Educating Policy Analysts

Abstract

This article explores the role of political science in educating people who perform policy analysis in public bureaucracies. Policy analysts are defined as applied scientists who study the nature, causes and effects for alternative public policies, using relevant academic disciplines, theories and methodologies to choose optimal policies to achieve a given aim. Typically, analysts evaluate enacted policies but occasionally they compare hypothetical alternatives.The education of policy analysts is similar to the education of engineers. Both draw on several basic sciences for information to solve real-world problems. However, greater consensus exists on which sciences are important for engineers. Their key science is physics although engineering education also uses insights from chemistry, geology and biology.