U.S. school propaganda

TITLE: FOREIGN POLICY SIMULATION
 
 AUTHOR: Michael Sherwin, Crescent Valley HS
 Corvallis, OR
 
 GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: 9-12 / American Government
 
 OVERVIEW: This activity is a simulation in which students
 role play to solve various foreign policy problems.
 
 PURPOSE: This activity is intended to help students
 understand how various elements of the US foreign policy
 system operate and to give them practice in conflict
 resolution.
 
 OBJECTIVES: To provide an alternative to traditional
 teacher-centered or book-centered learning. To help
 students understand how complex foreign policy issues are.
 To help students test techniques of conflict resolution. To
 allow students to put what they have learned into practice.
 
 RESOURCES/MATERIALS: Reading guide and foreign policy
 scenarios. See Appendices 1 and 5.
 
 ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: Prior to beginning the
 simulation, we take five weeks to study the presidency,
 Congress, the press, and the Soviet Union to give students
 some background that will help them with this task. We also
 discuss current events, including foreign policy, on a
 regular basis.
 
To begin this exercise, I hand out a reading guide for the
chapter in the text on foreign policy. (Appendix 1) I ask
the students to write down enough information so that the
reading guide will be a useful tool to help them review the
material for this exercise and for the final exam at the end
of the semester. students have time tin class on Monday to
work on the reading guide.
On Wednesday, we begin the simulation. There are nine
different roles (see Appendix 2) for students to play and I
assign two or three students to each role, depending on the
size of the class. It is essential that the students who
take the role fo the press be gregarious and somewhat bold
since they have to ferret out information that others don't
particularly want to give them. I tend to put the sneakiest
students in the CIA and the most creative students in the UN
or Allies. The presidents need no be brilliant; the
advisors will tell them what to do.
Start announcing the roles students are to play and then
ask them to take five minutes to review the text pages which
explain their role to international relations. (Appendix
3). Next ask them to seat themselves around the room
according to a chart on the board so that others can find
them during the simulation. The teachers desk is the
Kremlin. (Appendix 4)
Hand out a set of three interrelated foreign policy
scenarios. (Appendix 5) These vary from year to year
depending on what is realistic, though extreme, foreign
policy problems. In the past, problems have concerned the
downfall of the Marcos regime, trouble in the Canal Zone,
unrest in Eastern Europe, and communists in Nicaragua.
I try to have the three problems somehow interrelated and
connected to the Soviet Union. I play the Soviet Union so
that I can, to some extent, control the pace of the
simulation - they can't solve all the problems in a quick
and simplistic manner because I throw enough realistic
obstacles in their way to keep them thinking.
Have students read the scenarios, assume that this is what
is in the morning's newspaper, and figure out what they can
do to solve these problems. Encourage them to discuss the
problems first in their small groups and then to confer with
others. While this is happening, talk with the press and
explain to them that their role is to gather information for
a news broadcast to take place the last five minutes of the
period. The press may include editorial commentary in the
broadcast as well as reports on the efforts to solve the
foreign policy crises.
While students are getting started, circulate around the
room, making suggestions where needed, reminding Congress
that the president must confer with them if we are going to
spend any money or introduce troops into a war zone,
reminding the allies that they have their own interests at
stake and that they are not simply pawns of the US.
After a while, several groups will develop plans of action
and may wish to negotiate with the Soviet Union. At that
point, I retreat to my desk, put on my Soviet Union hat, and
meet with either the UN, the allies, or the American
president. I refuse to meet with other groups ans am
especially wary of the press and the CIA. Usually, I am a
tough negotiator because I want them to have to think
carefully about their policies. (See Appendix 6 for sample
responses to typical student negotiating overtures.) In
some classes, students have been unrealistic about what the
other side will accept.
At the end of the first period, we have a five minute news
report on the day's events. This usually demonstrates
clearly the communications problems that plague complicated
negotiations.
At the beginning of the second class, remind students that
they have not yet solved all the problems and that they have
half an hour to finish. Then students resume the task of
solving the problems.
With about fifteen minutes left in the second period, stop
and have a second news report.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: Following the second news report,
take the last ten minutes to try to draw some conclusions
about what went well and what didn't. Also attempt to draw
some conclusions about foreign policy and conflict
resolution. Students generally have insights about the
importance of talking to all parties and communicating
clearly.
APPENDIX 1
 Reading Guide, Chapter 13 (from Richard Remy, Government
 in the United States, 1st edition)
 
 US Foreign Policy Goals
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
 President and Foreign Policy
 1. Constitutional Powers
 a.
 b.
 c.
 2. Head of State
 3. Advisors
 a.
 b.
 c.
 Congress and Foreign Policy
 1. Constitutional Powers
 a.
 b.
 c.
 d.
 2. Congress Weaker Than President
 a.
 b.
 c.
 d.
 Give one example which illustrates the influence of public
 on foreign policy.
 
 State Department - Functions
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
 Defense Department
 1. Civilian Control of the Military
 2. JCS
 Means to Achieve Foreign Policy Goals
 1. Alliances and Pacts
 2. Foreign Aid
 3. Economic Sanctions
 4. Military Force
 5. United Nations
 
 Definitions
 1. isolationism
 2. Monroe Doctrine
 3. Cold War
 4. containment
 5. collective security
 6. deterrence
 7. detente
 
APPENDIX 2
ROLES FOR FOREIGN POLICY SIMULATION
President
Presidential Advisors
CIA
Defense Department and JCS
State Department
Congress
United Nations
US Allies (Western Europe and Japan)
The Press
The Soviet Union (played by the instructor)
APPENDIX 3
Foreign Policy Readings (from Richard Remy, Government in
the United States, 1st edition)
Review the following pages in the text to help you
determine what actions your group might take.
President 204 - 206, 313 - 316
Presidential Advisors 224 - 225, 315
CIA 241, 315
Dept. of Defense, JCS 321 - 324, 328
Dept. of State 319 - 321, 328
Congress 139, 316 - 318
American Allies 324 - 327
Mass Media 576 - 579
United Nations 328 - 331
APPENDIX 4
 SEATING FOR SIMULATION
 
 
 
 SOVIET
 UNION
 
 PRESIDENT* DEPT. OF DEFENSE PRESS
 
 PRESIDENTIAL DEPT. OF STATE AMERICAN
 ADVISORS ALLIES*
 
 CIA CONGRESS UNITED
 NATIONS*
 
 * Can meet directly with the Soviet Union
 
 
APPENDIX 5
HYPOTHETICAL FOREIGN POLICY CASES
THE SOVIET UNION - Mikhail Gorbachev has been removed from
office after a coup by Kremlin hardliners. The new
president and Communist party general Yegor Ligachev has
ordered Soviet troops to crack down on Lithuania, Georgia,
and other breakaway republics. In violence reminiscent of
that in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Hungary in 1956 Soviet
troops massacre thousands of people who demonstrate for
freedom. Lithuanian president Landsbergis escapes to the
American embassy where he applies for political asylum. The
Soviets threaten further reprisals against Lithuania if
Landsbergis is not turned over to them, charging that he has
committed crimes against the state by heading an illegal
independence movement.
WESTERN EUROPE - Following the coup to remove Gorbachev from
office, Ligachev has ordered Soviet arms control negotiators
to take a hardline position in talks with Americans.
Despite the fact that some Soviet troops have been removed
from Eastern Europe, the CIA reports suspicious troops
movements in the former Warsaw Pact countries. And, in what
the Soviets refer to as "normal naval exercises" large
numbers of ships and submarines are detected on the coasts
off NATO countries. Meanwhile, the Soviets complain that
the US has not followed its pledge to halt production of
chemical and biological weapons and is continuing to produce
chemical weapons at what the US refers to as a "fertilizer
plant" in Dubuque.
MIDDLE EAST - Following the collapse of the Middle East
peace conference, Israel decides not to allow a Palestinian
state on the West Bank and, with the approval of the US,
uses harsher measures (rumored to include chemical and
biological weapons) to break down the Palestinian uprising.
In response, Arab states threaten an oil boycott of the US
(which is already suffering since a second tanker accident
completely blocked the flow of oil from Alaska). The Soviet
Union is aiding the boycott by purchasing oil from the
Arabs. It is reported that, in return for this help, the
United Arab Emirates will allow the Soviet Union to
construct a major naval base on the Straits of Hormuz,
giving the Soviets control of the Persian Gulf, the source
of much of the world's oil.
APPENDIX 6
SAMPLE RESPONSES BY THE SOVIET UNION
UN: We'd like to talk to you about the unrest in the
Baltics.
USSR: You know that we are a peace-loving nation. We seek
freedom, prosperity, and happiness for all peoples of the
world.
UN: But you are killing people in the Baltics.
USSR: That is an internal affair of the Soviet Union. Do I
go to the United States and tell them that they are wrong to
allow homeless people on the street or to discriminate
against blacks? No! So how dare you tell me what to do in
my own country?
UN: But you say you are for freedom and the Lithuanians
want to be free.
USSR: Wouldn't you agree that Abraham Lincoln was a great
man? And what was he trying to do? Simply preserve the
Union. I regret that there has been some minor loss of life
in Lithuania, but I, too, like Abraham Lincoln, am simply
trying to keep out union together. Those radicals in the
Baltics are trying to break our country apart.
 ***********************
Allies: We are very concerned about the ships and
submarines massing off our coasts.
USSR: Why? They are doing nothing.
Allies: But this seems to be a threatening move. Get them
out of there!
USSR: Listen. You know that international waters start
twelve miles off shore. My ships are staying in
international waters. They have a right to be there. Don't
tell me what to do.
Allies: But couldn't they be somewhere else?
USSR: Do I demand that the American submarines which ring
mu country be removed from international waters? No! I
simply request the same treatment and consideration which
other countries receive.
Category:Dissolution of USSR