Strategic Adaptations: Understanding GCC and Asian Reactions to Evolving Security Challenges

Organized in partnership with Waseda University and the JIME Center at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, this simulation workshop is a structured, interactive method of exploring complex geopolitical dynamics through scenario-based analysis.

Participants will be grouped into expert teams, each assuming the roles of regional and international actors. Drawing on their distinguished expertise, deep knowledge and strategic insight, these teams will respond to evolving crises in real time, debating policy options, negotiating alignments, and crafting responses that reflect both national interests and global stakes. Rather than forecasting the future, the simulation tests assumptions, reveals blind spots, and encourages creative but grounded strategic thinking.

Each of the three selected case studies—Iran’s nuclear ambitions and proxy dynamics, Syria’s transitional conflict landscape, and the enduring volatility of the Israeli-Palestinian file—presents a plausible crisis scenario through which participants can assess how Gulf states, Asian powers, and the United States might adapt, align, or diverge in response. The collective deliberations will not only illuminate strategic fault lines but also foster novel policy ideas amid the complex interplay of diplomacy, deterrence, and regional realignments.