These last two classes have been a combination of everything I love. I’m a double major in poli sci and sociology, so this class has been my favourite of the semester and this last week really married my interests and provided perfect closure to a great semester.
In my group, we discussed several different approaches to defeating or taming the Guerrilla in Simulafri. In the final moments, we settled on an initiative that incorporated them into our growing army in positions of power, on the condition that they were closely monitored. That alone wasn’t enough: to try and avoid a coup at all costs, we would have to negotiate. Guerrilla leaders are happy in their positions. They have prestige, power, respect, control; they have everything an army life could give them- albeit in a much less moral form. We discussed this and decided that in order for the rebels to begin transitioning to our side we would have to provide them with extensive training and educational initiatives that explained why government control of the natural resources- the main concern of the guerrilla- was best for everyone in Simulafri. While this is obviously an incredibly simplified version of a complex situation the idea that, through educational initiatives, people with completely different goals and customs could reach an understanding that allows them to present a cohesive, united front struck me with an interesting thought about the Simulafri project as a whole.
Simulafri was designed to help us, as university students, learn and understand the ins and outs of aid and development. I just wonder what would happen if you took an activity like our 2.5 hour Simulafri session and turned it into a week long seminar where members of a First World government took part in a similar exercise where they were given data of a country in the global South and forced to deal with problems that country deals with, their economy, their conflict, their unemployment, their development plans.
Obviously this is unrealistic. I mean, for one, the Canadian government has some fairly important decisions to make and probably doesn’t have time for simulation games. And these people are professionals who deal with issues I’m sure I can’t even imagine. But I can’t help but wonder, if it were taken seriously, what the outcome would be. We hear so much about struggling populations, struggling economies, and while Canada certainly donates money and time to the cause, it would be interesting to see how our government officials would react if they were faced with a massive influx of Guerrilla soldiers, where foreign aid accounts for over 36% of central government spending, and where the population sports a 6.5% AIDS rate and only 52% of that population works in any kind of formal tax-base applicable capacity. Could the Simulafri project, on a much bigger scale, change the way people think about these little countries far, far away from our comfortable Northern home?
emryan22 