PSC 310-508 Comparative Public Policy
Final paper – guidelines
The final paper is a study which examines and critically assesses a certain public policy (or policy sector, or policy response) across 3 countries. One of the countries must be the United States. The other 2 countries could be any of the following: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.
You have to pick one of the following public policies:
Economic Policy
Education Policy
Foreign Policy**********
Health Care Policy
Environmental Policy
Immigration Policy
Energy Policy
Taxation Policy
Criminal Justice Policy
Welfare Policy
Homeland Security
Instead of picking a public policy, you can pick a policy sector. Examples of policy sectors: renewable energy policy, anti-poverty policy, support for the elderly, support for child raising, drug policy, incarceration policy, gun rights policy…
More narrowly, instead of a public policy or policy sector, you can pick a policy response. Examples of policy responses: policy response to the coronavirus, policy response to 2008 financial crisis, policy response to climate change…
Paper’s format
Double spaced, 1-inch margins, Times New Roman, font size 12 in MS-Word compatible format. The paper should contain cover and reference pages. The cover page will include the title, student’s name, course name and number, and date.
Paper’s structure
Introduction (0.5 pages)
Examine the public policy/policy sector/policy response in the United States. Briefly, discuss the positive and negative aspects of that policy/sector/response. (undergraduate students: 2+ pages; graduate students: 3+ pages)
Examine the public policy/policy sector/policy response in Country 2. Briefly, discuss the positive and negative aspects of that policy/sector/response.
(undergraduate students: 2+ pages; graduate students: 3+ pages)
Examine the public policy/policy sector/policy response in Country 3. Briefly, discuss the positive and negative aspects of that policy/sector/response.
(undergraduate students: 2+ pages; graduate students: 3+ pages)
What can the United States learn from the other two countries’ policies? Are there any specific elements that the United States can borrow from those two countries’ policies? Will there be any challenges? Explain.
(undergraduate students: 1.5+ pages; graduate students: 2.5+ pages)
Conclusion (0.5+ pages)
Bibliography
Sources and citation
Undergraduate students: 7+ sources (at least 5 scholarly sources).
Graduate students: 10+ sources (at least 7 scholarly sources).
Scholarly sources include: books, journal articles, and magazine articles, government documents and reports from intergovernmental organizations. Scholarly sources do not include textbooks, encyclopedia, dictionaries, atlases, articles from popular magazines or non-peer reviewed periodicals (such as newspapers), Wikipedia. Newspapers are not considered scholarly sources. Do not use Wikipedia as a source for your paper.