Chapter 2 Singapore's policy context

In 1947, John Merriman Gaus contended that “the study of public administration must include its ecology” ( Gaus, 1947, p. 6 ). He elaborated on the importance of the ecological approach in public administration thus:An ecological approach to public administration builds, then, quite literally from the ground up; from the elements of a place – soils, climate, location, for example – to the people who live there – their numbers and ages and knowledge, and the ways of physical and social technology by which from the place and in relationships with one another, they get their living. It is within this setting that their instruments and practices of public housekeeping should be studied so that they may better understand what they are doing, and appraise reasonably how they are doing it. ( Gaus, 1947, pp. 8–9 )