Not one giggle betrayed the scene as students discussed, negotiated protested, opposed and voted on fictional NATO matters as ardently and fervently as if real lives were at stake. And really, seing the students sitting huddled behind laptops in large horse-shoe assemblies wearing solemn expressions on their faces, one could easily think dirty bombs were really going off in Tel Aviv. Fortuneately, it’s all a game. Although a serious one:
- The simulation aims to educate students about NATO – about its resources, functions, mechanisms – and international relations as well as democratic processes. The broader purpose is to draw attention to simulation as an educational method, and so far it has been a great success, explains project manager Andre Lipand.
The simulation took place in 24.- 29. February, and was the second one arranged in Estonia. After the success of Model NATO Estonia 2007 and the positive feedback the organizing team received from the embassies participating 2 years ago, it was decided to go for another round.
Realism
In order to give a more realistic experience, the simulation of the work in two NATO committees was augmented by pre-event study and briefings at several embassies of NATO member states and in the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Norwegian Ambassador met with the Estonian students tasked with representing Norway and Denmark, and briefed them on Norway’s current interests in terms of national security and foregin relations.
- The embassies of the NATO member states have been most helpful, and of course we partially owe our success to their effort, says Lipand, who is particularly pleased with the level of realism achieved by this year’s simulation. He explains that one measure taken to ensure realism was to ensure that the Estonian students socialized in groups mirroring how countries that share cultural and traditonal relationships often operate in the real NATO.
- For instance, already from the first day, before the simulation had started, I made sure that the Norwegian and Danish delegations worked together in the preparation process. This, I had foreseen, would make them them tie social bonds that would come into play during the simulation, ensuring that they would ask informal advice from each other rather than from more distant countries, he says.
The project has received funding from The EEA Grants NGO Fund through the NGO Children of the Earth. Financial support was also provided by The Open Estonia Foundation, European Youth program, the Nordic Council of Ministers’Office in Estonia and the student councils of Tallinn Technical University and an The University of Tartu.
Mission Accomplished
Model NATO Estonia is a competitive simulation, in which the participants strive to act as authentically and effectively as possible in achieving the goals set to them by their role. The best informed and most authentic representatives was awarded for their efforts to make the experience as true to the actual proceedings of NATO as possible.
- And in that regard it has been a success, almost scaringly so, says Lipman, smiling, before he explains that one student asked whether the incoming pre-produced “breaking news”, detailing a dirty bomb going off in Tel Aviv, was real or not.