This article is an assessment of a simulation designed and reported by Sadow, Jordan, and Sanchez-Navarro (1989) and which is used to teach the art of diplomacy. Three courses using it have been conducted, and through them common problems and decisions have surfaced. This article looks at ways to product a simulation of the highest possible quality, given the goal of modeling correctly the political behavior it is designed to teach —the course Conflict and Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. The material provides instruction for international political interaction of a highly unstructured nature, which should be the guiding philosophy behind simulations to model it.

Skinner and Klinkner (2004) argue that attitudes reflecting racial prejudice were present in the 2003 Louisiana governor’s race, and were even stronger in north Louisiana. Utilizing as did they aggregate data with an approach that better fits theory and available data, this study shows that they overstate the significance and importance of presumed racial prejudice in the election, especially statewide. Across the state, attitudes reflecting racial prejudice had no impact on the vote decision, and where they did in north Louisiana, the effects were small enough that they did not change the outcome of the contest. However, using individual-level data showed that partisan effects strongly controlled voting in this contest; in fact, non-Republicans displayed a chauvinistic tendency in their voting while a Republican partisanship negated this effect. Conflating various meanings to variables and inferior indicators explains the less-valid results and interpretations achieved by the use of aggregate data compared to the individual-level data.

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As the computer more and more becomes a tool to further quantitative political science research, the data analysis function threatens to overshadow the use of computers as information processors. Among the many functions of contemporary computer software is the ability to move text from user to user. These packages, available on almost any mainframe system, generally take the form of “electronic mail” systems and have proven invaluable for academics in communicating with each other around the world, making information thousands of miles distant seem located just around the corner.Mail systems do not diminish in utility even when used just around the corner. Users recognize the benefit of distant information acting as if of local origin, but should not miss the converse. Information local in nature, in using mail systems, can appear to originate from sources far away if the users choose to view the information in that fashion. In essence, mail systems provide the means to model a framework simulating interaction among international political actors.Thus the computer provides an ideal instrument to model diplomacy in the classroom and can aid instruction on the concept of diplomacy. When taken in the abstract, it seems difficult to teach diplomacy. Several questions arise concerning the concept's place in academia. First, why teach it? The answer lies in the state system. Nations behave as to achieve goals. War presents the starkest and most violent means to attain them, but nations often can eschew war and pursue goals by peaceful meansn—diplomacy. To creditably teach the behavior of nations requires investigation of diplomacy.

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