Research papers

Government is important because it does things using the collective power of the American people. We call this public policy. The promise of a Republic is that the citizens have a key say in what public policies the government pursues. Citizens don't have the final say, because our desires are collected and filtered by representative political institutions, and the resulting policies are implemented by bureacracies.

Research Process

We’ll develop our skills at effecting public policy by researching two policy debates. You can choose from

• Health care reform
• Afghanistan and US Foreign Policy
• Social Security Reform
• Reform of regulation in the financial services industry (banks, insurance, investment houses etc.)

Purpose

The purpose of these research projects is for you to learn how to influence public policy. So you will be writing what we call policy advocacy: an informed and well thought out point of view on some piece of government behavior. You cannot be "neutral," and you have to back up you ideas with quality information. At the end of the term you will, if you are still enrolled in the class, be required to mail these pieces of advocacy to me and to all the political actors who have some say in the issue you write about.

Assignment Structure

These are not "letters." These are not just opportunities to say "I want" or "I believe" to political figures.

You should think of yourself as Legislative Aides who have been asked to obtain and summarize real knowledge on real issues for real political leaders. You should find a politician on a House or Senate Committee, or in an administrative agency, with jurisdiction over the policy that has a point of view agreeable to you and pretend to work for them

Talk radio, TV news shows, letters to the editor and opinion-editorial pieces are all bad examples of what you are being asked to do. Do not immitate them.

You will have four homeworks which guide your research for these papers:

1. public opinion
2. Interest groups
3. Congress
4. Federal Administration

At term's end you will be asked to write an analysis of two proposals for government action. They might be legislative proposals, or they might be proposals for changes in the rules and proceedures of administrataive agencies.

You can also use the Frequently Asked Questions sheet for this assignment.

Example of a B+ policy brief here

Example of an A- brief here

another A- example

note that the A briefs are better than the B one because they tell me more about the political choices facing the individual policy maker receiving the brief.

You may complete these assignments using resources you find on-line, or those you find elsewhere. You may communicate with government on-line, or by other means. You will, however, communicate with me and fellow students through this website. You are also required to keep a portfolio of these assignments. You may keep your portfolio as hardcopy or as an electronic portfolio. If you choose to store your work electronically, make sure you have more than one copy on more than one disk

Each brief should be approximately 3 double spaced pages (no hand writing). Each brief should tell your "boss"

• a brief summary of the proposal in question,
• an analysis of the practical pros and cons of the proposal
• a statement of the constituencies for and agains the proposal
• your best advice to your boss on how he or she should act on the proposal.

Use the Textbook!

The text material is very important for proper writing of your research papers.  The public policy chapters are essential reading. They lay out the political process and dynamics in each policy area (foreign, social welfare, economic).