Policy Paper
In January a new American president will be inaugurated. Your job is to review existing American policy toward Ukraine, to suggest alternative policies, and to recommend one in particular. The paper should be organized as follows:
I. Brief Introduction/Overview
a. Introduce the issue
b. Statement of purpose - why decision-makers should consider a policy change? what circumstances (e.g., changes in government, leadership, stability, etc.) have changed that make a new approach advisable or necessary?
c. Review the current policy - what are we currently doing? what is the public's perception of the policy? how effective is the policy?
II. Empirical Analysis
Discuss who are the actors, and explain the nature, signi?cance, causes, effects, dynamics, and trends of the situation, i.e. "what is the current state of affairs?"
III. Discussion
Discuss the alternative policy options (at least two, not including the status quo) to the current policy by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each policy option. Here you should try to identify the political, economic, and security implications for each option. This is the most important part of the paper.
Tips for the discussion:
a. The alternative policy options must be serious, realistic, and feasible for implementation.
b. You should dedicate as much time discussing all the alternative options and not focus solely on the recommended policy.
c. Identify the cost and bene?t of each alternative.
d. Try to evaluate the likely outcomes of the various alternatives.
IV. Recommendation
Clearly specify which policy you recommend and lay out the argument for why you believe the policy is better than the other alternatives you highlighted above.
Format
The paper must be 10-12 (undergraduate) or 15-17 (graduate) double-spaced typed pages in length with 1 inch margins on each side. Please use 10 or 12 point type in a readable font. All source materials must be cited in a proper standard citation form. Use the standard form you are familiar or comfortable with. Remember that fact and opinion must be cited as well as quotes. All reference materials used must be included in a bibliography at the end of the paper. Neither the title page nor the bibliography are part of the page count.
A few tips:
a. Internet sources are easily available, but must be carefully evaluated for their credibility. For policy recommendations, check journals such as Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy as well as think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, etc. Current policy descriptions can be found at the State Department website, the US embassy in Kiev, etc.
b. Carefully proofread the paper.
c. Plagiarism or copying from any source without quotation marks and citation will not be tolerated.