has a collection of anecdotes from years of simulation exercises.

One year, students role-playing as the Russian team hacked into rivals’ email accounts. Another time, the North Korean group threatened to storm out over a misspelled name tag. Pekkanen once sent team members to separate rooms to cool down during a heated strategy debate.

This is all part of , a capstone experience for (MAAIS) students. Pekkanen, professor in the Jackson School of International Studies, said he boldly hopes it will be the best class students take at the 91±¬ÁÏ.

“I hear from students years later and they tell me, ‘I really remember that. That was a great negotiation exercise, and I use some of these things from the class in my professional career,’� Pekkanen said. “That’s really rewarding for me because that’s my goal.�

The centerpiece of the course is the (ISCNE), an annual event facilitated by MAAIS and the at the U.S. Army War College, which Pekkanen calls “ideal partners.� Offered in the spring, the course is open to graduate, undergraduate and non-matriculated students.

Each year, MAAIS and the U.S. Army War College collaborate to select a real-world crisis scenario. Students then act as members of diplomatic teams from different countries and hold strategic negotiations in person over a two-day period. Past scenarios included a and a . The plan for next year is an .

Pekkanen was instrumental in creating the course when the MAAIS program, which began in the 2014-15 school year, was in its planning stages. While getting his doctorate degree from Harvard University, Pekkanen was invited to a high-level simulation exercise by faculty members. The simulation featured crises in Northeast and Southeast Asia, and introduced Pekkanen to an entirely new method of learning about international relations and politics. The experience stuck with him, and he wanted to bring a similar opportunity to the 91±¬ÁÏ.

“Students learn negotiation, teamwork and leadership,� Pekkanen said. “They’re getting those practical skills, and that also kind of differentiates it from other classes. That was my vision at the beginning: I wanted to give students a simulation experience that’s a kind of practical learning. It’s also something they’ll remember their whole careers.�

takes place in 2024 with the People’s Republic of China hosting diplomatic delegations from North Korea, Japan, the Russian Federation, South Korea and the United States. The goal is to restart Six Party Talks and bring an end to the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear program.

Students will role-play as diplomats charged with negotiating a solution that will serve the national interests of their assigned countries while also bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula. Leading up to the event, the class received background briefings on the Korean Peninsula, leadership and teambuilding, and negotiation tactics.

“If students are on the South Korean team, they try to figure out what South Korea’s policy should be and then they try to act in that way,� Pekkanen said. “Then they get to see how the U.S. responds and how China responds and how North Korea responds.

“As a result, they uncover something about the dynamics of relations in Northeast Asia that’s different from what they can learn through our usual format of lectures and showing their understanding in essays.â€�

Teams are also paired with high-level mentors, who don’t make decisions but are there to enhance learning and monitor group dynamics. This gives students the opportunity to work with U.S. diplomats, business executives, military leaders and 91±¬ÁÏ faculty.

“We encourage mentors to ask questions like, ‘You know, I wonder what Japan’s position is on that?’ This kind of intervention stimulates student learning,� Pekkanen said. “Mentors are also there in case students say, ‘We have this idea, but would China really do this in the real world?’ and they need guidance. They can get a reality check from the mentors who know about what’s going on.

“The whole course is designed for the students to learn as much as possible through the three steps of their preparation, the simulation weekend and reflections afterward. I really feel like it is a unique experience at the 91±¬ÁÏ.â€�Ìý

For more information, contact Pekkanen at pekkanen@uw.edu.

Many of us started pandemic projects over the past two years, getting creative with activities like baking bread and learning to sew.

and created something, too.

The married couple, both professors in the 91±¬ÁÏ Jackson School of International Studies, are co-editors of the first , published online in September 2020 and in print in January 2022. They worked with dozens of collaborators around the world to add the topic to the respected collection of Oxford Handbooks that presents surveys of original research.

“The handbooks are kind of like those conversations with one of your faculty members who knows the field really well,� Robert said, “but it’s in a written form available for anyone.�

That’s why Saadia calls it “an ideal project for the pandemic.� It required experts to take their research and put it into an accessible format: the platform, which is available to many through the subscription of their academic institutions.

This volume’s 46 essays span the breadth of Japanese politics, from describing the political system to examining the country’s status within the region and world. It gives its audience — students and scholars — an overview of the field, while also providing a baseline of knowledge for anybody interested in Japanese politics.

First approached by Oxford University Press about the project in 2017, the couple decided what topics to cover and chose leading experts to contribute essays and research. Robert took the lead on domestic politics and Saadia headed foreign relations.

As a unifying theme, they asked every author to evaluate Japanese democracy, especially relevant at a time when democratic systems around the world are being challenged. The authors concluded that Japanese democracy is robust and healthy. In one measure, a by the nonprofit Freedom House, the country rated 96 out of 100.

Unlike the United States, Japan has not been as impacted by forces like populism, polarization and challenges to electoral integrity, Robert said.

“Japan’s democracy seems to be flourishing,� he said, “even as America’s democracy seems to be increasingly under threat.�

Saadia said a country’s internal democratic processes influence stances it takes in the region and on the world stage. Japan’s processes can help people understand its role in the Asia-Pacific region as China rises in power.

“Japan is clearly on the side of the democracies,� she said. “Japan is very purposeful, it’s very powerful and it’s not a junior partner to the United States. So how democracy helps Japan take that stand going forward is extremely important for understanding regional stability.�

Robert and Saadia are proud of the contribution they’ve made to the field — and how the Oxford Handbook Online platform “equalizes access� to their volume by making it more searchable, easier to assign in classrooms and more accessible to students on limited budgets.

They also enjoyed working with top scholars, who don’t get paid for their contributions but share their research as a service.

“It was terrific to learn from the best,� Saadia said. “I loved it. The handbook was really a joy to edit in that sense.�

Another joy? Robert said it was working with his “favorite collaborator ever.� While many couples learned the limits of their relationships during the pandemic, Robert and Saadia discovered just how well they work together. “I would write a book with Robert again,� Saadia said. “I think that’s good testimony to a wonderful collaborative relationship.�

“,” published in 2018, is coming out in paperback in February from Oxford University Press. The entire book is already available through 91±¬ÁÏ Libraries.

Pekkanen, who also holds an adjunct appointment in political science, edited the volume with of West Virginia University and of the University of California, Davis. The book includes essays on election law and procedures by about 50 academics from universities throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, France and Sweden.

“The topic of electoral systems is much in the news theseÌýdays,” Pekkanen said. “As a scholar of electoral systems, I completely agree with the growing awareness of how important these rules are. Electoral systems structure the rules of the game, and how you play really matters for determining who wins.”

Pekkanen said the three editors planned the book as a way to tie together recent research in the burgeoning field of electoral systems. Essays address the design and adoption of election rules as well as theoretical questions and methodological approaches to guide future research.

“We also tried to shape the discussions by including a section on ‘Holding Elections,’ which we wanted scholars to pay more attention to. Here we had scholars write about the mundane business (we thought) of election administration, as well as electoral integrity. Now it looks like we were prescient!” Pekkanen said.

The book also features countries on four continents that have changed their electoral systems, in a chapter titled “Electoral Systems in the Context of Reform.”

Clearly, the handbook speaks to a topic in the news daily — but Pekkanen said the volume has no “ready fix” for the issues dividing the nation following the 2020 election.

“However, our conviction in the book is that we will do better by paying attention to the mechanisms that translate voter preferences into actual outcomes. The rules matter.

“We hope that this book will serve as a resource to anyone who is thinking seriously about how electoral systems influence politics, including election officials, journalists, think-tankers and students.”

For more information, contact Pekkanen at pekkanen@uw.edu.

Faculty at the 91±¬ÁÏ’s and will explore these issues in a series of public lectures and discussions through spring quarter.

The series “” will be moderated by , professor and director of the Jackson School.

The lectures will be held Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Room 220 of Kane Hall, starting March 27, and all are open to the public. For students, the series is a 2-credit lecture class.

The lectures are as follows:

March 27: Japan, with .
April 3: Two Koreas, with .
April 10: Indo-Pacific strategy challenges, with .
April 17: Migration, with .
April 24: Global energy challenges, with .
May 1: Online disinformation, with .
May 8: Israel/Palestine, with .
May 15: The European Union, with .
May 22: Putin and Russia, with .
May 29: The Kurds, and a general discussion with Kasaba.

All the speakers are faculty members in the Jackson School except Starbird, who is a professor of human centered design and engineering.

###

For more information about the series, call 206-543-6001 or write to jsisadv@uw.edu.