Before you start reading the preparation, I should point out the fact that for the three or so MUN’s I have attended I only started preparing about a week before (one of them I actually only had 5 days) but I figured that if anyone could tell you the main things you need for an event it would be the person who procrastinates. However, my time efficient way of preparation isn’t for everyone and could lead to unnecessary stress on those that need a plan going in and don’t enjoy thinking on the fly. If you are such a person, as much as my writing could help you might be better off spending your time getting someone else’s advice. I’ll try to get another person more plan-orientated than me to write up their version of the preparation guide but for now skipping over the preparation to the other parts of this guide might be more helpful for you. It is up to you though on what you decide to do.
For this preparation guide I will be referencing the University of Calgary’s High School Model UN 2019 ECOFIN (ECOnomics and FINance) conference for my examples..
A good place to start researching is basic facts about your country. As always in researching make sure to record your sources, it will save you a lot of time in the long run. Understand it’s population, land mass, bordering countries, some of its history and the current climate (not only literal) in the region. You don’t have to memorize these facts, just reading them and pondering what they mean will help you build an intuition towards what the country “feels.” This probably doesn't make sense so I’ll run through an example. For the UofCHSMUN ECOFIN conference I was Saudi Arabia. First, think about what you know about the country now. Most of it is probably generalizations and stereotypes of which some is wrong but it lays a good foundation. From there I recommend looking at the wikipedia page (I’m not a teacher so I can recommend that). Usually the first few paragraph summary is exactly what I look for. In the case of Saudia Arabia, from the first few paragraphs I understand that it is a large monarchy country in the Middle East with an oil-based economy, strong religious influences and a rough human rights track record. This helps create an idea of what the country you’re representing wants and how they would feel about the issues. From here you can research more about your country as a whole by using resources provided by your teacher such as the CIA World Factbook, UN website and many others. It may also help to catch up on recent events.
After learning the general makeup of your country you should research what your committee will actually be focusing on. This is a good time to read through your background guide and understand what your committee is debating about and what you need to research to do well. Attached is a PDF version of the background guide I was given and I have highlighted and included notes in the margin to help you understand your own background guide.
At this point you should have a decent understanding of your country as a whole and the topics you are going to be tackling. From here you’ll look for information about your country in regards to the topics so that you can formulate your country’s opinion. This should be self-explanatory however if you’re still lost, below is a worked example based off topic 1 from the example background guide and the country I represented during that year, Saudi Arabia. However if you understand the point of this section feel free to skip the example and continue to the next section.
The questions for discussion on Topic 1 are as follows.
For this example I will work through question one only. First it helps to establish what a question is saying. This could be rewriting the question to more familiar terms. “How can the UN encourage changes towards renewable energy creation?” In this case I would make sure I know for sure what renewable energy is. A quick wikipedia search defines it as “...energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.” Do this for any terms you are uncertain as to the exact definition. Next draw upon what you know about your country and create a preliminary guess as to your country’s stance. In my case of Saudi Arabia, it is a major oil producer. How would this affect my response within the committee when debating question one? Obviously I would be against a shift towards renewable energy. This is even evidence towards this based on Saudi Arabia’s global negotiations on renewable energy and their lobbying with the fossil fuel industry. However, you can’t just rely on preliminary analysis to form an opinion. As I began to research more into the question I found that Saudi Arabia is realising the volatility of the current oil market. While continuing to ramp production of oil, it is also trying to diversify its economy and protect its future prosperity. Part of this economic diversification is an investment of billions of dollars into renewable energy. Saudi Arabia is in a good geographic region to justify solar paneling so it makes sense for them to invest in large swaths of paneling. From my second round of research I developed the following view. Saudi Arabia is first and foremost an oil producer. It wants the continued market of oil goods. However the monarchy has realised the world is shifting away from oil, so while trying to maintain the need for oil it is working to diversify its energy production and economy. The answer I created for the question was that investment into renewable energy while maintaining oil production to facilitate this transition in both energy and cost would be the best way outcome. In this case Saudi Arabia would be able to use their current oil wealth and transfer it to renewable sources and strengthen its economy.
By this time you should have finished your research on all three of the topics and generated some answers to the questions posed in the background guide. Now is a good time to understand the end goal of each MUN conference, the resolution. A resolution is the fruits of your conference, a paper about what your conference plans to do about the problem going into the future. An example resolution will be below which you can use to compare to the written explanation within this section. A resolution is a written document with three parts: the heading, the preambular clauses, and the operative clauses.
The Heading: This part contains four pieces of information: the committee name, the sponsors, the signatories, and the topic. Both the committee name and the topic you should already know. Sponsors are the countries that authors of the resolution. Signatories are other delegations who wish to see it debated. They do not have to agree with the paper, just want to see it presented and discussed.
Preambulatory Clauses: States the issues that the committee wishes to resolve on this issue. Could include why the committee is working on this problem and previous actions taken and usually include:
Preambulatory Clauses have a particular writing format. They begin with an underlined preambulatory phrase, your statement and end with a comma. Try not to go overboard in this section as the operative clauses are the real meat of the resolution paper.
Operative Clauses: These are the solutions that the sponsors of the paper are proposing. They should address issues mentioned in the preambulatory clauses above. The writing format for this clause is to begin with an underlined operative phrase, combine it with your solution and end it with a semicolon. The last clause/end of the resolution has a period instead of a semicolon. Each clause is numbered and could have sub-clauses if it makes sense rather than being its own clause. In this case the containing clause ends with a colon and each of the subclauses follows the same format as regular clauses but it is indented and the number system must be altered from it’s containing clause. This is usually a, b, c or i, ii, iii.
Once you or your bloc is done writing your working paper you can work on getting signatories by sharing your paper with other delegates and asking for their interest. Once a certain amount of signatories is acquired (depends on each session), it is brought up to the chair for approval. If the chair approves then later in the session you will be asked to share your draft resolution and entertain a question and answer period. By this point most of your work on creating a resolution is done and you should soon move into voting.
Amendments: Amendments are ways to modify approved draft resolutions. They are written statements that adds, deletes or changes an operative clause. Amendments are used to strengthen support on a resolution by allowing change. The preambulatory clauses cannot be changed. There are two types of amendments, the amendment and the unfriendly amendment. A friendly amendment is a change that the sponsors agree with. After the admenets is signed by the draft’s sponsors and approved by the chair it will be automatically added to the resolution
An unfriendly amendment is a change that some or all the sponsors do not support and must be voted on by the committee. This amendment type also refers to delegates who did not write this resolution at all but see potential in it as long as several changes are made to it. The sponsors of the amendment will need to obtain a required number of signatories in order to introduce it. Prior to voting on the draft resolution, the committee votes on all unfriendly amendments. To write an amendment all you need to do is make an operative clause that adds, deletes or changes an operative clause in the draft resolution. Examples below:
One of the things I hated the most about MUN is the amount of obscure terminology.
Most of the terms you will hear in a committee could be simplified to terms a layman
would understand but as this is supposed to replicate the actual UN they use
similar “professional” language. To make this guide complete I’m going to include a
crash course on most of the terms you’ll hear in a MUN.
Working Paper - The name
of a resolution paper that still has to be approved by the chair.
Dilatory Motion -
A motion that the chair rules inappropriate or believes there is no chance of it passing.
Dias - def; a raised platform (as in a hall or large room). Place where the chair and
their colleagues reside and where delegates go to present to the congregation.
Decorum - def; appropriate social behavior and propriety, and is thus linked
to notions of etiquette and manners. Used mainly by the chair in the phrase
“Decorum, delegates!” Basically points out you are not following the standards
and civility of the United Nations and must return to order.
Motion - Formal proposal that sets direction of committee
Motion to Recess - Recesses the committee for meals or until the next day’s session.
Requires simple majority.
Motion to [Adjourn Debate/Table a Topic] - Tables topic. Requires 2 speakers for and
2 against, and then a simple majority vote.
Motion to Reconsider a [Topic/Resolution/Proposal] - Used to go back to a suspended
topic or during voting procedures to reconsider a failed resolution. Can only come
from the delegate who originally voted to table the topic or was against the
resolution and must provide a good explanation of why it should be reconsidered.
Requires 2 speakers against and a ⅔ majority vote.
Motion to Alter the Agenda - Change the agreed upon agenda. Needs 1 speaker for
1 against and a majority vote.
Motion to Adjourn the Meeting - After voting, motion to adjourn would end the
conference till the next time it convenes. Requires a simple majority.
Point - An informal statement made by a delegate to make a correction, clarification
or question. Make sure to indicate which point you are addressing before stating
what is in error.
Point of Order - Allows delegate to point out a possible procedural error made by
another delegate or the chair. Must be raised immediately after the incident and
the chair will rule on it. One of the only times you may interject into another
delegate's speech. Not recommended unless you are sure the other party is in error.
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry - Allows delegate to question the chair if they
are uncertain about the procedure of the committee
Point of Information - A question to a speaker. When a speaker yields to
questions, the Chair will recognize questions as time allows. When recognized
the delegate stands and asks one concise question. While the speaker responds
the delegate remains standing. If the speaker needs clarification on the
question they will ask the Chair and the Chair will clarify by asking the
delegate. At no point is the speaker or delegate to engage in back and forth
dialogue. Not used to ask a question to the Chair.
Point of Personal Privilege - When a delegate has an impairment in their ability
to participate in the meeting. Ex: cannot hear speaker, too cold, etc.The chair
will attempt to address the situation. Points may interrupt a speaker.
Congrats, you’ve finished my prep guide. I hope you feel somewhat prepared for what’s about to come. The next section will be what you should expect to see on a regular day of MUN.