TEACHING COMPANION / NO ACCOUNT NEEDED
The Shared Country
One river. Three regions. Who gets the final say?
Federalism, authority & territorial diversity · Self-paced solo edition · timing not yet measured
Learning goals
- Distinguish decentralization from constitutionally protected authority.
- Explain fiscal equalization and the position of minorities within regions.
- Trace how an earlier allocation of authority shapes a later conflict.
Before the activity
No advance reading. Read each government’s priorities and construct plausible positions on your own.
Syllabus description
Take the national and regional governments’ perspectives as a flood approaches, clinic budgets diverge and a license is refused. Choose how power is shared, then live with the rules you set. Students produce constitutional choices, government positions and an individual explanation.
Discussion prompts
- When was consultation enough, and when was agreement required?
- Who was a minority within a region rather than within the country?
What to assess
Assess who has authority, which agreement is required, and who bears the cost. A persuasive policy preference alone is insufficient.
Limitations
Aven is fictional. You construct the government positions yourself; there are no live peers or automated negotiating agents. The solo edition illustrates authority and tradeoffs, not real bargaining behavior. Timing has not yet been measured.
Credit & permissions
Created by Yoav Duman. Free educational use, sharing and hosted embedding; software rights reserved. Software, artwork, branding and third-party materials are separate; see the full reuse information.
Suggested citation: Yoav Duman, “The Shared Country: Teaching companion,” Possible States, https://possiblestates.com/teaching/the-shared-country. Include your access date.
ASSESSMENT & SUBMISSION
Grade the explanation.
The interface has no opinion.
Set an endpoint, ask for the activity’s readable report, and use your existing LMS. Students can use Print / Save as PDF where a separate download is not offered. A progress backup is for restoring work, not grading it.
A suggested 10-point rubric
For each criterion: 0 = absent, 1 = partial, 2 = clear and supported. Adapt the weighting to your course; this is guidance, not automatic scoring.
- Concepts / 2
- Use the relevant political concept accurately.
- Evidence / 2
- Support a claim with a specific record or comparison.
- Mechanism / 2
- Explain how the rule or arrangement produces a consequence.
- Revision / 2
- Address a rival account or explain a change of mind.
- Limits / 2
- State what the model or evidence cannot establish.
Say this before they begin.
- Choose For class and follow the instructor’s endpoint.
- Save a progress backup before moving devices or changing website address.
- Open the readable report and check the required responses.
- Upload it to the course assignment. Check the LMS submission confirmation.
Switching from exploration keeps the current work, but skipped class responses may still need completing. A local report cannot establish authorship or make an activity tamper-proof.
Prepare an assignment to share.
Edit this text, then copy it into Canvas or your course website. These edits stay in this tab.
Syllabus description & discussion prompts
Syllabus description
Take the national and regional governments’ perspectives as a flood approaches, clinic budgets diverge and a license is refused. Choose how power is shared, then live with the rules you set. Students produce constitutional choices, government positions and an individual explanation.
Questions for a discussion board or class debrief
- When was consultation enough, and when was agreement required?
- Who was a minority within a region rather than within the country?