Social media holds the potential to foster dialogue between nations and foreign populations. Yet only a few studies to date have investigated the manner in which digital diplomacy is practised by foreign ministries. Using Kent and Taylor’s framework for dialogic communication, this article explores the extent to which dialogic communication is adopted by foreign ministries in terms of content, media channels and public engagement. The results of a six-week analysis of content published on Twitter and Facebook by eleven foreign ministries show that engagement and dialogic communication are rare. When engagement does occur, it is quarantined to specific issues. Social media content published by foreign ministries represents a continuous supply of press releases targeting foreign, rather than domestic, populations. A cross-national comparison revealed no discernible differences in the adoption of dialogic principles. Results therefore indicate that foreign ministries still fail to realize the potential of digital diplomacy to foster dialogue.

This paper is based on a cross-national experimental study conducted among American, Turkish, Israeli-Jewish, and Israeli-Palestinian students using a computer game called "PeaceMaker." The game is a highly realistic and complex simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. PeaceMaker was used for educational and experimental purposes in a classroom setting and each student played the game in both Israeli and Palestinian decision maker roles. Our purpose was to evaluate the game's effectiveness as a pedagogical tool in teaching about conflict and its resolution, especially with regard to generating knowledge acquisition, perspective taking as a crucial skill in conflict resolution, and attitude change. We were also interested in understanding whether these effects changed depending on whether the participants were direct parties to the conflict or not. In order to gauge the effect of the game in these areas, we used a pre-and post-intervention experimental design and utilized questionnaires. We found that the game increased the level of knowledge about the conflict for the Israeli-Jewish, Israeli-Palestinian, American, and Turkish students. We also found that the game successfully contributed to perspective taking among Turkish and American students only on a contemporary issue related to the conflict.Keywords: conflict and negotiation teaching, computer-based simulations, active learning and teaching, Israeli-Palestinian conflict As a method of "active learning and teaching," 2 simulations have become one of the most widely used pedagogical tools in the teaching of conflict analysis and resolution. Role plays and simulations are also used in the teaching of international relations and crisis decision making (for example, Hermann 1969;Lantis 1998;Boin, Kofman-Bos, and Overdijk 2004;Asal 2005;Lay and Smarick 2006;Gehlbach et al. 2008), but it is the skills training aspect (for example, negotia-1 The authors would like to thank Ruveyda Celenk for her contributions to the study during the collection of data.2 Active teaching and learning is defined as a pedagogical approach that aims at replacing the traditional lecture-discussion-based instruction with a more student-centered approach. It aims at teaching critical thinking skills and the construction of knowledge where students are encouraged to take part in an experiential learning environment (Krain 2010

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Interactive conflict resolution and peace education have developed as two major lines of practice to\ud tackle intractable inter-group conflicts. Recently, new media technologies such as social media, computer\ud games, and online dialogue are added to the existing set of tools used for peace education. However, a\ud debate is emerging as to how effective they are in motivating learning and teaching skills required for\ud peace building. We take issue with this question and have conducted a study investigating the effect\ud of different conflict contexts on student learning. We have designed a cross-national experimental study\ud with Israeli-Jewish, Palestinian, and Guatemalan undergraduate students using the Israeli–Palestinian\ud and Guatemalan scenarios in the computer game called ‘‘Global Conflicts.’’ The learning effects of these\ud scenarios were systematically analyzed using pre- and post-test questionnaires. The study indicated that\ud Israeli-Jews and Palestinians acquired more knowledge from the Guatemalan game than Guatemalans\ud acquired from the Israeli–Palestinian game. All participants acquired knowledge about proximate\ud conflicts after playing games about these scenarios, and there were insignificant differences between\ud the three national groups. Israeli-Jews and Palestinians playing the Israeli–Palestinian game changed\ud their attitudes about this conflict, while Guatemalans playing the Guatemalan game did not change their\ud attitudes about this case. All participants changed their attitudes about distant conflicts after playing\ud games about these scenarios

This study investigates the learning outcomes of a computer game, called Global Conflicts, simulating the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The research compares learning outcomes of Israeli–Jewish, Palestinian, Turkish, and American undergraduate students, differentiating between direct and third parties to the conflict. Learning is measured by (1) knowledge acquisition about the conflict and (2) attitude change regarding the conflict. Findings show that participants acquired knowledge about the conflict after playing the game. The game minimized the knowledge gap between third parties to the conflict (Americans and Turks) but not between direct parties to the conflict. In addition, direct parties to the conflict did not change their attitudes toward the conflict and the Gaza operation of 2012, while the attitudes of third parties became more balanced. This study has implications for the scholarship on pedagogy and teaching assessment in the context of peacebuilding. It is part of a series of studies analyzing the effects of computerized simulations on peacebuilding, and further research is necessary to understand under what conditions technology can be used as an effective peacebuilding intervention.

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