Global Simulations

The Hamilton Lugar School is emerging as a hub for major global simulations

The Hamilton Lugar School is a hub for global simulations in the Midwest, giving students multiple opportunities to gain experience addressing difficult topics in key regions around the world.

These events build on our three distinctive strengths: fusing international affairs with language and area studies, cultivating professional skills alongside broad academic knowledge, and a commitment to civil discourse and public service.

Through these simulations, students can cultivate the knowledge, skills, and passion to understand the world, preparing them to thrive personally and professionally and lead positive change, in Indiana and in our rapidly changing world.

Model Arab League

The Hamilton Lugar School’s Model Arab League is sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Middle East each spring. This simulation is based on the Arab League, an organization of Arab-speaking countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

The event is open to Indiana University undergraduate and graduate students interested in gaining political, cultural, and diplomatic experience on topics related to the Arab nations.

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The students were able to throw themselves completely into their diplomatic roles, then step out of their roles for thoughtful reflections on the experience.

Amb. (ret) Dan Shields

Collegiate Model UN

The Indiana University Collegiate Model UN is a student-led organization providing opportunities to learn through a simulation of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Participants role-play as UN delegates and UN committees representing an assigned country. They give speeches and work with other students to find solutions to timely topics affecting the UN.

Already a high-ranking travel team, the Indiana Model UN is hosting the first on-campus event in spring 2025, which will set the stage for IU to host the nationwide Model UN circuit in future years.

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Adding the two simulations to my experience has given me important insight on what issues can arise during negotiations, especially concerning geopolitics.

Khloe Williams, East Asian Languages & Cultures major, African American African Diaspora Studies minor

Midwest Model EU

The Hamilton Lugar School’s Institute for European Studies hosts the annual Midwest Model European Union (EU). Each year, more than 160 college and university students from across the U.S. meet to decide the future of the EU in this three-day simulation. Playing the roles of prime minister and presidents, ambassadors and commissioners, ministers and diplomats, they debate policy, resolve disputes, build compromises, and chart the course of European Integration.

Organization for the Midwest Model EU begins in January each year when invitations are emailed to faculty advisers and students begin forming delegations.

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Model Arab League was amazing. Even first-time delegates begin to develop skills needed to participate in diplomacy while making friends along the way.

Mackenzie Durbin, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, International Law and Institutions major

International Moot Court Competition

The first International Law Students Association / Hamilton Lugar International Law Moot Court Competition will be held in the spring of 2025. The moot court is a simulation of oral arguments before the International Court of Justice, with teams arguing both sides in a fictional dispute between two countries.

The Hamilton Lugar School, in partnership with the IU Maurer School of Law, offers a B.A. in International Law and Institutions, one of the only undergraduate international law majors in the United States.

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When people only see the end product, they don't appreciate the compromise that led to everyone being satisfied enough for the resolution to pass.

Sam Syroney, International Studies major

Events with foreign service officers/diplomats

Ambassador (ret.) Daniel Shields spent a week at the Hamilton Lugar School, offering lectures and simulations related to the South China Sea and Burma/Myanmar. He also offered office hours for students to meet with him 1:1 or in small groups to learn about his career. In April 2025, the Korea Economic Institute will run a simulation on diplomacy in East Asia, with students playing roles in mock negotiations between North and South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States.

Thanks to our school’s strong ties to the field of diplomacy and foreign affairs, we are able to offer students the opportunity to engage with career diplomats, ambassadors, and other experts in foreign policy.

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