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How does Model United Nations operate within my school?
What is Model United
Nations?
Model United Nations is program that has been around for over fifty years in colleges and high schools around the world. The premise is this: Students assume the roles of ambassadors to the United Nations and are provided with an agenda comprised of items also being debated by the real United Nations in New York. Students, acting as delegates, research the issues from the agenda and study their assigned nation's point-of-view in order to accurately represent the country.
Upon arriving at a Model United Nations conference,
delegates will
meet in committee sessions to debate the issues from the agenda, draft
resolutions, and ultimately arrive at the best solution the committee can
devise. During a conference, delegates are challenged to
persuade, influence, compromise, and ultimately make peace with friends
and strangers while working within a structured process of debate.
How does Model UN operate
within my school?
Most schools operate Model United Nations either
as a club or as a class. Generally schools establishing a new Model United
Nations program will create an extracurricular club that meets once a week
before or after school.
Once the number of students in the club has been determined,
the advisor can register for a Model United Nations conference from the
MAGEC web site. Our largest and most popular conference is the
Mid-American Model United Nations Conference (MAMUN) which takes place
every spring. After completing the registration process for this
four-day conference, the advisor will receive confirmation of the
countries that his/her school will be representing. Each country is
represented on four to six different committees; one student will need to
be assigned to each of these committees. This unit of four to six
students representing the same country on different committees is known as
a delegation.
Model United Nations meetings might include practice with Parliamentary Procedure,
student presentations on current events or historically important events, mock debates
on conference agenda items, or instruction writing
resolutions.
What are we expected to do?
The
MAMUN
Handbook can answer many of your questions regarding deadlines, rules of procedure, agenda topics, and
expectations for student research. If you have
questions, don’t wonder silently! E-mail us at mamun@mamunonline.com
so that we can point you in the right direction.
Delegates are expected to
prepare the following prior to MAMUN:
1.
Resolutions
from each delegate are highly encouraged; committee work is largely
dependent on these documents, and they will be an important criterion in
determining awards. Delegates should be very familiar with the
resolution writing and amending
process by the time they arrive at MAMUN. ONLY RESOLUTIONS SUBMITTED
BY THE DESIGNATED DEADLINE WILL BE CONSIDERED AT THE
CONFERENCE!
2. Opening presentations on the agenda topics are required of many delegations attending MAMUN. Upon receiving your country assignments, you will be informed which delegations are responsible for preparing opening presentations. Again, please refer to the MAMUN Handbook for a full description of what this presentation entails.
3. A position paper is simply an essay prepared by a delegation that briefly discusses the country's position on one topic from each committee. Complete guidelines can be found in the MAMUN Handbook. Drafting a position paper is a great way for delegations to prepare for debate.
4. Parliamentary Procedure is a set of procedural rules that govern the meetings of the United Nations. Those familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order or any formal board-style meeting rules will have a general notion of what this is. Students need to be exposed to Parliamentary Procedure prior to the conference.
This
is all that is required. Anything
else that can be done to enrich the students’ knowledge of their nations and
the nations' policies will provide them with an advantage in debate.
What goes on at these
conferences?
MAMUN begins on a Wednesday morning with a meeting of the General Assembly, which
is made up of all delegates present. After this Opening Session, the
General Assembly breaks up into five different committees, each having its own agenda.
Committee sessions will be facilitated by an impartial staff chairperson, but the delegates will be in charge of the proceedings. Delegates will direct the debate, decide how much time to spend on each topic, decide when to break for caucuses (informal working sessions), and generally run the committee. The staff chairperson will ensure that the committee remains focused and that procedures are followed as smoothly as possible.
After two and a half days of debating and amending
resolutions, each General Assembly committee will submit the resolutions it has passed
to the General Assembly. The General Assembly, comprised of all
delegates who are not sitting on the Security Council, will meet from Friday afternoon
until Saturday afternoon. The General Assembly will discuss topics from each
committee and decide whether or not the resolutions passed in
committee will be ratified by the entire body.
During the General Assembly session, other meetings will occupy delegates for short blocks of time. The International Court of Justice will meet to hear and evaluate a case, and several delegates will be invited to participate in meetings to solve a simulated regional crisis.
At the end of all this negotiating and discussion, the conference is closed with a meeting of all delegates, advisors, and staff and a presentation of awards to those who truly distinguished themselves during the week.
Who is MAGEC?
MAGEC is the Mid-American Global Education Council, an organization of volunteers that sponsors and directly runs Model United Nations conferences for high school students. We are a well-seasoned group of college students and graduates who organize three Model United Nations conferences each year: the Mid-American Model United Nations Conference (MAMUN) in March, the Canadian-American Security Councils (CASC) in December, and the Historical Security Councils (TCHSC) in late spring.
The members of the MAGEC staff have all been involved with Model United Nations since our high school years, and we devote our time and effort to this organization because of our shared belief in the immeasurable value of Model United Nations. We are dedicated to the success and perpetuation of this sort of student-centered activity, and we will do whatever we can to help make Model United Nations successful at your school.
How can we get more information?
Browsing around the MAGEC web site is the easiest way to familiarize yourself with our organization and our conferences. In addition, you can e-mail us at mamun@mamunonline.com with your unanswered questions.
If your school will be attending MAMUN for the first time, you should e-mail us at mamun@mamunonline.com in order to schedule a date for us to come and visit your club. We are always happy to do what we can to support a teacher who has taken the initiative to organize a Model United Nations program, and we enjoy the opportunity to welcome new students and advisors to the MAMUN family.