ICONS User Manual: Structure of an ICONS Simulation

Preparation

As we have indicated, the most typical setting for participation in an ICONS exercise is a course in comparative foreign policy, international politics, or current events. The simulation then becomes part of the substantive content of the course itself, as concepts developed in lectures and readings are employed by students during their participation in the exercise.

It is most beneficial to have approximately 6 weeks of preparation before the simulation begins. This is not always necessary, but we have found that both students and faculty need a relatively long stretch of time for preparation. The key to preparation for the exercise is the scenario, which is given to all participating faculty members at the beginning of the semester. Each student should receive a copy of the scenario. The scenario, to be addressed later in more detail, lays out the basic assumptions about the international system and the major actors and issues, serving as a guide for the students in their preparation. It will outline the issues and actors in the simulation. (Examples of recent scenarios can be found on the ICONS website at http://www.icons.umd.edu.)

Students should then begin general research into the foreign policy of the nation they will represent. The scenario will help guide the students in terms of the key issues to be addressed, the major actors, and the current policy strategies. During this part of the semester, at least a portion of the lectures should be devoted to issues in foreign policy decision-making, such as the relative impact of personality, domestic, economic, and international factors on the shaping of foreign policy.

Once the scenario has been read and absorbed by the students, the second task in this phase is the preparation of a position paper. The position paper, which is discussed below, is meant to spell out the particular country-team’s positions on the issues raised in the scenario. Since the scenario is set approximately six months int he future, the position paper will have to deal both with the status of the country’s current policy as well as its proposed policy initiatives. It is meant to be a rough policy guide for the team during the course of the exercise, and should remain confidential. This document must be prepared prior to the start of the exercise itself.

A third aspect of the preparatory phase is the question of organization (again, to be dealt with below). By organization, we mean the division of the country-team members into functional specializations, so as to optimize the personnel at hand. Thus, after some common readings and group discussions at the beginning of the semester, the team members will divide into groups on the basis of issues, regions, upcoming negotiations, etc. We have found that this is the best way for students to utilize the limited personnel and time at their disposal, during both the preparation and simulation phases.

Another set of activities to be undertaken during this preparatory phase has to do with acquiring familiarity with accessing the World Wide Web and the ICONSnet system. While none of this is very difficult in and of itself, and many students may arrive in the course with considerable computer skills, it pays to spend some time on this so that all students are functioning at an adequate level prior to the beginning of the exercise.

During the preparation phase, it is of vital importance that faculty read their mail on the faculty communication system at least once a week. ICONS staff will use the "faculty community" to alert you to important simulation developments, such as scenario updates and conference schedules.