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ABSTRACT
The argument between Friedrich and Finer in the early nineteen-forties is a historic debate concerning the locus of control over administrative discretion. While Friedrich insisted the inner check over discretionary power was more effective, Finer argued extensive external control over public bureaucracy was necessary. This article analyzes the debate and suggests a negotiation between them. Two factors help bridge the debate: Information Technology (IT) and strong leadership. The case of "Transparent Government" in Seoul, Korea is used as an illustration of both factors.
INTRODUCTION
Public bureaucracy has been said to be a synonym for inefficiency, sometimes of undemocratic authority. Citizens confirm those negative images for themselves whenever abuses of discretionary power by public employees are chronicled in newspapers and television news shows. In contrast, discretionary power by public officials also has been said to be the last rationale with which public employees can defend their inevitable exercise of authority, within the law, in the midst of a dynamics and restrictions: "fast changing environment, increasing public demand for public services, and inflexible legal limitations." But it seems that these two extremesinternal discretion and external control-are destined to remain as parallel lines in the realm of public administration.
These two parallels lines have their intellectual ancestors: Carl Friedrich and Herman Finer. Friedrich edited with his colleagues a series of books called "public policy" from 1940 through 1980. Friedrich opened the series with his paper "Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility," wherein he criticized the dichotomy between politics and administration, concluding that it is an illusion. Public bureaucrats already intruded into the legislatures' territory and carried out various roles, from policy making to policy implementation. It was neither possible nor desirable for external bodies such as the legislature to control public bureaucracy. Rather, according to Friedrich, it was much more important to render public bureaucracy responsible, and he suggested how to do so responsibly.
Friedrich's pro-bureaucracy article invoked Finer's provocative response. Finer pointed out how Friedrich's approach to administrative discretion was biased toward one extreme. From a theoretical aspect, Finer pointed out the lack of representativeness in Friedrich's argument. For example, Friedrich chose some foreign policies as his examples to explain why government activities are far from any check or control by other external...