position paper

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A detailed policy report that usually explains, justifies, or recommends a particular course of action.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun philosophy, government, public policy An essay or report which expresses a position, conclusion, or recommendation concerning a contested issue or undecided question and which usually contains arguments or reasons in support of this position.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a memorandum summarizing the items of an agreement (used especially in diplomatic communications)
• noun a report that explains or justifies or recommends some particular policy