POSSIBLE STATES.Comparative politics simulationsHow to use this
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ON YOUR OWN TERMS

Start with a question.
See where it takes you.

Choose a question. Start with one activity; continue the route whenever you want. Make decisions, compare explanations and see what the evidence changes.

Choose a route ↓Browse every solo activity →

CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND

Find a way in.
No required order.

These are suggested connections,
not a tested curriculum or a checklist.

01

Start with a better question

How do I know what the evidence supports?

Begin with a public claim, then examine a controlled model. Practice giving an explanation something specific to answer for.

Start with one activity. Continue in another sitting if you want to compare methods.

Begin with Hold the Headline

Before you beginNo advance reading required. The Evidence Lab is an optional warm-up, not a prerequisite.

  1. 1
    Hold the Headline

    Choose records that distinguish rival accounts and decide which headline the evidence can support.

    45–55 min · planning estimate
  2. 2
    The Square

    Move from an unfinished record to a programmed model. Ask what a controlled comparison can establish and what it leaves out.

    45–55 min · with optional discussion
AFTERWARD, ASK YOURSELF

What changed your mind: another observation, a better comparison, or a different assumption? Name one uncertainty that remains.

Explore further:The Evidence Lab ↗OpenStax ↗
02

Follow power into institutions

Who can govern, and who can make a promise happen?

Distinguish continuing authority, administrative capacity and government survival. Similar-looking failures can have different causes.

A route across several sittings. The Power Circuit itself has three resumable acts.

Begin with Protection, Inc.

Before you beginNo specialist knowledge or advance reading is required. Introductory explanations appear within the activities.

  1. 1
    Protection, Inc.: The Price of Power

    Investigate which arrangements continue when the leader changes.

    45–55 min · planning estimate
  2. 2
    The Overloaded State

    Follow a policy into implementation, diagnose a bottleneck and propose how to evaluate a reform.

    This inquiry is self-paced; completion time has not yet been measured.

    Self-paced inquiry · timing not yet measured
  3. 3
    The Power Circuit

    Compare who forms and removes governments under three institutional rulebooks.

    Plan more than one sitting. Classroom timing is still being piloted.

    Three resumable acts · pilot timing pending
AFTERWARD, ASK YOURSELF

Was the problem a lack of authority, implementation capacity or political support? Explain why changing a leader would, or would not, address it.

Explore further:Constitute ↗Inter-Parliamentary Union ↗World Bank Open Data ↗
03

Look beyond the word democracy

What has to work for democratic promises to mean something?

Begin with usable access, then investigate democratic meanings and public interpretations. Keep the measure separate from the concept.

Begin with the first investigation. The later activities can be explored separately.

Begin with A Door That Says Open

Before you beginNo specialist knowledge is required at entry. Select Name the Problem’s comparative case when you reach that step.

  1. 1
    A Door That Says Open

    Connect a formal right to the practical conditions that allow someone to use it.

    About 55 min of active work
  2. 2
    Everyone Says Democracy

    Ask what agreement with a survey label does and does not establish.

    Self-contained research explanations are included. Timing has not yet been measured.

    Self-paced inquiry · timing not yet measured
  3. 3
    Name the Problem

    Make the evidence and democratic benchmark behind a public interpretation explicit.

    Choose the comparative case; use Core guidance if you want more support.

    About 50 min · allow time for reflection
AFTERWARD, ASK YOURSELF

Which indicator or observation would make you revise your judgment? Explain the aspect of democracy it actually measures.

Explore further:V-Dem ↗International IDEA ↗Constitute ↗
04

Ask who gets to belong

How do boundaries and citizenship rules organize a shared life?

Start with a household and its public services. Then compare historical arrangements and, optionally, test a charter of your own.

Manytide and Reply Across each have a 45–60 minute planning estimate. Greenovia is a longer optional synthesis, estimated at 85–110 minutes.

Begin with Manytide

Before you beginManytide needs no prior theory. Before Reply Across, read the short nation/state bridge below or another introduction to nationalism. Read the short concept bridge ↓

  1. 1
    Manytide

    See how records, resources and jurisdiction affect the same household.

    45–60 min · optional +10 min
  2. 2
    Reply Across

    Advise Canada and India before hindsight, then reconsider your prediction beside the historical record.

    First distinguish nation, state, self-rule and minorities within a region.

    45–60 min · optional +10 min
  3. 3
    Greenovia: The Belonging Test Optional synthesis

    Use a new family case to test the principles and burdens of your own citizenship rules.

    Allow a longer sitting or save and resume. This is a synthesis, not a required gate.

    85–110 min · take-home estimate
AFTERWARD, ASK YOURSELF

Who becomes less visible when you describe the country as one nation, one region or one household? Identify an institutional consequence.

Explore further:World Regions Lab ↗Constitute ↗

A LITTLE STRUCTURE. NO ENROLLMENT.

One simulation is
a good beginning.

  1. 01Choose a question that interests you. One simulation is a complete place to start; the sequence is optional.
  2. 02Use the brief and support inside the activity. Save a progress backup before changing devices or clearing browser storage.
  3. 03At the end, save a report for yourself and answer the route’s reflection question. There is no automatic grade or certificate.

A SHORT BRIDGE BETWEEN ACTIVITIES

Before Reply Across: nation, state and self-rule

A nation is a political community whose shared identity can support a claim to collective self-rule. A state is an institutional organization exercising public authority across a territory. The two do not necessarily coincide: a state can contain several national communities, and a national community can extend across states.

Self-rule can take more than one institutional form. When a territorial arrangement protects a regional majority, ask who becomes a minority inside that region. Your task is to compare the consequences of an arrangement, rather than assume that every national claim requires the same solution.

These are starting distinctions for the route, not a complete theory of nationalism. Reply Across is best approached after a basic introduction.

Optional deeper reading: nationalism and self-determination ↗

POSSIBLE STATES / GET YOUR BEARINGS

The world
behind the case.

Catch up, refresh, explore. World Regions Lab brings maps, guided practice, stories and country comparisons into your political toolkit. Follow a place from a reading or wander into a better question. English and Spanish.

Get your bearings A companion for preparation, review and curious detours. Start wherever you are.

Keep the thinking.
You don’t have to submit it.

Save a readable report for yourself. Progress backups let you resume in the same activity. There is no automatic grade, certificate or account tracking your route.

Saving, reports & starting again →