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Beyond Teaching: Measuring The Effect of EU Simulations on European Identity and Support of the EU

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Paul Rünz
Paul Rünz*
Affiliation:
Bringing Europeans Together Association
*
E-mail: p.runz@beta-europe.org
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Abstract

Model European Union (MEU) is a simulation of European politics that aims to familiarise young Europeans with the decision-making process of the European Union (EU). Participants simulate the cooperation between the Commission, the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU in the ordinary legislative procedure. About 190 people annually participate at MEU Strasbourg, which takes place on the premises of the EP. This article uses quasi-experimental panel data from surveys with participants of MEU 2012 to test the impact of the simulation conference. While most empirical research on the effects of political simulations addresses the educational effectiveness of classroom simulations, this article tries to answer a research question with a new focus on political attitudes: Do EU simulations influence European identity and political support of the EU?

Keywords

simulationsModel European UnionEuropean identitypolitical supportquasi-experiment

Information

Type
Symposium
Information
European Political Science , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2015, pp. 266 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 European Consortium for Political Research

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Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi: 10.1057/eps.2015.23) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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