This short piece introduces four articles from a roundtable discussion on Small States and the Global Economic Crisis at the 2011 General Conference of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) in Reykjavik Iceland. The discussants were each asked to consider the role of size and EU membership in determining the effect and response of small states to the current economic crisis. The lessons learned from the exchange are conditional: it is very difficult to generalise about the effects of either size or EU membership when considering small states and the global economic crisis.

What factors contribute to the small state experience in economic bad times? What tools do they have to respond? What are particular small state issues in these circumstances? Does EU membership matter to small states (does it expose them to a harsher crisis; and/or restrict their options to deal with the crisis)? What is the role of trade, economic activity, EU governance and regulation, as well as the EU response to the crisis? How does being a member of the euro area differ from being outside the euro area? I review the economic experience of euro area countries, countries outside the euro area and some non-EU countries. This study shows that small states have different ways to deal with the crisis. There does not seem to be one major lesson to be learnt about the way in which they cope.

Political economists usually study small states to understand the secrets behind their success. This article examines the reasons for their failure. Greece is the most obvious example of a small state that has not managed to navigate the global economic and financial crisis successfully. But Greece is hardly alone. Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, and Portugal have also struggled in the crisis although they have little in common with Greece. Meanwhile, countries that share many Greek characteristics, such as Italy, managed to hold out much longer. This suggests that the explanation for small country failure is structural rather than country-specific. The implication is that all countries are potentially at risk.

International organisations have considered national unity a necessary prerequisite to maintaining political stability and restoring economic growth in countries facing severe economic crisis. The European Union and the International Monetary Fund promoted such unity in Greece when making stabilisation packages available during the country's sovereign debt crisis in 2011–2012. Focused on the conditions under which diverse political groups can credibly coordinate their economic and political strategies, this article examines domestic and international factors that impact the prospect of political unity in Greece and small European economies. Anchored in the historical institutionalism tradition, it finds that political unity in small European economies has been consolidated during periods of economic growth and when complementary international institutions existed, but has regularly been undermined in countries experiencing the opposite conditions, including Greece. National unity in Greece over the long term requires domestic reforms, but such reforms will not be sustainable without external economic growth and a multilateral architecture that incentivises economic groups to share the benefits and costs of structural reform. Since the latter conditions are not ones that a small country itself can produce, sustained political unity rests as much with the actions of big economies as it does with Greece overcoming the historic legacies of its particular model of capitalism.

The article identifies a number of fundamental flaws concerning the Icelandic government's economic handling and administrative working practices, which contributed to the scale of the 2008 crash. At the same time, it argues that the authorities altogether failed to take account of the risk associated with the country's small size during the Icelandic ‘outvasion’. It claims that small-state studies need to move back to the basics and consider the original small-states literature, such as the small domestic market, the use of a small currency and the weaknesses associated with a small public administration, in order to fully understand the reasons for the Icelandic economic meltdown. A small state needs to acknowledge its limitations and take appropriate measures to compensate for them.

A characteristic of recent decades of scholarly work in the social sciences has been the increased amounts of empirical research. Access and availability of data are prerequisites for further research, replication work, and scientific development. As international peer-reviewed journals have gradually become the central forum for research debate, moves towards data sharing are dependent upon the policies of journals regarding data availability. This article examines contemporary data availability policies in political science and investigates the extent to which journals adopt such policies and their content. It also identifies a few factors associated with the existence of such policies.

Increasingly, simulation-based teaching and learning is finding a place within politics and international relations (IR) programmes. The majority of literature on this style of teaching and learning has positioned it as both an aid to content delivery and as a response to the many challenges facing contemporary higher education. Little guidance is given, however, to the practical considerations of using simulations as a component of assessment or as informing assessed tasks. This article draws upon the experience of the authors in adapting the well-established Model United Nations (MUN) simulation programme for delivery as an assessed module at a British university. This has involved balancing institutional teaching, assessment and validation requirements with the successful simulation of diplomatic practice. The article introduces the MUN simulation and explores the extant pedagogic literature encouraging the use of simulation-based learning in IR curricula, before moving on to provide an overview of the rationale for the various decisions the authors have made in adapting the simulation for delivery as an assessed curriculum component. The article asserts the value of introducing assessed simulations within IR coursework and provides guidance on how student performance in pedagogic simulations might best be assessed.

Recognising that the world into which students emerge upon graduation is characterised by constant change, we embrace a critical pedagogy that can be implemented in the classroom through the use of freehand drawing. Freehand drawing is a technique that can stimulate a critical stance, as visual representations allow us to comprehend the world differently, while permitting us see how others understand the world. First year students, in their first lecture, were asked to draw their interpretations of Irish politics and to explain in writing what they had drawn. The students were then placed in groups and asked to note what they saw in each other's drawings, allowing for the identification of general patterns and themes. In this context, freehand drawing facilitates our ability to: ‘see’ how we understand a topic and that there are multiple ways of understanding; test theories, orthodoxies and accepted truths; scrutinise tacit assumptions; and ponder other possibilities. In employing freehand drawing in this manner, our aim is to create a learning environment where students develop their capacity for critical self-reflection.

This article introduces an innovative approach to the role-play teaching technique: one driven by the presence of substance incentives. We analyse the effectiveness of this incentive-driven role-play approach in the engagement of students with International Relations and Security Studies seminars. We assess its usefulness on multiple fronts. We propose that incentive-driven role-play is an effective method of teaching that caters for students’ different learning styles, particularly in theory topics. Its interactive component makes theory tangible for students, allowing them to grasp why certain actions are taken and the consequences of these actions. The use of incentives was found to be important in ensuring motivation, participation and providing easily understandable outcomes that can be transferred to the theory they were studying. This article also highlights the practicalities involved in incentive-driven role-play exercises, noting the importance of clear instructions and precursor lectures on the subject matter.