Amber Lake is an immersive multilateral negotiation simulation in which participants take on the roles of delegations negotiating the governance of a shared resource under conditions of asymmetric power, competing interests, institutional constraints, and genuine uncertainty. It is not a role-play exercise — it is a negotiating environment in which the dynamics of real multilateral interaction emerge: coalitions form and break, positions shift, and the gap between stated and actual interests becomes visible.
In the Diplomatic Edition, six countries with divergent interests and unequal leverage negotiate the governance of a shared international resource. The scenario incorporates the full complexity of real diplomatic settings: institutional constraints, the weight of precedent, the role of coalitions, and the tension between a delegation’s stated position and its actual interests. Participants experience what it means to negotiate not just for an outcome, but within a system — where process, relationship, and face are as consequential as the agreement itself.
The simulation is followed by a structured debrief that connects the experience directly to the conceptual frameworks of the programme — making visible what each delegation actually did under pressure, how the field shifted, and what that reveals about negotiating behaviour in high-stakes multilateral environments.
Learning environment: The session takes place in a sufficiently large room with chairs arranged in a circle. Tables are not used: they create distance and inhibit the quality of interaction that makes the learning real. Video recording is not permitted, as it affects both confidentiality and the natural dynamics of group interaction. Photography is welcome before or after the workshop.
Timeframe: 4 hours with a 15-minute break.
Optimal group size: from 12 to 30 participants.
