Who can decide, whose agreement matters, and who bears the cost? An organic, in-class federalism simulation in which groups govern one fictional country through a river dispute, unequal clinic resources and a teacher-licensing dilemma. Earlier choices become the rules for later decisions. No prior learning or advance student preparation is required. Created by Yoav Duman.
45–50 minutes4–6 students per groupNo prior learningProjector + printed handoutsInstructor-led
What happens in the room
Decisions become institutions.
Each table becomes Aven, with one national government and three regional governments. Students begin with a short country briefing and a role priority. They negotiate who controls river decisions, then use their actual rule when a flood threatens homes and farms. A clinic-funding choice separates equal resources from central control. A teacher-licensing dilemma asks how regional autonomy can coexist with fair treatment for a minority within the region.
The simulation develops organically through the group’s choices. A decision about authority changes the next decision’s possibilities. There is no single winning constitutional arrangement. Students explain what their actual institutions enabled, whose agreement mattered, and who bore a cost.
What students learn
How protected national and regional authority differs from permission that ordinary national law can withdraw.
How self-rule and participation in common government work together in federalism.
Why unequal budgets and unequal formal powers are different questions.
How fiscal equalization can preserve regional control, and why regional autonomy still raises minority-rights questions.
How to explain an institutional outcome with evidence and a causal mechanism.
Canada and India appear after the federalism concepts and before the independent Pelar transfer task. The final written finding asks for a benefit and cost of an actual decision, linked to the rule that produced it.
For American politics: use this as an introductory federalism exercise alongside your U.S. material. Aven’s agreement rule is fictional. The activity does not reproduce U.S. amendment procedures or teach specific U.S. constitutional clauses and case law.
The complete instructor package
Open the guide. Run the class.
The ZIP includes every file below, the cover artwork and a short start-here file. Timings stay in the instructor guide, teaching script and PowerPoint speaker notes.
Student printing: three pages per person.
One country and region briefing page, plus the two-page response form. Print the form on two sides if convenient. The second case-facts briefing page is excluded. Later case facts appear on the slides.
Instructor guide
Learning goals, setup, the complete timed plan, decision rules, case logic and assessment cues.
Editable PowerPoint with embedded fonts and instructor notes. Both unnumbered opening questions are already in place. PDF provides the presentation layout for projection.
Created by Yoav Duman. October 2026 instructor edition. Retain the creator credit when sharing. The schedule is designed for a 50-minute period, with a 45-minute pacing adjustment in the guide. Timings are estimates. Cover: symbolic AI-generated editorial collage.
The Shared Country · Federalism simulation | Yoav Duman
