Assignment 1 requires students to familiarise themselves with a contested Australian policy area and with basic resources that identify specific programs within that area.  The assignment constitutes an introduction to the policy borrowing exercise in which you will be engaged over the semester.

The first assignment consists of: an introductory analysis of one of a number of selected Australian policy areas as that policy area appears in a specific Australian jurisdiction (i.e. a particular state or the Commonwealth); an exploration of a particular dimension of that broad policy area; and identification of a particular program that addresses that dimension and that is currently operating less than adequately in your chosen Australian jurisdiction.

In Assignment 1, you are required to canvass the broad policy area and to identify a smaller dimension which you will intensively research in the next two assignments.

 Among the elements you should explore in Assignment 1 are:

Why is the broad policy area considered a problem?

What is the specific jurisdiction you have selected and how (if at all) does its identity relate to the policy area?

Is the broad policy area regarded as political in nature? Or economic? Or moral? Or social? Or cultural? Do different groups define the problem differently?

Which smaller dimension of the larger policy area do you intend to research in the next two assignments?

1. What major policy actors are involved in the smaller aspect of the policy?
2. What attempts have been made within Australia broadly - and within your selected jurisdiction - to address the smaller policy aspect in the past?  Have there been or are there now different approaches to the problem in different Australian jurisdictions?
3. Identify a particular program addressing the smaller policy aspect that has been implemented in your chosen jurisdiction but about which questions have been raised about its adequacy. What deficiencies have been noted; by whom?

Note: this list is a minimum, not a maximum. The object of this assignment is to:

 (a)  establish a knowledge base upon which to seek a ‘better’ program from other jurisdictions which you will analyse in Assignment 2; and

(b)  establish a broad policy framework to enable you to consider whether the potentially ‘borrowable’ program (which you will identify in Assignment 2) might be successfully applied in your chosen Australian jurisdiction (Assignment 3).

Your initial sources for Assignment 1 are likely to be media reports, think tank or department reports, and government/ministerial statements, but these comprise only one aspect of the way the problem has been characterised.  Academic analyses and commentary should also be canvassed.

Assignment 1 should conclude with (a) a clear statement of the specific dimension of the broader policy area that you plan to research in the next two assignments; (b)  identification of the specific Australian jurisdiction into which you will attempt to transfer your ‘borrowed’ program; identification of the existing program which needs to be replaced and a statement of its perceived inadequacies.

Summary: Critical comparative analysis of a ‘similar’ program as applied in other  jurisdictions that address your chosen policy dimension and identification of and justification for the selection of the program from another jurisdiction that possesses the greatest potential for borrowing.

Assignment 2 requires you to identify and analyse programs that have been implemented in at least two other jurisdictions that addresses the problem addressed by your selected Australian program and to make a case for borrowing one of those programs. 

You and your fellow students are required to share - via the POL 802 iLearn website – basic information about program initiatives that you have discovered in operation in other countries concerning your chosen policy area.  Such information may be as basic as providing web addresses or citing relevant journal articles.

 While your investigation into the possibility of successful program transfer will involve a co-operative sharing of information, assignments will be individually written and assessed.

 Your sharing of information is to be complete: no student will gain additional credit for information they do not share.  What will be assessed is what each student does with the information.

 Your critical analysis in Assignment 2 should include – at a minimum:

 1.  A summary restatement of your conclusions from Assignment 1: e.g. a statement of the particular dimension of the policy area that is the subject of your research, the Australian jurisdiction into which ‘borrowed’ policy might be introduced and the program which is a candidate for replacement.

2.  A brief summary of the most useful program you have found in at least two other jurisdictions that have the potential to be ‘borrowed’ and a clear identification of which level or levels of government in the other jurisdictions are responsible for implementing these programs.

 4. A critical analysis of the particular program that shows the most promise-  in terms of transferring to your Australian jurisdiction -  including a discussion of the factors that have guided your decision.

 5. An evaluation of the way the program has been implemented and operates in the ‘exporting’ jurisdiction indicating, at a minimum:

-       the politics of its introduction

-       how long it has been operating

-       relevant characteristics of the jurisdiction in which it is operating

-       evaluations of its operation

-       debates about its operation.

Your emphasis in this assignment should be on points 4 and 5.

Provide a critical analysis of the prospects for success or failure regarding the transfer of your preferred program to your Australian jurisdiction.

Now that you have (a) identified a specific policy/program in an Australian jurisdiction (Assignment 1) and (b) chosen a particular program from a different jurisdiction because it seems to be a promising candidate for borrowing (Assignment 2), the final assignment considers the feasibility of actually borrowing the program and having it ‘work’.

This assignment requires you to critically examine the ‘receiving’ political arena in Australia.

 Assignment 3 should address, at a minimum:

1. A statement of the benefits which will accrue if the borrowed program can be transferred successfully into the relevant Australian jurisdiction.

2. A critical analysis of the major differences between the ‘exporting’ jurisdiction – i.e. the jurisdiction from which the program will be borrowed  - and the Australian jurisdiction into which the program will be transferred. 

 3. A critical analysis of the Australian political and institutional context in which the ‘borrowed’ program will be applied. Consideration of the feasibility of overcoming possible difficulties which might arise from these differences should be included.

 4. A critical analysis of the ways in which the program needs to be ‘tied into’ or ‘hooked up’ to the existing institutional arrangements in the Australian jurisdiction.

 5. A critical analysis of the politics of transferring the program:  which individuals and groups might support it and which might oppose it and why?  what are costs, and upon whom are these likely to fall?

 6. Your recommendation whether the relevant jurisdiction should proceed with the program transfer and reasons for your recommendation.

Note: You should consider the option of recommending that there should not be a transfer as well as the option of recommending that there should be a transfer.