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Government 155

Readings:

Articles can be accessed online at: http://eres.olin.wesleyan.edu/
From the main library homepage (wesleyan.edu/libr) choose:
a. CTW Library Catalog
b. Located toward the top of the window, click on: RESERVE DESK
c. Located toward the bottom right quarter of a full screen click on the underlined words: ELECTRONIC RESERVE
Access to the readings will be password protected.  The password for each course is the instructor's last name, all lower case letters with no spaces (gallarotti).

The following readings will be used extensively and are recommended for purchase:
Robert Art and Robert Jervis, International Politics, Fifth Addition
Bruce Rossett, Harvey Starr, and David Kinsella, World Politics, Sixth Edition
Michael Mandelbaum, The Nuclear Future
Robert Kennedy, Thirteen Days

Requirements:
Final course grades will be based on two examinations (a midterm and a final), two papers, and class participation.  It is essential that you keep up with the readings so as to enhance participation, as well as avoiding excess reading before examinations and asssignements. The lectures and discussion will be based upon the readings for the day. Perperation sheets, which highlight the main topics of the day, will be available on the course homepage. The sheets will also serve as good study guides.

Examinations will be in essay form and will be based upon both the readings, and in-class lecture and discussion.  Grades will be assigned based on the following weights:  

  Participation 25%
  Paper 1 15% - Due on or before September 22

First Paper Assignment in Computer Simulation for Gov 155
You are now entering the world of simulated world politics. All of the simulations you face, whether they have to do with nations or not, confront foreign policy makers every day. The games you will be playing have been called the very essence of international politics, and even more generally have been referred to as the very essence of human interaction. Indeed, some believe t hat the solution to the Prisoners Dilemma would be the cornerstone of an orderly and stable international system. INSTRUCTIONS: Either click here to download the following files in zip format - Prisoners Dilemma (if you use this option, please save to a floppy disk and then using windows explorer, click on pd.exe to extract the files. Then proceed to step 8 in the following instructions. or Go to the PAC Data Lab with a 3-1/2 inch blank floppy disc. Choose any PC. Place a disk in the floppy drive. Get into NT Explorer and go to "DOSAPPS" on the V drive. Go to GOVTPROG/C&C/DATA (i.e., clicking on each sub-directory will give you a list in which subsequent dirctory is to be found and then simply click on it). Once in the DATA directory, select all of the files in that directory by clicking on the first file and then clicking on the last file while holding down the shift key. Now click down and hold the left mouse button down on the selected files and drag them over to drive A. Files will then copy over to the A drive. Now click onto drive A and you will get e list of files on A which you just copied. Click on C&C.EXE file and a sckreen asking you if you have color monitor will pop up. Punch in "N." You will now be brought into the game environment, the screen will have the names Oppeneheimer, Winer and LU on the top. You will be playing three simulated games in the following order: CLASS ARMG ARMGG Before you actually make your first move (which will happen later on), I would like you to think about the best strategy that you can use to get the highest score over all the rounds (for example, "in CLASS I will trust the other player to cooperate on all three rounds so that I will also cooperate on all three rounds" or "I will try to exploit the other on all three rounds") CLASS and ARMG each have three rounds: this means that you will play each game three times; I modified the game ARMGG to go on for many rounds but this is all you can be told about the game (if you play the game before a friend does, please don't tell her or him how many rounds ARMGG ran; and please don't try to find out because you may only be changing the game to your detriment). DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REVISE ANY OF THE GAMES After asking about your monitor, the screen will now ask which drive your data disk is in. At the prompt, enter the drive letter for your floppy disk (A or B), and hit return. This will be followed by the main menu popping up on screen. Get the brightly lit line on the screen onto the line where it says SELECT AND RUN A SIMULATION by hitting the arrow key, and then hit return. When the arrow is on the line, hit the return key and you will be prompted for a password: now punch in 12. You will now see a list of games, get the little arrow on the screen to the game CLASS (it will probably already be on the game), now hit return. You will now see a screen which is welcoming you to the game. Now keep pressing the PGDN key to flip through the pages of the game (reading each one carefully) until the screen tells you that you are ready to play the game. Now the decision screen will pop up: this screen represents the game itself. Read the screen and get a god understanding of the situation you face but don't select a move yet. Now press the F2 key to look at what kind of payoffs you can get, noting both your own score possibilities as well as your oponents; write these down on a piece of paper and then press the F1 key (or if you wish hit the key PRTSC and the contents of the screen will print out--AT ANY TIME YOU CAN PRINT OUT A COPY OF WHAT IS ON THE SCREEN JUST BY HITTING THE PRTSC key--also, a copy of all game screens are available at the Reserve Room under "Simulations"). This key will give you the work sheet, on the work sheet you can experiment with different strategies to see which one will get you the highest payoff (select Y or N for both yourself and your adversary to see what kind of payoffs you each will get); you can experiment for as long as you want (please note that there is a programming error on th work sheet for the game ARMG--the names of the players on the work sheet should read USA instead of USA CHINA USA) When you have selected the best strategy press F3 and play the game. Keep a record of your score and your opponents score after each round of play. You will only be given your score, so you must figure out your opponents score based on the payoffs page which you have written down. After the game punch in the code again 12 and then get to the EXIT TO DOS line. Get the record and compute 1) your average over three rounds, 2) your adversary's average and 3) the average of both your scores combined. (You can compute your adversary's payoffs by referring to the payoffs you copied down): in the game CLASS. The best an individual can do is an average of 0 and the worst an individual can do is to average -8: the best the group can do is to average -4 and the worse they can do is average -12; in the games ARMG and ARMGG the individual best is 200, the individual worst is 0; the group best is 200, and the group worst is 20. Compare both individual and group scores you get to the best and worst that can be gotten; Are they closer to a good score (you win) or a bad score (you lose) for you as an individual?; What about the score of your adversary?; and also assess the success or failure of the group score. DON'T WORRY ABOUT WINNING OR LOSING, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR GRADE. Turn off the computer and think about your experience.

PLAYING THE ARMG GAME
If you succeeded in the other game you can now try to outsmart your next opponent, if you did poorly in CLASS, you now face a new challenge. You need not format your disk again so just put arrow on simulations on the main menu. Run through all the steps that got you into the game menu and place the arrow to ARMG and play the game exactly the way you paced CLASS: keep pressing PGDN key till the game tells you to play, read the decision screen (F3 key), look at the payoffs and write them down (F2 key), try different strategies using the work sheet (F1 key), now play the game and add up the scores for you, your adversary and the group. See how good the scores are, who won and who lost. Stop the game by exiting to DOS, compute the average scores as you did for CLASS and think abut this experience. Follow all the instructions for playing ARMG, except now you want to play the game ARMGG. SEE IF YOU, YOUR ADVERSARY, AND THE GROUP DID BETTER ON AVERAGE IN THE GAME ARMGG THAN IN ARMG. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY THE RESULTS WERE DIFFERENT IN THE LATTER GAME?

ASSIGNMENT FOR PAPER #1
Write five page, double-spaced paper answering the following questions allocate two pages each to questions 1 and 2 and allocate one page to questions 3): 1) How are the experiences you faced in playing CLASS and those you faced in playing ARMG similar? How are they different? 2) If your average scores (individual and group) in the game ARMGG were different than those in ARMG, how do you account for the difference? 3) What is your solution to the Dilemma, if indeed there is a dilemma? Submit a record of your score and opponents score in each round of on all three games with your paper (just staple it to the back).

Final 20% - According to University schedule