What pass for international relations in most undergraduate courses are really foreign relations. Students often examine transnational interaction from an ethnocentric perspective, accepting the values and assumptions of their own political culture, then superimposing them on other countries. If another state does not act in accordance with those values, its leaders are seen as irrational.

This ethnocentric analysis and teaching excludes a basic element needed to understand international relations--empathy, the capacity for participation in another's feelings and ideas. We may acquire empirical skills, knowledge about conceptual analysis, diplomatic history, international law, economics or communication theory, but if we lack empathy, we will never fully appreciate the subtle complexities of international relations. Students and teachers must be able to put themselves in the position of leaders from other countries, view the world from the perspective of these decision makers, and develop an understanding for the problems and opportunities they face.

This is the purpose of the International Conflict Simulation (ICS), a game of strategic interaction involving nation states in political conflict. It can focus on any region of the world: East Asia, the Balkans, Indochina, Latin America, Africa or the Middle East. It can entail historical events like the outbreak of World War I, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the 1973 Middle East War. It can examine contemporary negotiations involving trade, intellectual property rights, migration, human rights, environmental protection, or political-military crises.

Students in an introduction to international relations, diplomatic history, international economics, or international law class choose to represent countries from a list of states limited to the region involved in the ICS. After establishing their country team, they select decision making roles within the country: head of state or government; minister of foreign affairs, finance, trade, defense; ambassador to a specific country;or national security advisor. Students then prepare a research paper based on the perspective of the country they represent and the policy responsibilities of the roles they play within the state. They use sources from the simulated country as well as academic, scholarly work and news periodicals.

At the start of the International Conflict Simulation, they receive a scenario, which details a conflict or problem requiring negotiation and state action. Supervised by their head of state or government, they communicate within their country team to develop a response, then contact other states to negotiate. Each state moves in the ICS by submitting forms to the instructor: statements of intent for unilateral action, diplomatic moves for bilateral or multilateral agreements, and military forms for the threat or use of force. Once approved by the instructor, the forms are posted where students may examine them and determine their next country team action.

The object or the ICS is to give teachers and students an opportunity to simulate international disputes, policy making, and negotiations in a way that achieves a degree of empathy with state leaders, encouraging a better understanding of international relations.