unigenitus

I posted some time ago asking a slightly different question, on whether a lack of public sector experience would be detrimental to successfully applying for an MPA / MPP programme. However several months down the line and I have a slightly different query - does an MPA offer material help for an aspiring politician? If you aim is to go either into front-line party politics, or at least into think tanks, lobbying and the like, do such programmes actually contribute practically to such a career? The general impression I get is that they are more orientated towards those wanting to work in government from a civil service perspective. Is this correct?

Perhaps this may be totally tangential to graduate life, but this is amusing nonetheless. http://men.style.com/gq/features/landin ... tent_10779

Ha, very well, I shall take that on board and hide such condescension from the selection panels. It will be good practice for having to hide it year after year from my future electorate ... ;-) "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

I have posted a couple of questions on the Government Affairs board but I am similarly interested in journalism as a way into politics. Can anyone offer advice as to which are the best regarded schools for this? I am only really aware of the Columbia programme.

Out of interest, what do people mean when they talk of MPA students going into the "private sector" afterwards? Presumably we are not referring to people using MPAs as a proxy for MBAs and working in corporates / finance? Is there some strain of semi-public work such as lobbying which is not considered "public service"? In the UK this does not really exist. How would the following career types be viewed vis-a-vis "public service": 1. Party political work (special advisors, electoral agents and managers, &c) 2. Think tanks 3. Political journalists 4. Lobbying firms 5. The World Bank / IFC / WTO / IMF 6. Government consultancy (eg government-facing arm of McKinsey &c) 7. Full-time politician

Thanks for that very enlightening answer! Useful to chew over. Well I can certainly point out involvement in the political process - indeed I have been a candidate in the local elections in the UK before. However I am not sure what part of this qualifies as "public service" as it is all partisan rather than bureaucratic. My voluntary work has therefore also been party political rather than NGO-related. How do you think this is viewed?

I would hope that the actual transition won't be too difficult given that I am driven by something lacking in most of my soon-to-be-colleagues: an actual (as opposed to lip-service) love of country and a desire to drive through change and reform in the best interests of the people. Sad to say, I have yet to meet a mandarin who is motivated by anything approaching such an idea and as for the majority of those in Parliament, the less said the better ... Okay I have been speaking tongue-in-cheek so far on this thread, but I do feel bemused at the idea that private sector experience is something to be discriminated against on a course such as an MPA rather than something to be welcomed. After all, do none of you think it strange for a future politician or statesman to have spent their entire lives in public or voluntary sectors as some sort of preparation for government? Lawyers at least have an area of expertise to offer but to spend your life only with other people whose whole lives have been dedicated to the process and structure of governance rather than to the real ideas behind them is, I feel, rather limited.

Yes I suppose I am letting my prejudices show through! However from a UK perspective I feel the whole system suffers from being flooded with people who want to enter "public service" as a career choice straight out of school. Public governance fundamentally cannot be too divorced from "reality" - by which I mean experience of the private sector; indeed the impact of not having such experience could be disastrous and often is. I cannot think of a worse CV for government than having spent all your life ... getting involved in government. It would be like trying to get academics to run the country - notionally useful but practically silly.

Thanks, I shall investigate that further. However I am still mystified and disconcerted. Why on earth would they reject people on the basis that they do not have public sector experience? Surely if anything they should be desperately trying to attract the skills of ambitious and talented people from the private sector compared to the backwater of those who choose public service from the off.

Hello, I am currently thinking about applying for MPA / MPP programmes in the US for next academic year starting 2010. However I am unsure as to how qualified I am to get onto such a course. My academic background is as a historian, with both an undergraduate degree and a Masters from Oxford. I have since spent 5 years in investment banking in London and the Far East. I am very interested in British politics and wish to get involved there in the medium term. Does the fact that I have not had any formal public sector experience prejudice my application? Personally I am at a loss as to why such direct experience should be a prerequisite for such programmes but I hear that they may be. To that end, what is the real difference between MPA and MPP programmes, and should I be aiming at only one of the two? Do different schools take differing views on this? I had cherished hopes most particularly for the Princeton MPA, but am also considering Harvard, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins. Clearly given my lack of focus on the domestic US scene, I had intended to look more at the IR side of such courses. Any advice would be most gratefully recieved.