What is Model United Nations?
As the name implies, in its most traditional sense Model United Nations involves simulations of various bodies that make up the United Nations, ranging from the General Assemblies to organs like the World Health Organization. Since its inception in 1921, MUN has grown to include various simulations including cabinets, corporate boards, and more. Fundamentally Model UN is about diplomacy and leadership; over the course of conference weekend, delegates work together in their committees to solve problems with creative solutions.
There are three main styles of committee simulations at ChoMUN XXVIII: General Assembly (GA), Crisis, and Specialized/Hybrid. All three of these kinds of committees will be addressed in subsequent sections in more detail, and feel free to browse our committees to see examples of these different committee types.
The basic set-up of a Model UN committee features delegates writing resolutions or directives with other delegates in order to solve some issue or crisis related to committee. Resolutions are long, typed documents with a formal tone, similar to UN resolutions, and directives are short and handwritten, often with more informal and creative solutions. More information on resolutions and directives can be found below in the sections on specific kinds of committees.
Each committee has a corresponding background guide written by the execs. This will often contain background information and current context about problems that delegates will deal with during committee, along with potentially providing information about your assigned position on committee. We highly recommend reading the background guide as a first step toward beginning your preparation to be a delegate at ChoMUN this year.
Key Terms:
Dais - the chair and other staff at the front of the committee room, moderating debate
Moderated Caucus - Structured debate on a specified topic, during which particular speakers deliver timed speeches to committee (ex. 9 min, 45 sec speaking time discussing the crisis update)
Unmoderated Caucus - Unstructured time when delegates can mingle to discuss freely or to work on resolutions and directives
Additional Terms for Crisis Simulations:
Frontroom - Literally refers to the committee room, but also to the body that the committee is simulating. Frontroom is where speeches are given, votes are taken, and resolutions/directives are written.
Backroom - The world outside of the committee that is subject to interference from delegate actions through directives or crisis notes.
introduction to General Assemblies (GA)
General Assembly Committees are the original Model UN simulations, that typically feature an international body attempting to solve a single multidimensional and global problem. General Assembly committees usually feature formal debate, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the Rules of Procedure for the conference and/or your committee. The flow of debate in General Assemblies generally follows the following steps:
Beginning of Committee
After some moderated caucuses feature delegates giving their opening speeches on the topic at hand, there will be an unmoderated caucus where delegates will start forming informal working groups known as blocs. Members of a bloc will usually work together on a resolution, and often have similar positions on the topic. However, this should not be a restriction and it is always useful to engage in healthy discourse, even if this means having a variety of positions within a bloc. The beginning of committee is a great time to give speeches about your ideas for solutions to the problems presented by the topic and begin working with your fellow delegates to implement those solutions.
Working Papers and Draft Resolutions
As blocs begin to become more solidified, it’s time to begin drafting a working paper! The working paper should contain clauses that provide solutions to the problem being discussed. Each bloc will usually have its own Google Doc or another online document that allows for all bloc members to write clauses for the working paper. It is natural to have some disagreements about specifics of clauses during this phase and it is valuable to talk and workshop clause ideas with your fellow delegates. Depending on the number of working papers being accepted and the determined page cap for each working paper, it is possible that your bloc’s resolution may have to merge with another. The merging process involves talking through which parts of the resolution are most important and keeping those in. It is also a time to eliminate redundancy and combine clauses that are similar. Like in crisis, those writing the working paper are considered sponsors, and those who want to see it debated can sign on as signatories. There is usually a minimum signatory amount to submit a resolution. Once submitted, there will be Presentation and Q&A, which is described in the next section. After these, working papers will merge and be edited into draft resolutions. The dais will usually accept fewer draft resolutions than working papers, but the draft resolutions usually have a large page cap. After finalizing draft resolutions, the committee will once again have Presentation and Q&A.
Presentation and Q&A
For Presentation and Q&A, each bloc collectively picks delegates to present the paper to committee and delegates to answer questions asked by other delegates. The number of spots available for Presentation and Q&A will be announced by the dais as papers are submitted. Presentation is as straightforward as it seems: the delegates chosen for presentation will give a short overview of the paper. For Q&A, delegate field questions from other delegates about the paper. This usually occurs for every single paper for both working paper phase and draft resolution phase.
Amendments and Voting
Oftentimes, GAs will contain opportunities for amendments. At this time, usually after draft resolution Q&A, delegates can try to formally modify the resolution after it was submitted. Amendments can be either friendly or “unfriendly” Friendly amendments are amendments that all of the sponsors support and are usually just quick changes to the resolution by those who wrote it. Unfriendly amendments are usually more controversial and are amendments that all of the sponsors don’t support. These amendments are debated and voted upon before being added to the resolution. After amendments are set in stone, the committee will vote on the resolutions!
introduction to crisis
The main difference between Crisis and General Assembly committees are that Crisis committees are dynamic - the "state of the world" changes in response to the decisions and actions of delegates in committee. A General Assembly committee is typically focused on creating in-depth, well-researched solutions to a single problem, whereas a Crisis committee generally tries to respond to a specific “crisis” and then has to deal with the outcomes of the response, often following up on solutions and implementation long after debate on the initial question has been settled. The main elements of a Crisis committee are outlined below:
Crisis Updates
The initial topic is the crisis itself. Crisis staffers may update the committee on recent events in the "world" of the committee in the form of crisis updates, which can be in-person, in writing, or in other media forms. They typically take some questions after delivering the update if it is in person. These updates typically start according to the crisis room's plans for the committee but may also be the result of, or a response to, delegate action.
Public Directives
Instead of working for several sessions on a long resolution, delegates in crisis committees write several smaller documents over the course of the weekend. The key differences between directives and resolutions are:
Directives are much shorter than resolutions, typically between 1-2 pages when first written (although like resolutions, they can be merged to become larger).
Directives take substantive action, compared to the declarations/suggestions of resolutions. Clauses in a directive must be actionable — they need to actually make a concrete difference in the world if they are enacted.
Crisis Notes
The key distinction between GA and Crisis committees is that Delegates in a Crisis Body have a portfolio, or personal powers in addition to the powers of the committee. Delegates can take private action in the form of notes to crisis from the role of the character they play on committee. Crisis staff respond to notes with the result of the action taken. They may be favorable (e.g. the action succeeded) or they may lead to unforeseen effects (e.g. a delegate may try to work with an enemy group and be caught and revealed). Generally, the more detailed, realistic, creative, and well-thought-out the note is, the greater the chance of it receiving a favorable response from crisis.
Introduction to Hybrids
Hybrid committees at ChoMUN are a combination of crisis and GA elements to form a truly unique committee experience. Some sessions will be completely crisis with full crisis backroom, while others will be GA. Due to the accelerated nature of the GA sessions in hybrid committees, the working paper phase is often skipped, and there is only the draft resolution phase.
Some committees, like the UNSC, will begin with full crisis, including backroom crisis notes and arcs, and then move into GA based on the events of the crisis portion of committee. To this end, delegate arcs should aim to cause crises, but also to build institutions that can be used and referenced in resolutions.
Other committees, will begin with a GA to draft some document foundational to committee, such as a constitution. After finishing the GA portion of committee, the following sessions will be full crisis, including crisis backroom, in response to the new state of the world following the document passed (or not passed!) in the GA.
Though hybrids combine crisis and GA elements, they are accessible to all delegates, regardless of experience, and can be an exciting way to experience everything that MUN has to offer!