Analyze the influence of the state or city legislature, the judicial system, and other agencies

Imagine you are a state or city government policy adviser. The governor or city mayor has asked your boss to brief them on a critical problem facing your community (and therefore one of your agency’s top policy priorities). You need to develop a comprehensive policy memo that will give your boss:

(1) the critical background information he/she needs on the issue at hand;
(2) analysis of the influence of the state/city legislature, the judicial system, and other state/city government agencies on the formulation and implementation of a specific policy;
(3) an evaluation of the influence that interest groups, political parties and the media have on the policy at hand;
(4) a set of options/solutions for your boss to consider regarding a path forward with all these political players (including pro’s and con’s for each option); and,
(5) a recommended strategy that you want your boss to present to the governor or mayor to win support for your agency’s policy agenda.

To recap, your memo should:

– Clearly and concisely state the problem you are trying to tackle
– Provide a summary of the current policy context / relevant background
– Analyze the influence of the state or city legislature, the judicial system, and other agencies
– Evaluate the influence of interest groups, political parties, and the media
– Present a set of solutions to the problem for your boss to consider, including pro’s and con’s for each
– Make a realistic recommendation of one of those options and provide further justification for why you are saying that option is the best.