Assignment 4: Policy Analysis Worksheet

Due Week 8 and worth 140 points

For this assignment, you will complete the Policy Analysis Worksheet

located in Week 8 of your Blackboard course. The purpose of this worksheet is to help you complete the following in preparation for your final assignment: Select a topic, think critically about your topic, gather research on your topic, and decide how you will present your Policy Analysis Paper.

Note: Your instructor will provide feedback on your completed worksheet.

The requirements for this assignment are as follows:

1. Place your name at the top of your worksheet.

2. Complete all sections of the Policy Analysis Worksheet.

3. Provide at least five reliable, relevant, peer-reviewed references that support the paper’s claims.

4. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirement:

a. Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow the APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is as follows:

· Formulate domestic and international public policy alternatives to effectively address issues and challenges.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric

Directions: Answer the questions contained in this worksheet to kick-start the process of writing your policy analysis for your final assignment. You can build off of your answers in the completed worksheet for your final project.

Please select one (1) of the following policy issues in relation to one (1) country for this assignment:

· Labor policy and globalization.

· War on Terror

· Research and development policy and globalization

· Global Issue Policy on Nuclear Weapons

· Telecommunications policy and globalization

· Transportation (or Infrastructure) policy and globalization.

· Public health policy and globalization (Ebola)

· Environment policy and globalization. (Global Warming) (Climate Change)

· Energy policy and globalization

· Citizenship policy and globalization (Human Rights Issues)

· Monetary policy and globalization (Foreign Aid) (Global Financial Crisis)

· Agriculture policy and globalization (Food and Agriculture issues)

· World Hunger and Poverty (Sustainable development)

· Globalization and Corruption

Here are some online resources for basic background information on countries:

· CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook

· Corruption Perceptions Index: http://www.transparency.org

· Economic Freedom Index: http://www.heritage.org

· The Economist Intelligence Unit: http://www.eiu.com/Default.aspx

· Human Development Index: http://hdr.undp.org

· Library of Congress Country Studies: http://countrystudies.us/

· OECD: http://www.oecd.org/

· World Development Indicators: http://data.worldbank.org

· World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/

· YaleGlobal: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu

1. POLICY ISSUE AND TITLE
In this section, you will select a policy issue from the list on page 1 and create a title for your Policy Analysis.

a. What policy issue did you select? Hunger and Poverty

b. Do you comprehensively understand the issue? Can you identify two or three distinct positions on the issue? Yes, the research gave me a clear understanding of the number of people who are living in poverty or who are unable to feed themselves or their children

c. Create the title of your Policy Analysis. When creating a title for your Policy Analysis, consider how you can simultaneously capture the attention of your readers and communicate your position.

2. CONTEXT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE ISSUE
In this section, you will frame and define the issue.
a. How will you introduce the issue?
b. Define the problem or issue that your government or actor must address.
c. How will you demonstrate the relevance and urgency of the issue for modern society?
d. Which groups, individuals, and communities (stakeholders) are affected by the issues that you will be analyzing?
e. Research the ways that these groups’ goals and interests might be altered by the policies you are proposing. Try to write out concise explanations of each group’s goals and the things that they value.
Research the ways that organizations or communities might change or adapt to upheavals in the societies in which they exist. Explain the circumstances in which these changes might take place. Next, consider other changes and transformations that these groups could undergo and summarize those in a similar way.
f. What evidence will you use to support this section of your paper?
3. RATIONALE AND JUSTIFICATION FOR YOUR POSITION
In this section, you will compile a rationale and justification for your position.

a. Are stakeholders groups exposed to unjustifiable risks? Are the stake holders you have identified especially vulnerable?

b. Are any of your stakeholders marginalized within society? Are they part of a highly privileged social group?

c. What are the likely consequences of ignoring stakeholders’ needs? Remember to write concise answers and to consider a range of alternative outcomes – never claim that one set of consequences is inevitable.

4. PROPOSE A COURSE OF ACTION
In this section, you will propose a course of action in order to address the selected issue.

a. Position statement: What is your position on the issue? Is it specific and clear? State it in one or two sentences. No one should be living in poverty or not being able to feed themselves.

b. Propose a course of action: What should be done to solve the problem? Consider the broad approach and specific practical steps or measures that need to be taken and by whom. Is the solution you propose feasible and implementable?

c. Reinforce your position: What points of your argument will you draw together to restate and reinforce your position?

d. If your policy-making choices are relatively limited, justify your choice my referring to your position statement and to the outcomes of any alternative choices.

e. Consider the practical factors affecting your policy. How hard will it be for the government to implement your plan? What costs will the government have to pay? Is the government’s ability to act or to extend its authority limited by laws or international agreements?

f. What will the political impact of your policy be? How will the changes that you want the state to bring about affect its authority? What is the political cost of the policy?

5. ARGUMENTATION AND EVIDENCE
The last section of your memorandum should prove why your proposal will be effective. Ask yourself why the policy you have designed will produce the outcomes that you claim it will have. If your policy responses are relatively limited, you should use this section to justify your choice by using a lot of your available word-count to explain why the decision that you support will have a positive impact on the state – explain, for instance, why ratifying a trade agreement will be good for your state’s exporters and agricultural industry.
a. What evidence will you use to support this section of your paper?
b. Do you have enough evidence to support all elements of your paper? (i.e., to introduce and define the issue, to show the importance of the issue, to support your position, to refute counter-arguments, etc.)

c. Do you have the range of evidence you need to support different points of your argument? Match evidence and sources to different points of your arguments.

6. CLOSING REMARKS
In this section, you will create your first draft of closing remarks for your paper in Assignment 5.

a. Provide an interesting reflection or create a question to close your paper.

b. Recap the issue for your conclusion and make any recommendations for change (policy decisions).