You can choose to write your
policy paper on one of two topics:
i. Current US policy
toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
ii. Current policy toward the
Iranian nuclear programme.
What is a policy
paper?
In this part of the assessment
you are playing the role of a policy analyst. Your job is to provide policy-makers
with an overview of the problem/issue you have chosen to look at and to make
policy recommendations based on that analysis. The key criteria for a good
policy paper are that:
·
There
should be clear and plausible alternatives to the current policy (even if they
are not ultimately recommended).
·
There must
be sufficient evidence to enable the decision-maker to make an informed
decision on the policy proposal.
It is
important to recognize that your task is not necessarily to find a solution to
the policy problem you are addressing but to recommend the best possible policy
option under current circumstances. It is possible, for example, to conclude
that the best policy is to do nothing because anything that is done will make
things worse or at least will not make things better while using precious time
and resources.
The purpose of the policy paper
is to provide notional decision-makers with:
A clear and balanced
analysis of the issue at hand.
A list of policy options.
A policy recommendation.
Your paper should be structured
in five sections using the following headings:
Executive
Summary: This is a shortened version of the whole report emphasising
the primary findings and policy recommendations. It is best to write this
section last because it will serve as a summary of the entire paper.
The summary should include the
following:
1. A description of the current policy
and its objectives.
1. Reasons for considering a change.
2. A very brief outline of the
alternative policy options.
3. A brief description of the
recommended policy.
4. Summary of the reasons for selecting
that policy.
The executive summary should
not be longer than 500 words. You are going to say all this again in detail.
Keep it as brief as possible. It is best
presented as a bulleted list.
2. Background and Context: Here you should provide the
policy-makers with the background and contextual information necessary for
their understanding of the problem and upon which you have based your
recommendations. It is important to bear in mind that this will include not
just matters relating to American interests overseas but also domestic
political considerations. Things to include here are:
What US interests are at stake?
What are the objectives of US policy? This is crucial. As in the essay,
these constitute the key criteria for your analysis. Your analysis of policy
options and your policy recommendation need to be based on a clear articulation
of US national interests and objectives. Remember, effectively, you are
engaging in a kind of written role play here. Your measure of what is a good or
bad policy is what is good or bad for US national interests – you need to put
yourself in the shoes of a US government policy-maker to do it properly.
What are the key features of
the current situation in the policy area – recent developments, key actors and
their interests, nature of the problem etc. Focus on the
recent/immediate situation, the last few years – do not include vast
amounts of ancient history (which means stuff from more than ten years ago!). You can
assume that policy-makers are familiar with that history and with the basic
information relating to the issue. You are not writing a primer for someone
with no knowledge of the issue at hand.
What is the United States
currently doing to try and achieve those objectives (brief description of
current policy)?
Statement on the reasons for
possible change – What factors and considerations make a new approach advisable
or necessary? (reasonably brief, as you will evaluate the pros and cons of current
policy in detail in the next section).
This section should be about
1000 words long.
3. Policy Options: Here you outline the possible courses
of action available. This is the most important part of the paper.
Discuss the policy options by
enumerating and explaining each one in turn. You should outline three options,
one of which will be continuing with the current policy. These policy options
should be real and plausible options, not absurd straw men or
impossibilities, and all must be given a fair assessment.
Each policy should be briefly
described and then, most importantly, you should list the
advantages and disadvantages each policy option using a bulleted list, first
the pros, then the cons. In looking at the pros and cons of each policy you
need to consider the following: How likely is the policy to achieve the desired
objectives? What will the response of US friends and allies be? How will
pursuing the policy affect other US objectives and interests? What will the
domestic reaction be and can the policy be successfully implemented if there is
extensive domestic opposition (e.g. in Congress)?
You should always consider
current policy first, then the alternatives. You do not need to provide a
detailed description of current policy here because you will have described it
in the Background and Context section.
This section should be about
1500 words long
4. Policy Recommendations: Here you present your recommended
course of action:
Identify which option will be
recommended.
Explain why that option is
better than the alternatives by comparing the three.
Do not overstate your case.
Outline the potential weaknesses of the chosen option as well as the strengths.
This section should be about
500 words long.
5. Bibliography: list of sources used.
The paper should be referenced/footnoted
just like an essay.
Remember that your
objective is to give clear advice to decision-makers based on the evidence.
Some of the most common shortcomings of policy papers are:
Drawing implications that are
not based on the evidence contained in the paper.
Misinterpreting the
evidence to draw conclusions that do not logically follow. (If the data show
that Option A is 5 % more costly than Option B, this does not mean that Option
B is necessarily preferable. The cost difference is marginal and may be
outweighed by other considerations.
Providing vague generic
recommendations that could be applied to almost any problem (e.g. `The United
States should seek to advance peace in the region’ (Doh!).
Burying worthwhile
conclusions here and there within the report, rather than drawing them clearly
in the conclusion and highlighting them in the Executive Summary.
Drawing vague conclusions
(“policy makers should take these findings into account when making
decisions…”) instead of precise and specific ones, or worse, drawing no
significant conclusions and making no useful recommendations at all.
For further advice and examples
of policy papers see:
http://www.bu.edu/ir/graduate/current/papers/policy/
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