• Define the problem
• Gather evidence
• Identify causes
• Evaluate a policy
• Develop solutions
• Select best solution
• Benefits & Costs
• The Prince System
• Political Strategies

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Describing a Political Strategy

You are now ready to select specific actions to increase the support for your player's position on the issue. Your goal is to take actions that move players on the Prince Map so the situation becomes more favorable to you:

• If your goal is to increase the chances that the policy will be implemented, move as many players as possible toward the upper right-hand corner of the map.
• If your goal is to reduce the chances that the policy will be implemented, move as many players as possible toward the lower right-hand corner of the map.
• For players that have a firm position opposite to yours, move them as far toward the left-hand side of the map as possible.

Your strategy need not cause a complete shift; any movement in the direction indicated above is an improvement.

To move players around on the Prince Political Map, four basic strategy goals are available:

• Add new players that will occupy the position you want on the map or delete players that now occupy positions on the map that are undesirable from your point of view
• Change the issue position of players
• Change the power of players
• Change the priority of players

In planning your strategic action, it is important to distinguish between strategy goals and the strategies to achieve these goals. Strategy goals include various desired changes that would alter probability as you wish it to be altered. Strategies are the specific actions you decide to take to achieve your goals. For example, a goal might be to raise players' priorities. The strategy to achieve that goal might be to issue a statement to the news media that will raise the players' priority levels.

Strategies for Achieving Strategy Goals