Georgetown students act as ‘diplomats’ for one day

Student ‘diplomats’ were able to test their skills in conflict resolution and decision making at a recent international negotiation and crisis simulation exercise at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q).
Set in a hypothetical future, the eight-hour exercise was an introduction to strategic negotiations where participants were required to work as a team to address a challenge facing the international community. In this case, students represented delegations from India, Pakistan, Russia, China, the US, and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Democratic Party, who met for talks mandated by a United Nations resolution.
The role-playing exercise is designed to teach participants how to resolve complex issues with multiple stakeholders in a pressured environment. As each delegation received instructions from its ‘government’ on what outcome needed to be achieved, the students were given an intensive crash course on how to negotiate  mutually beneficial agreements.
The exercise was led by Professor James Seevers, director of studies at Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s main campus in Washington, DC, and Dr Christine Schiwietz, GU-Q’s assistant dean for academic  affairs.
“The international negotiation simulation is one of our flagship experiential learning exercises where students have the opportunity to apply their theoretical understanding of global politics to a near real-world situation in a scenario-driven gaming environment,” explained Schiwietz. “Passions run high and you can feel the enthusiasm and excitement all around - it truly is a  terrific day.”
GU-Q first year’s Salma Hassan (SFS ’20) was surprised at the complex and challenging environment presented by the exercise. “Even if it was just a simulation, I was under pressure knowing how much depended on my negotiation skills - in our case, the biggest threat was nuclear war. I am glad to have participated in this exercise because it gave me valuable negotiation skills.”
“The simulation offers a glimpse of the complexity of international negotiations, which is not found in textbooks,” explained Mohamed al-Jaberi (SFS ‘19).
The simulation is an annual event at GU-Q, which uses historical, predicted or current real-world examples focused on issues such as politics, security and humanitarian crisis to build students’ capacity in negotiation and decision-making.