The Policy Process

The Policy Process is not always a simple decision-making process, it is a process that often involves amorphous concepts and chance as much as it involves yes or no decisions. To fully understand the process, a student must not only understand how formal decisions are made, but how those choices themselves are formed. Participating in the process doesn’t just include making the decisions, or providing a formal public comment through official government channels, it includes issuing press releases and talking to the media, as well as working directly with citizens and conducting research. The MPA Program has prepared me to engage the policy process at all stages from Problem Identification to Implementation to Evaluation and back again, in ways both formal and informal.