Model Diplomacy
We first piloted the Council for Foreign Relation’s Model Diplomacy multimedia simulation in 2017 as a voluntary option for all of our graduate level students. My commitment to educational innovation and the development of an enhanced skills programme was an excellent fit with the blended-learning platform CFR provides. Students also felt that this would be a unique opportunity to build their executive skills, broaden their perspectives, and apply the material they learn in class to a comprehensive simulation. Throughout two terms students worked independently and as a team on the Russia and NATO in the Baltics simulation, where ethnic tensions had grown leading to a Russian special operations unit has to cross the border and the Latvian prime minister declares a state of emergency. Acting as an expanded US National Security Council, our graduates had to work quickly to establish if this was Russian aggression against a NATO ally. The policy briefs that were produced by the participants are available here along with their testimonials.
Dr Oz Hassan, event convener.
