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.

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BiographiesSimon Obendorf was educated at the University of Melbourne where he read for undergraduate degrees in political science and in law before completing a PhD in international relations theory. He teaches and researches in the fields of international relations, postcolonial studies, and gender and sexuality.Claire Randerson studied history and politics at the University of Lancaster and international studies at the University of Birmingham before taking up a lecturing position on the international relations degree at the University of Lincoln. She teaches and researches in the fields of international relations, EU politics and genocide studies. AbstractThe authors of this paper introduced an assessed Model United Nations simulation as a core component of the undergraduate politics and international relations programmes at the University of Lincoln. The authors use their experience of creating and delivering this module to reflect upon the institutional implementation of a student as producer agenda to guide curriculum development and pedagogy. They conclude that many existing trends in the teaching and learning of politics and international relations are congruent with the emerging focus in British higher education on research-engaged teaching and learning and the development of students as producers of knowledge. They conclude by suggesting that these priorities are perhaps best implemented at degree programme level and that they should take greater account of a broad notion of internationalisation and the value of simulation-driven teaching and learning.

Purpose – Accession to the European Union is one of the most powerful foreign policy tools exercised within the European arena and enlargement negotiations have been a major stimulus to reform in Central and Eastern Europe. Conditionality has evolved as over time into a dynamic instrument used to ensure that new members are sufficiently prepared to take on the responsibilities of EU membership, whilst also satisfying existing member states that new members will not prove too burdensome. This paper aims to examine some of the lessons learnt from the first stage of the Fifth Enlargement and the stricter use of conditionality mechanisms for Romania, Bulgaria and beyond. \ud Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on interviews with EU officials involved in the enlargement process. \ud Findings – The article finds that the use of conditionality in the 2004 enlargement has had a far from uniform effect on candidates and policy areas and that the commission has learnt much from this experience. The integration of Bulgaria and Romania will offer more significant challenges and conditionality has evolved as a mechanism to address these. \ud Originality/value – The article offersboth an empirical as well as theoretical evaluation of the use of conditionality in the context of the EU enlargement process

This article examines attempts by the European Union to promote the convergence of the central and easternEuropean states, and looks at two instruments used in its pursuit: the conditionality requirements for membership of the EU, and the convergence criteria for membership of economic and monetary union. Using Hungary as an example, it demonstrates that there are times at which these instruments are effective; but at other times, they are undermined by the more pressing need to address domestic political priorities. It concludes that in the longer term, the need to comply with the convergence agenda is likely to take precedence.