The use of simulations has increasingly gained momentum as a way of captivating students' attention and enhancing learning in the classroom. However, despite its increasing use as a teaching tool, only recently have scholars increasingly empirically considered how the use of simulations may impact student learning. Moreover, whereas qualitative…

This article explores the hidden educational potential in the board game "Diplomacy." While commonly recognized as a good low-cost negotiation simulation and a useful teaching platform, the original game version over-emphasizes the conflictual nature of international relations and presents an image of international relations that is not…

Literature on simulation games stresses both the need for objective assessment of pedagogical effectiveness and the concern that such assessment may not be happening because it is too difficult. This article speaks to both points by presenting an approach to objectively assess the effectiveness of a simulation called the Human Rights Foreign…

Although deterrence was one of the cornerstones of the international relations field for much of the 20th century, today surveys demonstrate that most students lack even a basic understanding of this concept. Yet, in the light of recent events on the Korean Peninsula, in China, and the post-Soviet space, our civilian and military leaders continue…

Professors of international relations are increasingly realizing that simulations can be a fun and effective way of teaching the complexities of the field to their students. One popular simulation that has emerged in recent years--the "Statecraft" simulation--is now used by more than 190 colleges and universities worldwide. Despite…

A simulation of the foreign policy decision-making process, as described in this article, can assist an instructor in linking students' abstract understanding of complex political events, circumstances, and decision making to the real-world interplay of the multiple factors involved in decision making. It is this type of active learning that helps…

Describes a college course which uses a national approach to the teaching of international politics. Students are grouped into "country teams." Each country team publishes an analysis of its nation's foreign policy. Country teams participate in other activities including press conference simulations and an inter-nation simulation. (RM)

Describes a simulation based on strategic arms limitation talks. The simulation was successfully used in a freshman-level introductory political science course to help students understand the importance of negotiating and understanding other points of view in international relations. (DB)

Presents a simulation which examines the complexities of governmental machinery and the government's decision-making process. As the first in the American Foreign Policy Simulations series, this exercise in negotiation and compromise seeks to explore the potency of official roles in contrast to belief systems in foreign policymaking. (GEA)

Describes a simulation designed to teach college students in an undergraduate political science course about foreign policy decision-making, conflict, and conflict resolution. An evaluation of role simulation as a teaching technique is included. (Author/DB)

Summary and evaluation of a simulation game developed for a second-year undergraduate international politics course at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. Purpose of simulation was to provide students with insight into nature of national relations through their own participation in a similar process. (ND)

A simulation designed for an introductory college-level international politics and comparative foreign policy course is described. Regional Crisis requires student decision-maker diplomats, grouped in teams, to respond to a Middle Eastern crisis that has substantial potential for escalation. In response to an initial crisis scenario, student teams…

The simulation game "Conflict", stressing decision making in foreign policy, has several specific objectives which are: 1) to demonstrate the complexity of decision making in foreign policy; 2) to raise questions on foreign relations; 3) to make students aware of problems in world affairs; 4) to help students understand relationships…

Presents a simulation used in a political science course on U.S. foreign policy in which college students role play National Security Council members and government officials during a hijacking incident. Analyzes four groups' responses to the exercise. Suggests the simulation involves students in crisis decision making, developing better…

This document describes a National Security Council (NSC) role playing exercise designed to introduce students to the complexities and dynamics of U.S. foreign policy crisis management. Based upon the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) program, "In the Face of Terrorism," this classroom exercise casts students as NSC team members charged…