If the Lords Are So Revolting, Why Are Revolutions So Rare: The Peasant Game

• In Event: TLC at APSA: Doing Global Politics: Simulating the Dynamics of International and Comparative Political Phenomena

Abstract

Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote that “Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains.” While the former claim is contestable and gendered, the latter part of the quote is empirically true from slavery to economic exploitation and widespread oppression that occurs to this day. Despite this, history shows that very rarely will people pick up weapons and rebel against the powerful. We have often found students do not understand why this should be the case given the rights that all people should have. We use the peasant game exercise in class to shine a light on why most people most of the time when oppressed put up with it and choose not to rebel. The game is played in turns with some students as lords, who decide how the food produced will be divided up, and others as peasants, who produce “crops”. We discuss how the power differentials are pronounced and the difference they make. Students who play the game come away with a much better understanding that many people most of the time decide not to fight- even if it is the right thing to do.

Authors

• Victor Asal, University at Albany, SUNY

• Nakissa Puneh Jahanbani, United States Military Academy

• Charmaine Noelle Willis, University at Albany, SUNY

• Christopher Linebarger, University of Massachusetts Lowell