Peacekeeping the Game

Abstract

Political science students face the difficult challenge of understanding the obstacles to resolving intrastate conflict. Often, instructors will use negotiation-based role-playing simulations to model arduous discussions between the warring groups and intervening parties. However, the long-term challenges of directing peacebuilding and ensuring security are equally important parts of intrastate conflict resolution that remain unaddressed in current simulations. The design of simulations with board-game-like rules for teaching about intrastate conflict has also been unexplored. This paper lays out a new type of simulation with board-game-like rules that present realistic obstacles to students as they try to balance the various needs of their assigned state. A detailed discussion of the significance of each of the game rules and potential applications of the simulation is included.The cessation of civil war requires a daunting and complex set of factors. Since a majority of such conflicts end in military victory rather than negotiated settlements (Walter 1997:335), the process of maintaining negotiated agreements is particularly challenging, often requiring assistance from third parties and solid institutional design. Furthermore, a nation emerging from years of internal conflict almost always needs to reconstruct its political and economic institutions with the help of economic aid (Collier 1999; Collier and Hoeffler 2004). As such, undergraduate students face the challenge of uncovering strategies for laying the infrastructure to support a truly lasting peace. In order to convey those challenges, the simulation described in this article appoints each participating student as the leader of such a war-torn nation, executing a peace agreement within that nation with the help of third-party peacekeepers and economic aid. Within this context, the simulation forces students to make key decisions about how to manage reconstruction while at the same time maintaining security. Like all models and simulations, liberties need to be taken to both simplify game play and create excitement that will capture the students' attention. Ultimately, however, students walk away with greater understanding of how arduous peacekeeping and reconstruction missions can be.In the article that follows, I develop a simulation that highlights the importance of post-conflict security and reconstruction in building long-term peace, while at the same time using a style of game play that resembles conventional

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