Model United Nations - Simulations

Simulations

During a conference, participants must employ a variety of communication and critical thinking skills in order to represent the policies of their country. These skills include public speaking, group communication, research, policy analysis, active listening, negotiating, conflict resolution, note taking, and technical writing. However, school delegation formats vary from region to region.

Most Model UNs are simulations of a body in the United Nations system, such as:

• The General Assembly in both plenary form and within its functional committees
• Economic and Social Council and its specialized councils and agencies
• Security Council
• International Court of Justice
• United Nations Children's Fund
• United Nations Environment Programme
• United Nations Development Programme
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• Human Rights Council
• International Monetary Fund
• Disarmament Committee
• United Nations High Commission for Refugees
• World Food Program
• World Health Organization
• World Trade Organization

Many conferences simulate other IGOs including:

• European Union
• African Union
• Organization of American States
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO
• Arab League
• Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
• South Asian Association For Regional Co-Operation
• Association of South East Asian Nations
• International Atomic Energy Agency

In addition, solely national organizations such as the United States National Security Council are often role played, with delegates role-playing specific people (e.g. the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense) rather than representing countries. This may be taken one step further, having the delegate represent merely the interests of his or her office, or role-play a specific holder of the office (e.g. Hillary Clinton). Such committees are typically "crisis committees;" that is to say, they do not begin with a fixed topic but rather are forced to deal with issues as they come up. A team of conference organizers (known as a crisis staff) develops a simulated event which acts as a catalyst for a crisis. The staff continually inform the committees of changing events on the ground, to which the committee must respond; in addition, individual delegates are typically allowed to take certain actions on their own, without committee approval, subject to the interpretation and agreement of the crisis staff. However, the correspondence between single-country and crisis committees are not perfect; for instance, the UN Security Council and some NATO bodies are typically run as crisis committees, and some national cabinets are fixed-topic committees.

More unusual committees abound at the collegiate level; for instance, a college conference may simulate the Greco-Persian Wars via a committee of the Greek poleis, have a committee simulating the National Football League's annual owners meeting, as held at George Mason University MUN in 2009, or even have a committee simulating President David Palmer's cabinet from the TV show 24, simulated by the University of Pennsylvania Model UN Conference in 2007.

Many conferences also run crisis simulations in which hypothetical real world factors are included in the simulation, including representatives from various groups such as member states that topics for a crisis which can span all the committees of the conference.

Model UNs are often run using basic parliamentary procedure. This allows all delegates to be active participants. Common activities in MUN involve giving speeches to the committee and writing resolutions concerning a given topic. Additionally, at the end of longer conferences, awards are commonly given to either individual delegates, delegations, or both. The judging of this varies. For example, American conferences on the West Coast, such as BMUN, give delegates points for every action they perform, which are added. At the end of the conference, awards are given to the highest point scorer. On the other hand, conferences on the East Coast such as the Harvard National Model United Nations, delegates are judged in a more holistic manner, but perhaps to the detriment of objectivity and transparency. Giving awards is less common at smaller conferences. In addition, many larger conferences do not give awards at all, feeling that competition detracts from the simulation experience. Model U.N Conferences are also held in countries like India where the scope and participation has expanded.