Paper

However, policy memo does not automatically mean current issue. That is, while most students will choose a contemporary issue to analyze, there is no reason that you cannot adopt the same format for an historical problem or issue. For example, you could decide to do your analysis/recommendations on the early Cold War, and position yourself as a top foreign-policy adviser to Roosevelt or Stalin. Or you could pose as an adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev or Boris Yeltsin, on their late 1980s or early 1990s foreign policies. More typical, of course, are current policy issues analyzed from various national perspectives.

Here are some ideas for paper/memo topics (see below). While meant to inspire your own ideas, there is no reason not to select one of these if you like the topic.

Memo to President Trump on the Ukrainian crisis and future relations with Russia

Memo to Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner (Chair and Ranking Member, US Senate Intelligence Committee) on Russian cyber-interference in US and European elections, recommended countermeasures

Memo to the Prime Minister of Norway (or any other Arctic Council member) on the challenges of dealing with Russia in the Arctic

Memo to Federica Mogherini (EU foreign policy chief) on the performance of economic sanctions against Russia and recommendations for the future

Memo to the Secretary General of NATO (Jens Stoltenberg) on progress and pitfalls in NATO expansion in the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia)

Memo to the EU parliament on policy toward human/sexual trafficking from the

ex-USSR and Eastern Europe

Memo to Chancellor Merkel (German leader) concerning reliance on Russian gas imports and the challenges of energy security

Memo to President Putin on Russian policy toward environmental problems

Memo to President Nazarbaev (Kazakhstan) on balancing between Russia and China

Memo to Russian Prime Minister Medvedev on joint US-Russian efforts to combat international organized crime

Memo to the US Ambassador (in Moscow) on policy supporting Russian democracy

Memo to Chechen leaders in 1990 (i.e., on eve of USSR breakup) on a strategy for achieving Chechen independence

Memo to Baltic leaders in 1992 (i.e., at the outset of independence) on relations with their Russian minorities and recommendations for their future management