In the past the Forum's efforts have been concentrated on carrying out the annual conferences Munich European Forum and the Ghent / Brussels European Forum, both of them intensive week-long international student conferences, in the course of which students from over a dozen countries are made familiar with current European issues by actually role-playing the positions of member states engaged in simulated negotiations.

Accompanied by experts-led workshops on topical issues as well as special courses on rules of procedure, resolution writing and negotiation tactics, and visits at the actual sights of European policy in Brussels, the conference attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the study of international relations.

In this way the Munich European Forum organisation hopes to heighten students' interest in European affairs, while providing contacts to the larger European (and Non-European) university community as well as insights into career opportunities.

 

Simulations are related to role-play, a didactic method adapted from theatre to place students in learning situations. For example students can role-play an conflict-resolving event such as peace negotiations. Simulations also reconstruct an external environment. But they do not confine the players to "reading" their prepared lines. Instead they give them the possibility of freedom of choice - within realistic bounds - in playing their characters' parts.

 The stage of a simulation is set by the choice of a body, its composition, stated purpose and rules of procedure. While the roles of its members are determined by the positions of the "real" actors, simulation participants are not bound to a script. They have to stay in character, but they are also free to improvise in the course of negotiations. Perhaps they are able to find solutions to problems, that are overlooked by real negotiators. This relative freedom is what distinguishes simulation from mere role-playing. Not only is the participant free to diverge from the specific actions of his real counterpart. The premises of a simulated event itself might be modified in some way to allow another mode of analysis.

In this hypothetical sense, simulations can be said to entail "counter-factuals", the terminus technicus for "what-if-statements" used in social science theory. Simulations are perfect testing grounds for counter-factual experiments, manipulating the mandates of bodies, involving them with agendas they might not otherwise have dealt with, confronting them with situations not occurring in reality, filling them with delegates who represent alternate positions. The purpose of simulations is to discover new answers which perhaps some day might be applicable.

A tension can be said to develop between reality and simulation. For the participants this tension has an enormously motivating effect: One is tempted to test the limits of his position in the search for some common ground with the other committee members.

Simulations have been employed at the high school and university level primarily in the form of Model National Parliaments and Model United Nations. Of the latter a whole array has sprung up in the last years, from New York to The Hague and Cairo. In contrast the European Fora in Brussels and Munich focus on a European agenda. At the same time its organisers have striven to multiply the synergy effects created when students from many different European regions and from bordering extra-European regions come together. Students from Central and Eastern Europe have always played a crucial role in the frequent simulations of NATO and EU Eastern enlargement. This meeting of East and West, North and South is and will remain one of the principle goals of the Forum.

In this way, the Munich European Forum Association hopes to offer students not only an intensive, highly motivating learning atmosphere but also an excellent place for inter cultural dialogue.