Role: Diplomat
As a representative of your country both at home and abroad, you need to know how to deal with people. You need to know what other countries' agendas are and you need to know and use negotiating techniques to achieve your own countries goals without compromising too much. The following choices will help your foreign relations:
Option 1: Communication and Transport Technology | Option 2: Negotiating Techniques |
Option 3: The Middle East | Option 4: The League of Nations
Option 1: Communication and Transport Technologies
How has communication and transport technology changed in the last 150 years?
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How has this impacted interactions between countries?
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How have they impacted trade?
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In what other ways have these technologies impacted foreign relations?
NCSS Standards:
8K 2, 4, 10, 11; 8P 1, 2, 6 & 7; 9K 5, 6; 9P 5
Option 2: Negotiating Techniques
Negotiation is a key element of foreign relations. Indeed Edward Bulwer-Lytton famously wrote, “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.” Examine 2 of the following disputes to compare and contrast (this may include your own option):
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The Israel - Palestine conflict
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South China Sea disputes between China and Japan, and China and the Philippines
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Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan
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Russia, Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula
Examine:
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What sort of skills are important to have when negotiating?
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How each of the sides involved approached negotiations
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Success or failure, if applicable, of these approaches
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Examine how each participant’s culture influences their role in the dispute
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You should also suggest ways, in an ideal world, that could have helped bring about resolutions to each
NCSS Standards:
4K 2; 9K 2, 3, 5 & 7; 9P 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 & 10
Option 3: The Middle East
Examine the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
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What was it and who were its authors?
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How did it impact the Middle East at the time it was written?
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What was the reaction at the time?
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How do historians view it today?
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What impacts does it still have on today’s Middle East?
NCSS Standards:
9K 1, 2, 3 & 5; 9P 1, 3, 4 & 7
Option 4: The League of Nations
Examine the League of Nations.
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How was it created and what was its purpose?
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Was it successful or not and why was it eventually replaced by the United Nations?
Research the League of Nations and:
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Give 2 examples of where it succeeded in its purpose and, if possible, why
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Give 2 where it failed in its purpose and, if possible, why
NCSS Standards:
9K 2, 5 & 7; 9P 1, 3, 4, 7, 11