A Classroom Simulation of the Syrian Conflict

Abstract

This article describes a semester-long classroom simulation of the Syrian conflict designed for an introductory international relations (IR) course. The simulation culminates with two weeks of multi-stakeholder negotiations addressing four issues: humanitarian aid, economic sanctions, ceasefire, and political transition. Students randomly play one of 15 roles involving three actor types: states, non-state actors, and international organizations. This article outlines the costs and benefits of simulation design options toward encouraging students’ understanding of IR concepts, and it proposes a course plan for tightly integrating lectures, readings, assessment, and simulation—regardless of class size or length. We highlight this integration through a discussion of two weeks’ worth of material—domestic politics and war, and non-state actors—and the incorporation of bargaining concepts and frameworks into the two weeks of simulated multi-stakeholder negotiations.

Assessing negotiation skill and its development in an online collaborative simulation game: A social network analysis study

“…To address the challenges, simulation games are introduced in teaching negotiation skills, such as the ubiquitous Model United Nations (United Nations, 2022). Political simulation games often provide immersive learning scenarios where individual students and student groups can experience situations that are foreign to their lives, solve “authentic” political problems through active negotiations and communications with peers, and “see” the consequences of both individuals' and groups' decisions and actions (Coffey et al, 2011; Frank & Genauer, 2019). They can also experiment with different negotiation skillsets in the simulation games without fear of making mistakes (Cicchi et al, 2021; Lee & Hammer, 2011).…”

Un(COIL)ing the Pandemic: Active and Affective Learning in Times of COVID-19

“…First, because COIL projects can focus on everyday topics that are relevant to students' lives, instructors and students can deepen their academic discussions by bringing them into the conversation. Although simulations also provide this opportunity, they often focus on institutions such as the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and European Union (Frank and Genauer 2019;Shaw 2020), which are not (yet) part of students' everyday experience. Embedding COIL in daily life, therefore, assures students' interest, and the cross-border cooperation allows them to widen their horizons and deepen their understanding of the impact that politics has on their daily life.…”

Tick, Tick, Boom: Simulating Human Rights Decisions in the Classroom

“…They also "develop their communication, negotiation, and critical-thinking skills, and in many cases, improve teamwork skills" (Asal and Blake 2006). Simulations have been applied broadly: in the human rights realm, instructors have used them for the creation of human rights treaties (Kille 2002), health crises and restorative justice (Propst and Robinson 2021), peace processes (Frank and Genauer 2019), and counterterrorism operations (Siegel and Young 2009).…”