Launch
🌍 Mini Summit Negotiation Challenge
Content Expertise
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Self Directed Learning
Collaboration
Effective Communication
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.10
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.7
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.11-12.1
Reflection
Core Content
Project Launch
Essential Question
Submission Required
You take on a country or international actor role card and negotiate a fast agreement on climate, migration, or trade using a one-page interest brief, a shared draft agreement sheet, and live bargaining notes. Midway through the summit, new constraints are added such as conflicting national interests, weak enforcement, or pressure from an international organization or NGO. You then debrief by identifying where anarchy, interdependence, actor motives, and enforcement limits shaped the outcome and record those observations in your Investigation Notebook.
Plan day
Day 1
Duration
90 min
Grouping
Whole Class
Steps
8 steps
Lesson plan
8 steps · 90 min| # | What teachers do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Launch the challenge by introducing the summit issue, posting the negotiation goal, and framing the central problem: how to make decisions and agreements without a single world government. Review discussion norms, diplomatic language stems, and the materials you will use: role card, one-page interest brief, shared draft agreement sheet, bargaining notes, and Investigation Notebook. (10 min) |
| 2 | Distribute roles and let everyone independently read and annotate the role card and interest brief. Ask participants to identify their actor type, top interests, non-negotiables, possible allies, and one likely conflict, then write an opening claim in their bargaining notes. (12 min) |
| 3 | Open the first negotiation round. Invite each actor to give a brief opening statement, then begin table negotiation to propose terms for a shared agreement on the selected issue. Capture emerging compromises and disputed points on the shared draft agreement sheet. (18 min) |
| 4 | Pause for caucus and alliance-building. Have participants meet with likely partners, compare priorities, revise their strategy, and add evidence-based argument points or amended language to their bargaining notes before re-entering the summit. (10 min) |
| 5 | Introduce a mid-summit disruption such as conflicting national interests, weak enforcement, pressure from an international organization, or an NGO demand. Resume negotiation with the new constraint in place and require participants to revise or defend agreement language based on the updated conditions. (15 min) |
| 6 | Move to final decision-making. Ask the group to attempt a final text, identify which actors support it, and note which parts are voluntary, vague, enforceable, or unresolved. If no full agreement is reached, record the best partial agreement and the main reason for breakdown. (10 min) |
| 7 | Facilitate a debrief focused on anarchy, interdependence, actor motives, power, rules, and enforcement limits. Prompt participants to cite moments from the summit that show how decisions were made, whose interests shaped the outcome, and why implementation would be difficult. (8 min) |
| 8 | Close with notebook reflection and project inquiry setup. Have participants write evidence-based observations, generate one focused investigation question for the larger project, and identify one skill they used in collaboration or negotiation that they want to strengthen. (7 min) |
Preparation (10 items)
- Select one summit issue for the launch session: climate, migration, or trade, and define a clear negotiation goal that can plausibly lead to a short draft agreement in one class period.
- Create or print role cards representing a mix of states, an international organization, and at least one transnational actor or NGO so the range of international actors is visible during the simulation.
- Prepare a one-page interest brief for each role that includes priorities, constraints, motives, relationships, and key vocabulary such as anarchy, interdependence, norms, enforcement, and self-interest.
- Prepare a shared draft agreement sheet with sections for goals, commitments, enforcement or monitoring, unresolved disagreements, and signatories.
- Prepare bargaining notes templates with space for opening claim, evidence, allies, tradeoffs, revised position, and final reflection.
- Prepare Investigation Notebook prompts that ask for evidence of anarchy, interdependence, actor motives, power, decision-making, and enforcement limits, plus one self-generated investigation question.
- Write 2-3 mid-summit disruption cards that introduce new constraints such as domestic political pressure, resource scarcity, noncompliance, weak enforcement, or advocacy pressure from an NGO or international organization.
- Post or project sentence stems for diplomatic negotiation, disagreement, compromise, and evidence-based claims to support structured discussion.
- Arrange the room to allow both full-summit discussion and quick caucus meetings, and decide how the shared agreement text will be visible to everyone.
- Decide in advance how roles will be assigned and prepare a quick support plan for participants who need vocabulary scaffolds, reduced text load, or speaking supports.
Student-facing instructions
You will take on the role of a country or international actor in a fast summit negotiation about climate, migration, or trade. First, you will read your role card and one-page interest brief, then identify your priorities, non-negotiables, likely allies, and one opening claim in your bargaining notes. During the summit, your task is to negotiate a shared agreement by listening closely, responding to competing claims, proposing compromises, and using evidence from your materials to justify your position. Midway through the challenge, new constraints will appear, and you will need to revise your strategy. You will use these materials throughout the activity: your role card, interest brief, bargaining notes, the shared draft agreement sheet, and your Investigation Notebook. Your goal is not just to reach a deal, but to test how international politics works when actors have different interests and there is no single authority that can force compliance. At the end, you will debrief what happened and record observations and one focused investigation question in your Investigation Notebook.