Simulating the US National Security Interagency Process: Solid Foundations and a Method of Assessment
By William W. Newmann, Virginia Commonwealth University, William T. Christiansen, Mount St. Mary’s University
Simulations help students grasp the complexity of political decision-making. The paper introduces simulations of the US national security interagency process and assess the impact of simulations on student learning and perceptions of politics compared to lectures. Students develop a sense of confidence after lectures and readings reducing the perceived complexity of political decision-making. Participation in the simulation allows students to see complex dynamics in political processes that lectures and readings do not.
This paper considers the lessons learned from these simulations and provides an example of an assessment method. Two key lessons are highlighted. First, simulation preparation should be linked to class materials and learning outcomes, but also stand on its own as a valuable learning experience. Second, success in mirroring reality requires a careful, even rigid, simulation structure. The simulation assessment measures how well the simulation increased student knowledge of the national security interagency process, and how it may have changed student perception of the complexity of those decision making processes. The assessment methodology used here was limited by the low number of students in the class; it did, however, provide interesting first cut tests of hypotheses that could be tested in future iterations of this style of simulation.
In summary, the assessment demonstrated that students began the course with a perception that national security decision making was complicated and difficult; the lectures and readings reduced this perception of complexity; the simulations served to return student perceptions of complexity close to their original levels. These results suggest that simulations are important for capturing complexities within these that processes lectures alone cannot.
The decision to use a role-playing simulation in the class was based on two premises. First, active learning is a worthwhile method of student engagement. The ability to have students work together in small groups rather than receive information passively can be a crucial method of enhancing the learning experience. Classes on international relations and national security seem burdened with the need for a more traditional lecture approach. Students often have zero background on these issues. It is difficult to move toward an active learning approach until students have a level of information that allows them to think analytically about the myriad of issues that frame crises such as the Syrian Civil War or disputes in the South China Sea.
The study of national security decision making is essentially an examination of how governments solve problems. Giving students a hands-on experience of trying to solve a problem, that may be unsolvable, can be a valuable learning tool, as long as it is a tightly-managed simulation structure that highlights the complexity and frustration of decision making in an interagency setting, but does not allow the decision making challenges to overwhelm them.
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