PS: Political Science & Politics

Table of Contents - April 2009 - Volume 42, Issue 02  

The Teacher

Simulating the Foreign Policy Decision-Making Process in the Undergraduate Classroom

Julie A. Logginsa1

a1 Western Carolina University

Abstract

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 bring a student's abstract understanding into the concrete world. Instead of being passive learners relying on an instructor's knowledge, students are active participants in the learning process.

Julie Loggins is an international relations scholar. She is currently ABD at the University of South Carolina where she has been recognized for exemplary teaching in the undergraduate classroom and is a visiting assistant professor at Western Carolina University. She may be reached via e-mail at jaloggins@wcu.edu.

Footnotes

I would like to thank Sally Hansen of Daytona State College for her comments and continued feedback on the development of this simulation as well as her comments on multiple manuscript drafts. Additionally, I would like to thank the department of political science at the University of South Carolina for the many teaching opportunities I received so that I could develop, enhance, and use this simulation in the classroom. The students who participated in the simulations provided essential feedback for its continued improvement and should be recognized for their valuable contributions to the experience of those who followed them. Lastly, yet certainly not least in importance, I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editorial staff at PS: Political Science and Politics for their valuable critiques, commentary, and assistance.

Metrics
0Comments