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Policy Brief
POSC 350, section 2 – LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS (Fall 2007)
Dr. Charles Blake
Maury 207 – 568-6344 – BLAKECH@JMU.EDU
OFFICE HOURS: M 2:30-4, Tu 2-4, W 2:30-4 and by appointment

BLACKBOARD WEBSITE: Click HERE to go to Blackboard for POSC 350

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POSC 350 Policy Brief Project

Research Question & Preliminary Bibliography -- DUE Wednesday 9/12/07 at 11:15am

Express your research topic in the form of a question(s) at the top of the first page. Then list at least 10 works related to your question (including at least 5 books and at least 5 academic journal articles). This is a pass/fail assignment. A failing grade will result in a 5-point penalty on the final policy brief grade.

Outline -- DUE Friday 10/5/07 at 11:15am -- 1-2pp.

This can be a topic outline or a sentence outline. Again, this is not a contract (i.e. a firm commitment to the precise form that your brief finally will take). It is an opportunity for you to take a preliminary stab at the structure of your brief. 

Like the bibliography, this is a pass/fail assignment. Write a decent 3-5 division outline (or more if desired) and you're doing just fine. Blow this off and you'll receive a 5-point penalty on the policy brief grade.

Workshop -- To be held on Monday 10/22/07 at 11:15am

We will talk through a policy issue in one of the four countries we've studied so far (Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico) to improve our understanding of the policy process and of the policy brief project. It will not be a policy issue someone is planning for their own project and nobody can switch to this topic later in the semester. 

Policy Brief -- DUE Friday 12/7/07 at 11:15am -- 10pp. minimum

**You also need to send an electronic copy of your brief to my digital dropbox on Blackboard.**
NAME the file after your last name.
SEND the electronic file to me AND submit a printed version to me by the due date.

Your policy brief must address the following sort of research question: Which policy would be most useful in solving a particular policy problem and why?

YOUR ISSUE and COUNTRY SETTING: You can pick any contemporary issue in any Latin American country with the approval of the instructor.

YOUR AUDIENCE: Assume that you are writing your brief for the president of that country's government.  You are an analyst for a presidential advisor.  You can assume a reasonably educated audience, but you cannot assume any detailed knowledge about the issue or the context.  At the same time, your supervisor is busy.  You must provide concisely a comprehensive, detailed analysis that will inform your boss while it also argues for a preferable policy alternative.

a] Bring in opposing views (& their supporting evidence) and deal with them directly in the paper as a means of making your own argument stronger & more balanced.

b] Remember to handle your source materials carefully. Provide citations for primary & secondary materials. Cite other authors (and the relevant page #) when presenting their views. This not only gives them credit, it also allows you to take proper credit for your insights.

c] You must cite a minimum of 10 sources. At least 5 sources must be articles in academic journals or university press books. Periodicals that are NOT peer-reviewed are NOT academic journals. Whether you use footnotes or text-reference citations, you must provide a complete bibliography of works cited at the end of the brief. Readings assigned for this course must be cited if used in constructing the brief but they do not count against the 10-citation minimum.

All briefs must follow a similar format:

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1-2pp., double-spaced, max. 3000 characters):
Summarize the content of the entire brief.  Your boss is so busy that he or she may not have time to read the brief itself.  The summary must be accurate, but should also get the reader’s attention.

[NOTE: This must be on a separate page(s) between the title page and the beginning of the brief itself.  Also, although you can number its pages if you want, it does NOT “count” towards the 10pp. minimum.]

II.  {Introduction} The Policy Issue
Begin with a quick summary of the policy issue at stake, its importance, and the primary policy goals and options.

III. {Background} The History of the Issue and Its Context
Provide some historical background for the question at hand. 

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III.A. The Issue: What has happened on this issue historically? Focus your discussion primarily on the past two decades.

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III.B. The Players: What are the contemporary positions of the major opposition party(ies), and the major interest groups concerned about this issue? In other words, what are their goals and what are their policy recommendations?

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III.C. The Government’s Goals: What are the goals for the government in this policy area? Remember that these goals, along with the analysis of others’ goals in III.B., will guide your analysis of the available policy options in Section IV.

IV. {Main Body} The Major Options under Consideration
Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the available major options (at least 3).  The discussion of each option should be balanced, but should also build an argument that one option is most preferable. 

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You should pay attention to not just the policy “nuts and bolts”, but also to the political feasibility of the options they examine. If a particular option seems politically infeasible, this concern must be dealt with in the brief.

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COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE: During the discussion in this section, you must examine a similar situation in at least one other country.  This examination should make clear the lessons to be drawn from the other country(ies) and how & why they are relevant to the case at hand.

V. {Conclusion} Recommendation
Provide a policy recommendation for your supervisor that summarizes your reasoning. Follow that up with an analysis of how that option should be pursued politically.

As a policy analyst, make it clear why the recommended policy meets his or her goals (better than the alternatives).  Then, close your brief with a political analysis. How can the supervisor convince others to accept the policy as desirable? What can that supervisor do politically to promote the decision that he or she would like?  

To see a sample policy brief using this format, go the Course Documents section of this course's website on Blackboard.

 
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This page was last updated on: 10/08/07 .
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