Key abbreviations:
Diplomatic Activity Report (DAR), Diplomatic Event (DE), Economic Resources (ER), Military Resources (MR)
Trade offs and State Game points:
Nations/actors earn points for meeting their assigned event objectives and their nation/group's needs for stability while remaining consistent with their professed ideology. Event Objective Points vary based on the relevant impact/value of an event outcome on a particular groups. In addition, all Diplomatic Actions will be assessed for effectiveness in maintaining stability and ideological consistency. Groups may need to determine trade offs (e.g., a trade deal with an ideological adversary may earn all objective points but lead to a deduction for ideological inconsistency).
At the end of the course, the team with the highest percentage of their possible State Game Points wins, as long as they also have a positive resource balance (i.e., they are not broke or in debt--see Resource section).
Policy options:
Each nation/group is assigned an ideology and/or regime structure. Groups can customize these (within reason). In the 2nd week, two group members must write Policy Briefs on the Ideology and the Regime Structure (1 brief each). By the 4th week, other group members must write Policy Briefs on energy, immigration, or education policies that reflect their ideology and regime structure.
Teams should develop policy ideas together, but individual team members will write and post their own Policy Briefs.
Resources:
Teams are given initial allocation of resources (between 500-1500 resources). At the start of each DE, teams allocate resources among three spending categories: military (MR), economic growth (ER), and resilience (RR).
After each DE, Military Resources accumulate as a weapons stockpile and are necessary for your defense, if you are attacked. Economic Resources multiply by a (ridiculously high) growth factor of 1.5x (e.g., Invest 300 ER in DE1 and it becomes 450 resources in DE2). ER can also be used to pay other nations as incentives to sign a treaty/agreement. Resilience Resources are investments in your nation/group's ability to withstand natural disasters and environmental shocks that occur throughout the events (e.g., If you invest 50 RR in DE1 and are hit with a tornado in DE2 that costs 100 ER to address, your 50 RR are worth more and likely will cover the costs. If you have no RR, then you will be charged the full ER amount). RR rates vary across incidents.
You must allocate resources at the start of each event and before you submit any DAR. You cannot resources across categories during an event (i.e., add ER to MR during an attack).
Diplomatic Actions:
Diplomatic Events include a collective problem that requires a response from nation/groups. Teams negotiate in Slack and, when the treaty/agreement is final and terms are specified, all signatories put their initials on the Diplomatic Action Report (a GoogleDoc) and one group submits this DAR in Slack.
Leadership Teams and Positions:
Teams should determine which members should fill the leadership positions. Teams can develop their own positions, but here are some suggestions:
Country Leader (CL): 1 person (or more, if desired); Head of State; either CL or Chief Diplomat must approve/sign all DE actions taken
Chief Diplomat (CD): CD (and CL) can approve/sign DE actions; All members can negotiate with other teams, but CD is point person
UN Ambassador (UN): Represents nation/group in UN meetings; has UN voting rights (except for Separatist group and Indigenous Peoples Council, pending UN-approved privileges). The UN rep might also be the CD.
Chief Economist (CE): Advises on the structure of trade agreements and resource allocation
Security Chief (SE): Advises on national security & defense and WR allocations
Press Secretary (PS): Advises team about NewsEvents, writes NewsBriefs, and manages political messages
Science Officer (SO): Expert on nation/group's natural resources and climate science; recommends levels of RR
Opposition Leader (OL): Represents minority political party in democratic nations; advocates from a perspective that aligns with the group's ideology, but not the CL's position.