DICTATORS & FINDING THE INSURGENT: THREE GAMES ON OPPRESSION & RESISTANCE

Abstract

In this paper we lay out three exercises that can be used in class to illustrate to students the challenge of oppression and the choice of resistance. These games have been used effectively in classes related to comparative politics in general and in classes that focus on oppression and political violence. The first exercise The Dictator Game, is one where the students are told they are living in a dictatorship where the group they belong to is being discriminated against and being oppressed. The second exercise, Finding the Insurgent, is one where the students are not part of resisting an insurgent organization and are told that one of the people in the class is an insurgent and they need to figure out who the insurgent is.