The fields of international relations and comparative politics are increasingly taking sub-
state nationalism and ethnic politics into account. This trend extends even to introductory
textbooks. Yet students in introductory political science classes often enter relatively unaware of
global events (Kille, 2002: 272). Ethnic conflict is inconceivable to them because most have only
experienced American identities, which are for the most part both civic and accommodative rather
than ethnic and conflictual (Ambrosio, 2004: 287). Moreover, I have found that many of my intro-
level students come with their own biases. In my students’ mindset, revolutions, ethnic violence,
and repression occur in “other places,” where “those people” live.
Given this worldview, one of the principle objectives of this simulation is to explore the
conditions under which ethnic conflict can erupt. Many scholars have noted with interest the study
by Boyer, Caprioli, Denemark, Hansen and Lamy stating that students “retain 10% of what they
read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what
they say, and 90% of what they do and say together.”
In addition, simulations in introductory
classes have the added benefit of increasing participation and enthusiasm among students who may
take the course to fulfill a college requirement, rather than out of personal interest (Newmann and
Twigg 2000). Others have documented the effectiveness of simulations as teaching tools through
their own research (see Asal 2005, Kille 2002, Brown & King 2000).
Simulations seem to fall into two broad categories: case-specific models, in which students
research and portray specific actors or nations, usually in an effort to gain an understanding of a
specific process or institution (for examples, see Switky 2004a, 2004b, Gibler 2004, or Chasek
2005, not to mention the plethora of Model UN or EU simulations); or non-case approaches, in
which students take the part of actors in fictionalized settings, often in an attempt to understand the
theory behind a specific practice or understanding (for examples, see Thomas 2002, Kille 2002, or
Because of the nature of ethnic conflict, I chose a non-case simulation to
illustrate the problems of ethnic conflict instead of relying on traditional lecture, reading and
discussion for two reasons.
First, some simulations provide useful ways to introduce very unfamiliar subject matter
and quickly gain familiarity with it (Zeff 2003: 265-6). While this simulation generally follows a
series of readings on ethnic conflict, most students are not familiar with the details of what
constitutes an ethnic group. My own experience has shown that using case studies of Yugoslavia’s
1
Indeed, I first became aware of this study because it was cited on a graduate school syllabus as the
professor’s rationale for incorporating case studies.
2
In addition, there are a variety of “games” which seem to have nothing to do with theory but may occur
within a class to prove a point. See Asal, 2005.
Convention