Teaching the European Union: a Simulation of Council’s Negotiations

Abstract

Simulations can be extremely successful in acquainting participants with a negotiation's logic and process, especially in those political systems in which negotiations are prominent, such as the European Union (EU). After a brief introduction on the simulations in teaching the European integration, in this article we present, step-by-step, a simulation game on the adoption of a real piece of European legislation: the regulation that implemented the European Citizens' Initiative, one of the main innovations of the Lisbon Treaty. Special attention is devoted to the different phases of a simulation design, from the choice of the topic, the choice and allocation of roles, the preparation of all the necessary documentation, to the debriefing and assessment phases. The article originates from a 4-year long study with undergraduate students from two Italian universities.

Role-Play Simulation of Negotiations between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union: Teaching while Enhancing a Transnational Dialogue

“…Firstly, the RPS enhance transferable skills such as communication, retrieving and analysing information, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, public speaking, negotiating, leadership, time-management (Gastinger 2017;Guasti, Muno and Niemann 2015;Bursens 2015, 2014;Elias 2014;Van Dyke, DeClair and Loedel 2000;Dorn 1989). Individual psychological benefits are also pointed out, such as affective learning, interest and motivation, and student and teacher emotional satisfaction (Brom, Šisler, Slussareff, Selmbacherová et al 2016;Brunazzo and Settembri 2015;Jones and Bursens 2015;Kaunert 2009;Dorn 1989). Students also become active citizens (Van Dyke 2014) because RPS bring politics closer to them (Jones and Bursens 2015;Galatas 2006;Zeff 2003;Hess 1999;Dorn 1989).…”

“…Students' preparation is crucial for the success of both an individual participant and the RPS as a whole (Elias 2014;Kaunert 2009;Asal 2005;Switky 2004). Another major concern is how to measure the results of the RPS in terms of skills and learning outcomes (Brunazzo and Settembri 2015;Elias 2014;Raymond and Usherwood 2013;Chin, Dukes and Gamson 2009;Raymond 2008).…”

“…Experiments in political science were initially criticised on both practical (the difficulty of establishing a control group, insufficient representativeness etc.) and ethical grounds (Brunazzo and Settembri 2015;Lijphart 1971). However, they were gradually adopted as a legitimate method (Druckman, Green and Kuklinski 2011;McDermott 2002).…”

The Eu “Live” in Civic Education: To Experience and Understand the European Union in-Situ: A Model for and Experiences From Political Excursions and Thematic Seminars to and in Brussels

“…Muno & Prinz (2015) have done so with a focus on regulations in the policy-making process simultaneously with university students, and Brunazzo & Settembri (2015) by simulating the European Council's negotiations on the European's Citizenship Initiative innovation of the Lisbon Treaty for university students. Zeff (2003) did so by developing an in-class simulation with separate sessions covering different issues to model negotiations in the European Council to teach the complex processes of policy making and negotiations in the EU where institutional procedures are difficult to understand and where intergovernmental and supranational issues often conflict.…”

realising the potential of EU simulations – practical guidance for beginners

“…1680-4333/18 www.palgrave.com/journals move from hierarchical forms of teaching in which the instructor talks and thereby seeks to pass on information and knowledge to forms of learning in which the students become more active and act as agents of their own learning processes, whereas the instructor becomes someone who moderates and supports these processes rather than being the centre-stage (Usherwood, 2014). In this context, one of the forms of student-centred learning that has increasingly attracted attention in political science is that of simulations, with the growth in the number of publications dedicated to simulations being reflective of this development (for EU-simulations only, see Zeff, 2003;Switky, 2004;Galatas, 2006;Kaunert, 2009;Jozwiak, 2012;Asal and Kratoville, 2013;Raymond and Usherwood, 2013;Usherwood, 2014Usherwood, , 2015Brunazzo and Settembri, 2015;Fink, 2015;Jones and Bursens, 2015;Raiser et al, 2015). Indeed, in simulations, 'the classroom becomes an active learning center' (Zeff, 2003, p. 273).…”