Comparative Politics Coalition Building Simulation (Germany)

This exercises simulates the coalition building process after elections in a multiparty democracy (Germany). Students will bargain based on simplified positions in order to form a majority coalition government. It is designed to take 45-60 minutes (including a debriefing).

The “character sheet” template could be adapted to other countries, and it can be run in small groups with one person per party or with multiple students forming the leadership of each party. The uploaded versions of the instructions are 1) for an online, synchronous class in small groups and 2) for a large, in-person class doing the simulation all together.