Role-play as a teaching tool for the functioning of the European Union

Abstract

The European elections took place last June 2024. These were elections from which the new commissioners emerged after passing their respective hearings months later. The current High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Vice President of the European Commission is already present in the panorama of International Relations. In her hearing as proposed commissioner, Kaja Kallas had to know how to respond to such turbulent issues that threaten European security policy, such as the role of Russia in the international order or the threat of terrorism which does not respect borders. This article has focused on this last aspect through a training given to several students of the International Relations and Business degree at the Evangelical University of El Salvador. After explaining the necessary concepts, a simulation of the hearing was conducted in which the students formed groups representing the political parties and asked questions to the student who embodied the figure of the proposed commissioner. This article is therefore presented with the primary objective of enabling students to acquire knowledge of the functioning of the EU in a hearing, especially in matters relating to terrorism, all of this under the hypothesis that the implementation of a role-play makes it possible for students to acquire knowledge about hearings and the terrorist threat in the European Union in a more attractive way.