In Democracy 3, you play the leader of an actual nation (for example, Canada) and enact laws and policies to improve the well-being of your citizens, so you can win reelection. You can enact all sorts of policies: social policies (for example, legalizing or banning recreational drugs), economic policies (for example, raising agricultural subsidies, lowering taxes), security policies (for example, domestic surveillance, privately-run prisons), immigration policy (for example, immigration tests), you can even control the amount of foreign aid your country gives. Policies affect your government's budget and also take a certain amount of your limited political capital to enact. Policies also affect voters’ well-being and perception of your government. Different voting blocks (for example, liberals, retired people, capitalists) react differently depending on the policy.

 

Democracy 3 is fun to play and is a terrific simulation of politics and policy implementation. I played it for about 10-15 hours and found it fascinating and very educational/thought-provoking. Even though I have a graduate degree in public policy, I learned a lot from Democracy 3 and definitely recommend it. It was very though-provoking to examine how the game simulates the interactions among different variable (for example, the effects of legalizing drugs on crime). Even when I disagreed with the model, it was a great learning opportunity to reflect on why I disagreed with it. Someone should create an online course on government where you play (and reflect on) Democracy 3, SimCity and Civilization!

 

Democracy 3 has a number of expansion packs: Social Engineering, Clones & Drones, Extremism, and Electioneering (which I haven't played yet). There’s also a new version/sequel titled Democracy 3: Africa (which I also haven't played yet).

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Resources:

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• A journalist used Democracy 3 to test the policy manifestos of the United Kingdom's major political parties.

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• I found a large number of policy-related massive open online courses (MOOCs) in the Class Central directory: economic policy, education policy, water policy, even a course titled Governance & Policy Advice: How Political Decisions Come to Life.

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