Relation of geography with public administration are given below:
Public Administration is to deal with the people, who are influenced by their geographical conditions, environments and natural resources. Montesquieu rightly pointed out that Government of a country is always influenced by the geography of that country.
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It has rather very rightly been pointed out that the fog of England is very much reflected in her constitution. Natural resources of a country always help in moulding the character of the people and influencing their living standard with which Public Administration is concerned.
Similarly, we find that Public Administration is to mould its policies and programmes according to available means of transportation and communications and also available natural resources. Geography also helps public administration in framing policies of national defence.
A public administrator in a country with hot climate has altogether different problems from an administrator working in a country with cold climate. Similarly we find that developed countries have come to the conclusion that aid pattern for under-developed and undeveloped countries must be based on geographical conditions of the aid receiving nations.
No doubt improved means of transportation and communication and new scientific inventions and researches have considerably reduced the effect of geography, yet the impact is there and can never altogether be eliminated.
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But still the difference between the two is there. Public Administrator can change his policies and programmes to suit his convenience but a geographer cannot change his environments to suit his tastes and needs.
Then one finds that the scope of the study of the two is different; whereas a Geographer studies climate, environments, mineral resources etc., a public administrator studies administration in its various aspects.
Modern democracy has brought in the conception of the welfare state resulting in ever increasing demands on public administration for more and more of services. As White puts it, “There was a time when people expected nothing but oppression from the public authorities.
Later they expected chiefly to be let alone. Now however, they expected a wide variety of services and protection”. This inevitably means more of administration than before. What is demanded of public administration of a welfare state is nothing short of ensuring conditions of good life for the people as a whole.