The Presidential Advisory Simulation

The Presidential Advisory Simulation was a thought provoking assignment that required students to take on the roles of various political actors. After watching all of the simulation videos, it is evident that the simulations effectively mimicked the presidential advisory system in order to solve a real world policy problem. Moreover, the three simulations, though dealing with different policies, exhibited similarities and differences, conflicts and disagreements, and supported theories and concepts from class lectures. Overall, the simulation assignment was an opportunity to demonstrate our understanding of the presidential advisory system and decision-making in terms of leadership, participation, communication, interests, and various pathologies.

However, the president was a moderate, therefore he was concerned with both economics and the environment. As a member of the domestic policy group and as the Director of the NEC, I felt that most of the conflicts transpired because it was difficult to satisfy both the economic and environmental needs. As a result, though extremely difficult, our group strived to create a policy proposal with five parts each aimed at addressing either the economy or the environment. Similarly, in the foreign policy simulation, it was also difficult for participants to create a U.S. foreign policy that allowed the United States to work with Russia in order to remove Assad without committing United States ground forces. However, members in the foreign policy group also had to strive to advance the economic interests and protect the safety of the United States. Correspondingly, the crisis simulation also demonstrates the complexity of presidential decision-making. At this juncture, in the crisis simulation participants had difficulty deciding how the United States should respond to the Israel intelligence stating that Iran has nuclear capabilities. During the simulation, participants