Critical Issues Options
Using your developing knowledge of and skills in policy analysis, construct an options paper (using the Template provided) which outlines a number of different policy options with respect to a prescribed policy issue/problem.
The client would prefer the focus be on Arab or African countries, and the issue is chosen according to the availability of strong academic references.
You are a senior public servant in a country of your choice. Your supervisor has called you into her office. She has been tasked with exploring a selection of key social issues. She asks you to select one of the options from the following list to write an issue paper on:
• Legalising surrogacy
• Banning gambling (or, legalising gambling, if it is already banned in the country of your choice)
• Prescribing food labelling which includes a star scale (to indicate how healthy the product is)
• Banning tobacco
• Introducing an amnesty for irregular/illegal migrants
• Decriminalising illicit drugs
• Introducing a universal unconditional cash transfer
• Introducing a ‘super tax’ on the wealth of the richest 1% of people in your country
• Legalising prostitution
• Abolish death penalty for drug smuggling (where it exists)
Please state the country of your choice. Your issues paper should:
• construct (or frame) the issue as a problem
• provide an analysis that proposes a variety of options for addressing the problem presented.
This task is designed to provide you with an important (positivist) point of reference when engaging in various post-positivist forms of analysis in subsequent assignments for this topic.
To be successful in this assessment you need to:
• select one of the prescribed issues
• present the ‘essence’ of the problem (ie describe the problem in such a way that it is amenable to policy action)
• provide options for addressing the problem.
To achieve this, you will need to:
• Research your chosen issue. Read widely, and look for relevant policy research on your chosen issue. Relevant policy research might include consideration of:
• Solutions from other jurisdictions
• Analysis of implementation issues
• Economic considerations
• Social impact or cost-benefit analyses
• Exploration of rights conflicts, or conflicts in values
• Political concerns and conflicts raised by your chosen issue.
