I had a really good laugh at this. A Swede has designed a flag for the earth. Well it was part of a project rather than a contract he had been awarded but I really thought it was funny.
Why? Well mainly because one of the subjects I specialize in is negotiation. I do all-day role-play exercises when I have intensive negotiation courses and one of the role-plays I do is the following:
The EU has collapsed and 8 countries from the present EU and outside the present EU (I use different countries depending on who is in the group. I never use countries from which my students come as there are too many emotions attached to it) are attempting to form a new union. Each student or group of students represents a country and they have to negotiate with all the other countries as regards policy, constitution, governance etc. And they have to create a new flag for the union. They are given their official positions on cards which they receive the day before.
In the entire negotiation, nothing creates as much discussion and friction as the creation of a common flag. Even if they have not even touched on constitution and policy or managed to create anything or even form a union, they get stuck on the flag discussion. And they can never agree.
Can you imagine all the countries in the world deciding on a world flag? Wars have been fought over less!
Find the article here
