Small Games “Making Time for Games: Long Versus Short IR Activities in the Classroom”

Games and simulations in the International Relations classroom can help to bring otherwise esoteric concepts to life. Active learning and international relations theory go hand-in-hand, whether you are teaching in a small liberal arts university or at a large state school. In this chapter, the three authors approach IR activities by engaging with the concepts of liminality, symbolic correspondence, and the theory of fun. There is an art and a science to managing long and short games. Some concepts and theories permit short illustrative activities, while other depend on building knowledge, relationships, and iterated play. Finally, the chapter explores four sample games (Model UN, Risk, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and Matching Pennies) to illustrate the idea that even one class period can be enough to explore IR concepts and substantive topics through engaging, interactive, and pedagogically-sound gameplay.