Crisis Committees

United Kingdom in 1974: Labour Takes Charge

After the 1970 election, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was governed by a Conservative Government led by Edward Heath. Due to escalating conflict between the Heath Government and the National Union of Mineworkers, Heath called a snap election in February. Although the Conservatives got the most votes nationwide, the Labour Opposition led by former Prime Minister Harold Wilson got the most seats but not a majority, resulting in a hung parliament. Once Heath's attempts to form a coalition with the Liberal Party--the third largest party in the UK--failed, Wilson was invited to lead a minority government. In the context of this difficult situation, Wilson has gathered his Cabinet and senior advisors to get their advice. The first question you will have to consider is how to govern. With a hung parliament, you need to decide what the next step should be. Firstly, you need to decide between governing as a minority government and then calling another election in a few months or attempting to negotiate some form of an agreement with the Liberals. Beyond electoral strategy, there are questions of policy and governance. You need to resolve the continuing crisis with the mineworkers and their trade unions. Britain's economic and energy security depends on solving this problem. On the foreign policy front, you need to take a decision on Britain's place in the European Economic Community. Good luck! The country is depending on you.

Blood in the water: The 2008 Financial Crisis

The year is 2007, and the American housing market is starting to crack. Delegates will act as the various roles that contributed to the largest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Everyone is over-leveraged, hiding something, and thinks they are the smartest person in the room. With a lack of confidence and liquidity, these delegates have to do their best to avoid the collapse of their own institutions while controlling the blame, the public, and the rescue. Delegates will have to manage the antecedents to the crisis ( subprime mortgage, CDOs, early warning signals), the crisis itself (Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, the AIG bailout), and the ensuing chaos ( TARP, Congressional hearings, and the fight to stay alive). With the overall economy teetering, the delegates will manage multiple boardroom coups, congressional hearings, hostile takeovers, real-time leaked memos, and regulatory capture. In this committee, the absence of a moral compass is of no consequence. Rather, your ability to survive depends on a nexus of time, information, and the first to sense the blood.

The Console Wars: Sega versus the World

Ask the average American kid today who they recognize more: Sonic the Hedgehog or Mickey Mouse. Of course the answer is Mickey Mouse. But for a single year, it wasn’t. The year is 1992. Sonic has led millions to believe that “Sega does what Nintendon’t.” Sega has wrested majority control of the 16-bit market share from Nintendo, and its console, the Sega Genesis, is outselling the Super Famicom at a 2:1 ratio. Sonic is continuing to dominate: its sequel game Sonic the Hedgehog 2, is the top-selling game of the year with over $6 million in sales.

Unfortunately, Sega’s success everywhere else is a fraction of its American counterpart. The MegaDrive trails far behind the Super Famicom in sales, and Japanese reception of the Mario competitor is a resounding “meh.” Cultural differences and genuine disparities in the Japanese and American markets have amplified tensions between the leadership at SOA and SOJ and threaten to derail the engine of success that has for now placed Sega at the forefront of the gaming industry. In the gaming-fueled frenzy of the 90s, time is everything. Today, you are a step ahead. Incredibly successful titles like Virtua Racing show the world the possibilities of 3D, and internal development has already begun on your next console: the Sega Saturn. Yet Nintendo is working hard to push its boundaries, and rumors abound that Sony may submit their own product into the console market. Delegates, this is your chance to capitalize on Sega's current momentum. Will Sega rule the 90s, or will your efforts be too little, too slow?

Scythe Grand Conclave

It is a new world. Scythes reign supreme. After the elimination of natural death, from diseases to wars, a small group of people – Scythes – are the ones who must decide randomly who lives and who dies. In the place of governments across the world, an all-knowing and benevolent AI, Thunderhead, makes decisions. Not all is settled, though. Grandslayer Prometheus has called a global conclave, and named a small group of scythes to decide a key issue: should humans have the power over death? Over the course of your conclave, you will decide this key issue, and the protocols to go along with it. Should we control death? How should we go about it? Is there a better way? All of this – and more – will be decided at the first global scythe conclave.

Alice in Wonderland

This tea party is called in order to discuss the future of Wonderland. It appears that Alice has not woken up, and the Knave has narrowly avoided execution. Now a tyrannical queen is in power, and sides are forming between her court and those she has persecuted. Between potions, croquet, and an invisible cat, there is much to navigate. In this nonsensical world, anyone could end up in power—or it could be “off with your head!”