"American Senate" meets in Baku

Baku/24.02.18 Turan: A meeting of the "US Senate" - one of the chambers of the United States Congress - took place in the Landmark business center in the capital. The most spacious oval hall of this complex was chosen to accommodate more than 50 "legislators", lawyers and independent experts.

The working language of the event is English. The theme is "Nuclear threat. North Korea" -

most hotly discussed today by the US political establishment. Business environment: tables with laptops, mobile phones, various documents, a collection of legislative acts, microphones.

At first glance, nothing unusual, if not for the age of the participants of the meeting, their obviously not American appearance (eye color, height, physique, etc.), smiling looks, shyness and some uncertainty manifested in controversy with the opponent.

Young people often looked in their notebooks, documents to point to certain facts, figures, sometimes confused in the names of North Korean ministers. Their excitement was understandable: it is not every day that one has to act as the senators of a large country dictating the rules of the game in world politics today.

The Baku Conference of the US Senate Model is another action in the framework of the project on the formation of Azerbaijani youth parliamentarism on the experience of Western and international legislative or humanitarian organizations. This is about

Simulation (imitation) games, in which the work of these structures is modeled,

a significant problem is being discussed, a decision is being made to resolve it. Appropriate role games, conflict games, decision-making games, business games, computer simulation on the basis of business games, etc.

Similar events were held in Baku this year on the UN Model and the European Union Model, organized by the Baku offices of the European Youth Parliament and the European Union. The US Embassy in Azerbaijan acted as the sponsor of the US Senate Model Conference. The idea of ​​the forum belongs to Public Association "Azerbaijani graduates with American education".

According to Turan, an active member of the said NGO Samir Gasymov, models of international and regional structures are simulated games. At these imitation meetings, young people act as diplomats, parliamentarians, and ministers. At the US Senate Model Conference, the role of senators from more than 50 US states is exemplified by school students, bachelors and masters

universities of ADA, Khazar, Foreign languages, BSU, Baku Engineering University, as well as employees of private companies. Age category is from 13 to 50 years.

According to Gasymov, student modeling of the work of UN, EU and other organizations contributes to the development of speaking and communication skills, the acquisition of experience in foreign languages, and on the most urgent, sometimes painful topics. In this format, politicians or delegates abstract from a personal point of view and express the opinion of a member state of the UN or the EU.

The cultural attaché of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan Heidi Smith noted that the diplomatic mission provided financial assistance in carrying out this event. Today a lot of young people leave Azerbaijan for study in the USA. They study for an engineer, a lawyer, a manager. Perhaps, one of them in the future will become a politician or a diplomat. It is useful for them to acquire skills in conducting polemics, to develop the ability to search for compromises.

"Simulation games are an innovative and promising method of conflict management. Their feature is the simulation of reality. Participants perform a certain role and discuss in a game form the urgent problems. Depending on the purpose and target group, the focus may be on political or social decision-making processes, strategy development, behavior analysis of the participants in the game or the dynamics of the conflict. The format of the game can range from modeling negotiations or conferences to complex simulations," Smith points out.

Meanwhile in the hall the passions were heated. "Senators" from the states of Alabama, Alaska and Indiana Richard Shelby, Liza Murkowski and Joy Doneli in the performance of Shujat Ahmedzadeh, Amina Isayeva and Abdul Mustafazade fiercely argued about ways of pressure on North Korea. Someone suggested an attack on the island, another advised to begin direct negotiations with the leadership of the country, the third - to provoke the conflict there.

At the end of the discussions of the Baku session of the US Senate Model, it was decided to use diplomatic measures to reduce military tension in the region. -0-