STRT 265: Business Government Relations

One “issue-tracking” forecasting project (30%),

The issue-tracking forecasting project requires you to choose an unsettled political or regulatory issue in the U.S. or abroad: e.g., a pending court case, a pending bill, an unsettled election, or a pending international agreement. You will undertake a presentation to the class on the results of your issue-tracking paper. Please use citations, footnotes, or other standard bibliographic notation. The issue-tracking project is a good opportunity to learn about the practice of business-government relations in Washington or elsewhere.

Here are a few guidelines for the final paper. By 27 November, I will want a double-spaced paper, of no more than 1200 words of text (word count please). Please provide an overview of the legislative, executive branch, or court activity in the area of your research, with your analysis of what political economic forces are at work. Please make a forecast about the likely outcome of the events. When relevant, I expect you to use class readings as part of your analysis. Remember to tell me/us what political and economic forces are at work!; who the parties of interest are!; what laws are relevant! In all cases, please use standard bibliographic practices. You may use either point cites (e.g., Jones 1995,
p. 17) or footnotes. Full bibliographic entries are required in the reference section, which need not count toward the page limit. Charts, tables, graphs, and so forth are welcome and are to be included as part of the page limit.

The final results of the paper will be presented to your classmates in class on 27 or 29 November. Please do not miss the presentations of your colleagues. An “initial” presentation of your topics and questions –one minute each!- is now scheduled for 20 November.