time in office without having to worry about their own livelihood. Aristotle also placed great importance on the supervision of administrative officials and proposed his own basic ideas on this matter. He pointed out that historically, public officials often engaged in favoritism and corruption when handling official affairs, so separate supervisory bodies should be established for them, with inspectors having the authority to examine the behavior of all administrative personnel.
(5) Rule of Law and Administrative Governance According to Aristotle, although the city-state was managed by public bodies, the ultimate authority should belong to the law—the ruler of the city-state must govern according to the spirit of the law. In the ancient Greek city-states during Aristotle's time, people had engaged in fierce debates about the rule of law versus rule by man. Some proponents of monarchy argued, "The law can only establish general principles; when state affairs evolve, the law cannot issue orders suited to various circumstances. Any craft that strictly follows written general principles would be foolish. For the same reason, it is clear that a regime governed entirely by written law is not the most excellent regime." [21] In response to this view, Aristotle pointed out that while the law may sometimes be powerless in dealing with political matters it does not address, it should be noted that a ruler still possesses general principles in their heart. Although individual will can benefit the city-state, rulers who govern without emotional bias are generally better than those who act impulsively, and the law, being emotionless, is no exception. In a monarchy, "all affairs of state must still be based on the entire law, and only in matters that the law cannot cover and thus lacks authority can individuals exercise their own judgment."
Although Aristotle strongly emphasized the importance of virtuous governance, he did not agree with Plato's idea of a philosopher-king ruling by man. He vigorously opposed the idea of individual will overriding the law, and his main principle remained the rule of law, as he believed it was superior to rule by man. "The law is the best ruler," [23] he argued. The law is emotionless, serving as a balanced middle ground, impartial, while rule by man is prone to emotional bias. The rule of law is more likely to ensure fairness than rule by man. He also pointed out that implementing the rule of law means that rulers cannot arbitrarily handle state affairs based on their own will. "The law should be respected and maintain supreme authority in all aspects, and both administrators and citizen bodies should only make decisions in exceptional cases where the law (general principles) does not apply. Neither should they violate the law." Regardless of what form of government exists, if there is no supreme authority of the law and rulers do not govern in accordance with the basic spirit of the law, such a state cannot have good politics, and such a city-state cannot be said to have established any form of government.
Aristotle believed that the rule of law should have two meanings: "written laws must be universally obeyed, and the laws that people obey should themselves be well-crafted laws." The basic prerequisite for implementing the rule of law is to formulate good laws, establish the authority of the law, and ensure that both rulers and the ruled obey the law. Additionally, the law itself should have a degree of stability and should not be changed lightly. Changing the law is a significant matter that requires careful consideration. "If people are accustomed to hasty changes, this is not the happiness of society. If the benefits of change are not substantial, it is better to leave the shortcomings of the law and government as they are; once a change is made, the authority of the law and government will inevitably decline, and the benefits of the change may not be enough to compensate for the losses." [2] "Because the effectiveness of the law depends entirely on the people's obedience, and the habit of obeying the law must be cultivated over a long period. If laws and systems are frequently changed in this or that way, people's habit of obeying the law will inevitably weaken, and the authority of the law will also decline. Of course, the law should not remain static; it must be continuously revised and supplemented based on human experience to improve day by day. However, even if it is recognized that the law should be changed, it must still be studied whether such changes should be comprehensive or partial, and whether they can be carried out by anyone willing to reform or only by certain individuals.
While emphasizing the rule of law, Aristotle also acknowledged the supplementary role of rule by man. Because the law cannot cover all details, the role of human reason must come into play. However, individual reason can only serve as a supplement to the law, and at no time should its actions contradict the basic spirit of the law.
### A Brief Evaluation of Aristotle's Administrative Thought Aristotle is the founder of Western political science, and his basic political ideas have had a natural and undeniable influence on later generations. Although his administrative thought is essentially included within his political theory, he was still the first in Western history to specialize in the study of state administration. His exploration of a series of specific administrative issues made an indelible contribution to later generations and holds an innovative position in the history of Western administrative studies.
First, based on the political practices of ancient Greek city-states, Aristotle discovered that the political operations of the city-state were divided into three parts, which he referred to as the "three functions," thereby independently isolating administrative issues from theory for the first time in human history. This pioneering research not only became the starting point and historical origin of the theory of separation of powers in later Western political thought but also provided a basis and reference for later Western scholars to specialize in the study of state administration.
Second, Aristotle's emphasis on the issue of city-state regimes (viewing regimes as the basis of all political organizations) and his comparative study of different administrative structures, functions, roles, and selection methods of administrative personnel in different regimes all indicate that the political arrangements of a country will also affect its administrative system, highlighting the close relationship between administrative and political systems. Moreover, his research was based on the comparative study of the political practices of more than 150 ancient Greek city-states, effectively raising the issue of comparative administrative research and suggesting that the design of administrative systems should learn more from others' strengths to compensate for its own weaknesses.
Third, his exploration of the origin and purpose of the state, although ultimately not finding a scientific basis for the origin of the state or completely escaping the influence of the ethical state of view, had a profound impact on later Western administrative thought, which used social contract theory and utilitarianism to explore "why humans establish governments."
Furthermore, his research on a series of administrative issues, such as the establishment of administrative institutions, the selection and supervision of administrative personnel, the terms of office of administrative personnel, and the basic requirements for administrative personnel, especially for the highest executive officials, had a far-reaching influence on later generations. In fact, the issues he raised have become the basic content of modern administrative research, so his research can be said to have made an innovative contribution to the basic framework of administrative studies.
Finally, Aristotle proposed the advocacy of the rule of law and administrative governance, which is the essence of his administrative thought and essentially raises the fundamental strategy of state administration, playing an important role in improving the quality of administrative governance and the authority of the government. The issues he raised, such as the superiority of the rule of law over rule by man, the formulation of good laws, the cultivation of citizens' awareness of the rule of law, the supreme position of the law at all times, the obedience of all to the law, and the non-arbitrary changes to the law, are also the basic topics of modern rule-of-law research.
In addition to these, Aristotle also explored, through the comparison of political practices in ancient Greek city-states, methods to maintain the basic political order of the city-state and preserve regimes to prevent changes, which holds certain guiding significance for later state administrators. More importantly, he also made contributions to research methods in administrative studies, such as comparative research methods, investigative and empirical research methods.
Of course, at the level of the state in ancient Greek city-states, Aristotle could not comprehensively and systematically elaborate all administrative issues or establish an independent and complete discipline of administration. His administrative thought, like his entire political thought, was based on the summary of political experiences in ancient Greek city-states and could not transcend the development of the times. Therefore, Aristotle's administrative thought also had unavoidable limitations.
In Aristotle's time, the state was still in its early stages of development, and people had accumulated insufficient experience in managing the state and social division of labor was not yet highly developed. These factors limited his research scope, but this was still the of administrative studies, and his pioneering research was still commendable.