Policy Paper – Current US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Instructions

You can choose to write your policy paper on one of two topics:

1. Current US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
2. 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.
2. Reasons for considering a change.
3. A very brief outline of the alternative policy options.
4. A brief description of the recommended policy.
5. 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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