ADMINISTRATIVE REORGANIZACION IN PUERTO RICO.

Abstract

Since 1941 the government of Puerto Rico has completely overo hauled its executive branch.iExtensive reforms in the organization and functioning of the branch have produced an administrative structüre closely resembling that iecommendedhy advocatesof theso-called formal theory of administrative organization. The essence of this theory is centralizationof authority in the chief executive, He should have power· to appoint and remove department heads .and .other key subordínates, staff agencies should be established to aid him in directing and controlling the administration, independent boards and commissions should be limited to the performance of quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial functions, and the merit system should prevail in the public service. Three examples drawn from the staff services of the Puerto Rican executive branch show close adherence to the formal theory: the Governor's personal secretariat, the Puerto Rico Planning Board, and the Bureau of the Budget. A fourth example, the Office of Personnel, exhibits certain shortcomings, both in practice and in terms of meeting the formal theory' s requirements. Although a few line departments and agencies also r:eflect departures from the formal theory or exhibit unsatisfactory applications of it, the executive branch as a whole conforms with remarkable fidelity to the main lines of the theory and is in general well coordinated and controlled. The author argues, however,· that the smooth and effective operation of the executive branch is the resu'lt not of its streamlined structure but of other factors in Puerto Rican social and political life. The importance of the latter is seen in the ease and rapidity with which the administrative reforms were brought about. Occurring in three main stages (1942-46, 1949-5°, and 1952-date), the reorganization program was carried through by the concerted action of the political leaders, both executive and legislative, who have been in power since 1941. The factors which enabled them to cooperate successfully in achieving the goals of the reorganization movement also make possible the effective functioning of the executive branch itself. These factors are 1) the existence of "party government" in Puerto Rico, i. e., of the dominance of a centralized and well-disciplined rnajority party; 2) the strong and imaginatíve leadership of Governor Muñoz Marín, both within his party and in the government; and 3) the nature of Puerto Rican society, which is singulady homogeneous, This last factor is regarded as especially significant, for it accounts for such things as the absence of ideological or pressurle-group opposition to reforms, the strength of party discipline, and the general acceptance of personalleadership and centralized executive authority. The formal theoryis therefore saidto haveworked wellin practice because .of its compatibility with basic aspectsof Puerto Rican society and politics. No ~eneralizations should be drawn from the Puerto Rican experience concerning the theory's effectiveness in other social and political situations. And even the Puerto Rican experience suggests doubts and misgivings conaerning the permanence of the theory's beneficial results, the extent to which its practical application discourages initiative on lower echelons; and the case wíth which an unscrupulous chjefexecutive might use highly centralized power for undemocratic purposes.