Realizing Conflict, Negotiation, and Cooperation Concepts in the Context of International Water Courses

In this paper we offer a negotiation and cooperative game theory application to international water in the classroom. A simulation game was developed for the Aral Sea water dispute as part of a textbook prepared for teaching a diverse group of students a graduate-level International Water course. A condensed version of the Aral Sea Basin water dispute and hydrology was prepared. The game allows students to realize the complexity of hydrology and geography, the linkage between hydrology and conflict and cooperation, and the impact of external factors, such as climate change, on the extent of the conflict and its likely resolution. The game was used to simulate negotiations between a subset of the basin riparians, demonstrating the value of information in negotiation. Various cooperative game theory concepts were demonstrated and applied by students through a set of assignments representing a variety of likely states of nature and various development interventions.