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<\/a><\/p>\nI always get annoyed when global negotiations do not produce results, but after heatedly arguing with my friends and peers for three hours, I have a much better appreciation for how complex international negotiations are. \u00a0Countries come from very different backgrounds making it difficult for them to see eye-to-eye and therefore come to a consensus that incorporates everyone\u2019s goals. \u00a0Everyone did a great job of getting into character and fighting for his or her country despite the fact that we have far more in common than any of the countries in the actual negotiations. \u00a0Unfortunately, we were not as well educated in our respective countries and the world as we really should have been to make the simulation more accurate.\u00a0 One aspect of the ignorance had to do with national policies, but another aspect had to do with other factors like the value of a dollar. \u00a0When the developed countries offered the other developing countries 100 billion dollars, we were very excited. After giving it a second thought with some guidance from our professors, we, the other developing countries, realized that although 100 billion dollars sounds like a lot, on the global scale it is practically pocket change for those countries and we were being duped. \u00a0Our lack of this kind of knowledge made it difficult to negotiate terms realistically.<\/p>\n
It was fascinating to see how polarized we started off, and how after a just few rounds of negotiation, we had actually made up a lot of ground and come fairly close to a compromise. \u00a0The negotiations were always self-interested as would be expected, but as time ran out, people worked harder for a compromise. \u00a0There were also very different strategies. \u00a0One coalition of countries started off asking for way more than they knew they could reasonably get, while another grouping of countries tried to be extremely reasonable in hopes of instigating cooperation. \u00a0It is hard to say which strategy worked best, but a relative compromise was reached.\u00a0 Unfortunately, according to the model, the compromise was not enough to mitigate destructive climate change. \u00a0In that sense it was frustrating, because we worked so hard for a compromise to find out that, although better than business as usual, it would not be enough.<\/p>\n