Techniques for Addressing Issues of Civil and Political Rights and Genocide in the Political
Science Classroom: Role-playing, Empathy and Experimentation in Teaching Civil and
Political Rights
Mark Sachleben (Miami University)
218 Harrison Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
## email not listed ##
This is a report on the efforts of the author to engage students concerning various aspects
of civil and potential rights. This paper is not designed to be definitive; instead, the author is
attempting to engage other educators about methodology, techniques, and presentation in order to
foster a dialogue about teaching in social science classrooms. While the author’s research
interests are focused on human rights and international relations, the goal of the exercises is to
have students think more critically about the issues. It has been the author’s experience that the
nature of human rights abuses and genocide are such that students automatically and reflectively
denounce the actions. Very rarely do students think about how and why such events take place, or
what the implications might be for acting to stop such actions, or what the aftereffects might be of
these actions.
This report encompasses a number of experiences and experiments in different classroom
settings.
the study of genocide, and human rights in general. The assignments reflect an attempt to have
students think critically about issues in global politics that are often difficult to conceptualize,
such as policymaker’s choices concerning the environment, development and terrorism, as well.
It should not be assumed that every technique tried has been a success; this report highlights what
are believed to be the most successful.
I. Using alternative methods
As those of us who are interested in civil and political rights often point out, one of the
best ways to prevent the violation of rights is to educate people about their rights. In a domestic
setting, there seems to be a tendency for college students to believe that rights in the United States
are completely fulfilled. Additionally, as human rights regimes become more common in
international politics, it is incumbent on political science instructors to educate students on issues
surrounding human rights. Scholars are increasingly recognizing that traditional methods of
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Convention