TEACHING COMPANION / NO ACCOUNT NEEDED
The Repression Trap
The streets are full. Why is the president still in power?
Civil resistance, institutional dependencies & repression · 45–65 active min · planning estimate
Learning goals
- Distinguish public attention, movement endurance and enacted institutional noncooperation.
- Trace an actor, a dependency and a behavioral change while accounting for unequal costs.
- Explain contingent responses to repression and the scope of a one-episode support-package comparison.
- Separate promises, verified gains, leadership turnover, a negotiating opening and democracy.
Before the activity
Self-contained introduction to civil resistance. Definitions, evidence and context are supplied; a tablet or laptop helps with the final argument.
Syllabus description
Lead a movement through five decisions about rallies, workplace refusals, repression and political offers. Track whose cooperation changes, sustain participants, and test the same move under a different outside-backing package. A promise, a leader’s departure and democracy are different outcomes. Students produce field report with forecasts, first explanations, revisions, a changed-setting comparison and a transfer argument.
Discussion prompts
- Which institution changed what it did, and whose cooperation mattered?
- When did greater attention leave pressure unchanged, or a useful response coexist with a net loss?
- What did the changed-setting replay hold fixed, and which components remain inseparable?
- What was implemented or remains unconfirmed, and what would test a rival explanation?
What to assess
Assess the actor-dependency mechanism, specific evidence and its status, costs, a plausible rival with discriminating evidence, thoughtful revision and transfer. The writing-first report retains all original evidence and revisions. A favorable political ending and completion word floors are not learning grades.
Limitations
Lydora, its events, people, indices and numerical relationships are invented. The replay switches a support package, not treasury finance alone. Reach combines attention and relationships. This short domestic scenario is not a model of occupation. Timing and learning effects require classroom piloting.
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 Repression Trap: Teaching companion,” Possible States, https://possiblestates.com/teaching/repression-trap. 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
Lead a movement through five decisions about rallies, workplace refusals, repression and political offers. Track whose cooperation changes, sustain participants, and test the same move under a different outside-backing package. A promise, a leader’s departure and democracy are different outcomes. Students produce field report with forecasts, first explanations, revisions, a changed-setting comparison and a transfer argument.
Questions for a discussion board or class debrief
- Which institution changed what it did, and whose cooperation mattered?
- When did greater attention leave pressure unchanged, or a useful response coexist with a net loss?
- What did the changed-setting replay hold fixed, and which components remain inseparable?
- What was implemented or remains unconfirmed, and what would test a rival explanation?