A while back, I wrote about running a sim on Brexit, the UK’s departure from the EU. (Obviously, ‘departure’ makes it sound grand and stately, rather than the big old mess that it more actually resembles, but I digress). In it, I asked if anyone was up for working together on doing this.
Well, we have a winner: Matthew LeRiche from Memorial in Newfoundland. Matthew joined us in Surrey earlier this year for our ALPS workshops, and this doesn’t seem to have discouraged him from working with us again.
Matthew’s students are spending the autumn in Europe, so it’s not completely trans-atlantic. We’re going to split up roles in a simulation of the famous Article 50 process between his students and mine, getting them to negotiate online (we’ve set up a Facebook page, so you can follow too, if you like), before meeting face-to-face in early December.
For all that I’ve talked about doing this over the years, this will be the first time I’ve actually tried it so closely linked within the module structure, so it’s a learning curve for me too (I possibly didn’t mention this to Matthew). However, we’re always learning, so I’m going to keep posting about this as we progress, and I’ll be asking Matthew to write something too.
Of course, the logical thing for me to say now is that you want to be part of this too, then let me know. I can’t guarantee we can fit another partner in, but I’m certainly happy to have the conversation. Our simulations starts on 3 October, so before then, please.
Brexit has much with Canadian decision making that operates increasingly without clear constitutional rules. In a complex interstate federal system where political, as opposed to legal agreements operate outside of the legislature, with citizens as confused spectators only, governance is bad as are decisions and outcomes. In energy production debates, there is much in way territorial-border competition and little in way of effective framing based on good policy. Canada has bad governance, lack of evidence-based decision making and little evidence of being able to address interdependent issues. The processes are too competitive, political, and have failed to promote effective integration. Supporters of Brexit need to pay close attention to the challenges of highly competitive interstate processes