On 14 September 2026, the Berlin Moment of the meet! Mercator Europa Tour turned into a negotiating room. For one day, 23 participants of the 8th cohort played an adapted version of the CRISP simulation game “Peace for Aridora?”. Stiftung Mercator had invited CRISP as a partner, and the simulation was facilitated by Lea Strube.
The fictional state of Aridora has been affected by civil war for years, aggravated by water scarcity and climatic change. At a peace conference, participants represented the government, rebels, farming communities, indigenous groups, a human rights organisation and the neighbouring states. Together they developed proposals for an upcoming peace summit that had to be supported by as many actors as possible. In doing so, they experienced first-hand how interests, power asymmetries and communication shape international negotiations.
In the final debriefing, participants linked their experiences from the game with the encounters of the Berlin Moment and the tour as a whole. The focus was on negotiation skills, perspective-taking and an experience-based approach to European and international politics.
“Peace for Aridora?” can also be booked by schools, youth groups and educational programmes and adapted to their goals. Find out more about the simulation game and get in touch at www.crisp-berlin.org.
