This time it comes from the New Haven Public Schools website. Check it out here.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Crisis Committees
For the Yale MUN Conference this past weekend, I was crisis manager for the United States National Security Council.
For those who are unfamiliar, crisis committees differ from normal committees. Most committees are simulations of United Nations organs, such as the General Assembly or the Economic and Social Council, where students represent different countries and debate United Nations policy on international topics (hence "Model" UN). By contrast, crisis committees do not simply discuss topics, but also "crises," which are pressing events manufactured by the conference staff that require the immediate attention of the committee. Some crisis committees also simulate UN organs, such as the Security Council, but many also simulate high-level cabinets and other political bodies that not only set policy but can take immediate action.
For example, this past weekend I ran a simulation of the US National Security Council (NSC). Students in my committee did not represent countries, but people. One roleplayed Vice President Cheney, another was the NSC's Senior Advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan, and someone even acted as Karl Rove. The students initially discussed the topics of the committee, which were "Reorganizing the NSC" and "Iran." Soon, however, they debated what to do in response to various crisis situations, namely a suicide bombing in Israel and a dirty bomb in the United States. As crisis manager, I devised and informed the committee of these crises. Although technically the NSC is an advisory body to the President on policies of national security and does not act immediately in crisis situations, my simulation also incorporated the White House Situation Room, in which members of the NSC advise the President on immediate actions.
A good crisis is not only exciting but realistic. So, nuclear weapons suddenly appearing in Mozambique might be interesting but doubtful. In contrast, it might not be in Iran's interest to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but given what's happened over the past few years, it's not entirely implausible. In addition, a good crisis is exciting for everyone present. If the crisis is about US response to the outbreak of war in Kashmir, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development plays almost no role, and that delegate will be bored out of his mind. What also makes a crisis exciting is that it responds to the committee and makes delegates feel like their actions are making a difference.
Moreover, a good crisis is actionable, meaning the committee can actually do something about the topic and has a number of possible responses. So a famine in China is probably a bad crisis in the UN Security Council because A) China has veto power and will respond--or not--to crises within its own borders as it sees fit and B) even if China allowed the UNSC to respond, the only plausible thing to do is getting food to China, which may not even be within its mandate nor is it a topic of "international peace and security" requiring the Council's attention.
The point of a Model UN crisis is not to present some ridiculous situation, but to probe our understanding of the issue at hand by exploring various scenarios. There's probably nothing more intellectually satisfying in MUN than working with your fellow delegates to defuse a good crisis. Once you've done your fair share of GA and ECOSOC committees, topics begin looking the same: you want to do something; no one can do anything; so everyone blames the United States. Crisis committees, however, differ vastly from conference to conference, which makes them refreshing and fun. Nothing in MUN is worse, however, than a terrible crisis that's boring, unrealistic, poorly-planned, excludes delegates, leaves no options, and is unresponsive.
A good crisis requires a good crisis manager. Some make up the crisis as it goes along, coming up with one or two ideas before the conference, seeing how delegates respond, and then giving the next update. Others create elaborate crisis "trees" ahead of time, brainstorming different situations, determining possible responses to them, and outlining the consequences, game theory-style. Some are hardcore MUN delegates themselves who know how to push and pull the committee, giving them direction but options, too, and letting the delegates shape the crisis and, consequently, their experience. Others are woefully inexperienced who think they can come up with one idea ahead of time and expect the committee to act a certain way; when the committee does not, then such crisis managers are screwed.
I've seen good and bad crises as both delegate and crisis manager, usually the UN Security Council. I understand that designing good crises is a difficult task; it's more complicated than people think. Different crisis managers from different conferences and different schools all have different ideas how crises ought to be run. I'd like to share those ideas so that we can learn best practices and improve our committees.
My next post will present a crisis management "framework," using my committee this past weekend as an example. This framework comprises the "parts" of a crisis that I used to outline it beforehand and help me respond to delegate actions during the conference. It's not fool-proof; it's a work in progress. But it's what I can offer as a first step towards sharing best practices and, in a larger sense, further realizing an MUN community.
For those who are unfamiliar, crisis committees differ from normal committees. Most committees are simulations of United Nations organs, such as the General Assembly or the Economic and Social Council, where students represent different countries and debate United Nations policy on international topics (hence "Model" UN). By contrast, crisis committees do not simply discuss topics, but also "crises," which are pressing events manufactured by the conference staff that require the immediate attention of the committee. Some crisis committees also simulate UN organs, such as the Security Council, but many also simulate high-level cabinets and other political bodies that not only set policy but can take immediate action.
For example, this past weekend I ran a simulation of the US National Security Council (NSC). Students in my committee did not represent countries, but people. One roleplayed Vice President Cheney, another was the NSC's Senior Advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan, and someone even acted as Karl Rove. The students initially discussed the topics of the committee, which were "Reorganizing the NSC" and "Iran." Soon, however, they debated what to do in response to various crisis situations, namely a suicide bombing in Israel and a dirty bomb in the United States. As crisis manager, I devised and informed the committee of these crises. Although technically the NSC is an advisory body to the President on policies of national security and does not act immediately in crisis situations, my simulation also incorporated the White House Situation Room, in which members of the NSC advise the President on immediate actions.
A good crisis is not only exciting but realistic. So, nuclear weapons suddenly appearing in Mozambique might be interesting but doubtful. In contrast, it might not be in Iran's interest to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but given what's happened over the past few years, it's not entirely implausible. In addition, a good crisis is exciting for everyone present. If the crisis is about US response to the outbreak of war in Kashmir, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development plays almost no role, and that delegate will be bored out of his mind. What also makes a crisis exciting is that it responds to the committee and makes delegates feel like their actions are making a difference.
Moreover, a good crisis is actionable, meaning the committee can actually do something about the topic and has a number of possible responses. So a famine in China is probably a bad crisis in the UN Security Council because A) China has veto power and will respond--or not--to crises within its own borders as it sees fit and B) even if China allowed the UNSC to respond, the only plausible thing to do is getting food to China, which may not even be within its mandate nor is it a topic of "international peace and security" requiring the Council's attention.
The point of a Model UN crisis is not to present some ridiculous situation, but to probe our understanding of the issue at hand by exploring various scenarios. There's probably nothing more intellectually satisfying in MUN than working with your fellow delegates to defuse a good crisis. Once you've done your fair share of GA and ECOSOC committees, topics begin looking the same: you want to do something; no one can do anything; so everyone blames the United States. Crisis committees, however, differ vastly from conference to conference, which makes them refreshing and fun. Nothing in MUN is worse, however, than a terrible crisis that's boring, unrealistic, poorly-planned, excludes delegates, leaves no options, and is unresponsive.
A good crisis requires a good crisis manager. Some make up the crisis as it goes along, coming up with one or two ideas before the conference, seeing how delegates respond, and then giving the next update. Others create elaborate crisis "trees" ahead of time, brainstorming different situations, determining possible responses to them, and outlining the consequences, game theory-style. Some are hardcore MUN delegates themselves who know how to push and pull the committee, giving them direction but options, too, and letting the delegates shape the crisis and, consequently, their experience. Others are woefully inexperienced who think they can come up with one idea ahead of time and expect the committee to act a certain way; when the committee does not, then such crisis managers are screwed.
I've seen good and bad crises as both delegate and crisis manager, usually the UN Security Council. I understand that designing good crises is a difficult task; it's more complicated than people think. Different crisis managers from different conferences and different schools all have different ideas how crises ought to be run. I'd like to share those ideas so that we can learn best practices and improve our committees.
My next post will present a crisis management "framework," using my committee this past weekend as an example. This framework comprises the "parts" of a crisis that I used to outline it beforehand and help me respond to delegate actions during the conference. It's not fool-proof; it's a work in progress. But it's what I can offer as a first step towards sharing best practices and, in a larger sense, further realizing an MUN community.
YMUN was great!
The Yale MUN Conference was a blast! In my 4 years at Yale, I think this year's conference was the best one I've seen. Delegates seemed to have fun but were well-behaved; advisors looked pleased all-around; and the staff was generally upbeat. Kudos to Secretary-General Amy Zwanziger and her Secretariat!
Better yet, this year's YMUN inaugurated the revival of Yale's MUN outreach program, led by Sabrina Howell. Every week leading up to the conference, she led a team of Yale MUNers to teach international relations to New Haven public school students. Their experience culminated in YMUN.
I met her students, who are great kids with bright futures. Read the full story from the New Haven Independent here. And check out the pre-conference coverage from the New Haven Register, too.
My next few posts will reflect on the conference. If you attended YMUN, I hope you had as great a time as I did, and feel free to comment below!
Better yet, this year's YMUN inaugurated the revival of Yale's MUN outreach program, led by Sabrina Howell. Every week leading up to the conference, she led a team of Yale MUNers to teach international relations to New Haven public school students. Their experience culminated in YMUN.
I met her students, who are great kids with bright futures. Read the full story from the New Haven Independent here. And check out the pre-conference coverage from the New Haven Register, too.
My next few posts will reflect on the conference. If you attended YMUN, I hope you had as great a time as I did, and feel free to comment below!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Greetings YMUN Delegates!
I'm assuming that many of the people visiting this site over the next few days have done so because of my ad in the Yale Model United Nations Conference delegate guide. Hello, and welcome to BestDelegate.com!
I'm a senior at Yale University who's done MUN for 8 years now. I compete on the Traveling Team, and I was Secretary-General for the Security Council Simulation at Yale (SCSY), our college conference.
I started this website because there's not a lot of good information on Model UN out there. Sure, there are many conference websites, UNA-USA, the UN cyberschoolbus, and now a Wikipedia page. But before this website, there was nothing dedicated purely to the activity of MUN itself. And there was definitely nothing on the actual strategies and tactics used by MUNers to win committees.
This website seeks to change that.
So feel free to explore. Below is a list of some popular articles on my site. E-mail me or leave a comment to let me know what you think!
Good luck this weekend, and don't hesitate to drop by my committee, the US National Security Council, to say hi!
How to Win Best Delegate: Overview
Orange County MUN
MUN and Debate
Choosing "Your" Committee
Making It Up
Researching the Conference
Researching the Committee
Researching the Topic
Researching the Country
I'm a senior at Yale University who's done MUN for 8 years now. I compete on the Traveling Team, and I was Secretary-General for the Security Council Simulation at Yale (SCSY), our college conference.
I started this website because there's not a lot of good information on Model UN out there. Sure, there are many conference websites, UNA-USA, the UN cyberschoolbus, and now a Wikipedia page. But before this website, there was nothing dedicated purely to the activity of MUN itself. And there was definitely nothing on the actual strategies and tactics used by MUNers to win committees.
This website seeks to change that.
So feel free to explore. Below is a list of some popular articles on my site. E-mail me or leave a comment to let me know what you think!
Good luck this weekend, and don't hesitate to drop by my committee, the US National Security Council, to say hi!
How to Win Best Delegate: Overview
Orange County MUN
MUN and Debate
Choosing "Your" Committee
Making It Up
Researching the Conference
Researching the Committee
Researching the Topic
Researching the Country
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
MUNTY Presentation on Research
Last night, I gave a presentation to the Yale Model United Nations Traveling Team on research. It synthesized a lot of the stuff that I've already posted here.
Here's the powerpoint I used:
See the post immediately below this one for links to the actual articles on MUN research. I hope this helps!
Here's the powerpoint I used:
See the post immediately below this one for links to the actual articles on MUN research. I hope this helps!
Hello YMUN Delegates!
So the daily traffic to this website went from an average of 5 a day to 50 yesterday! I'm assuming that most of you are visiting in order to prepare for upcoming MUN conferences, namely the Yale MUN Conference this weekend.
To help you navigate this site (which I need to re-design), the following is a list of the more substantive posts I've written.
Articles on researching the...
conference:
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-research.html
committee:
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-research-your.html
topic:
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-research-your_28.html
country:
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/12/how-to-win-best-delegate-research-your.html
General articles:
Overview
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-overview.html
Choosing "Your" Committee
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-choose-your.html
Making It Up
http://www.bestdelegate.com/2007/11/how-to-win-best-delegate-making-it-up.html
I hope that helps somewhat. If you like what you read, let me know what other topics you'd like me to write on.
If you're coming to YMUN, drop by my committee (US National Security Council) and say hi! See you soon!
To help you navigate this site (which I need to re-design), the following is a list of the more substantive posts I've written.
Articles on researching the...
conference:
http://www.bestdelegate.com
committee:
http://www.bestdelegate.com
topic:
http://www.bestdelegate.com
country:
http://www.bestdelegate.com
General articles:
Overview
http://www.bestdelegate.com
Choosing "Your" Committee
http://www.bestdelegate.com
Making It Up
http://www.bestdelegate.com
I hope that helps somewhat. If you like what you read, let me know what other topics you'd like me to write on.
If you're coming to YMUN, drop by my committee (US National Security Council) and say hi! See you soon!
Friday, January 18, 2008
One Week to YMUN!
Again, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy preparing for the Yale Model United Nations Conference (high school), which is next week from January 24-27.
I'm running the National Security Council; its topics are A) NSC Reorganization and B) Iran. It's almost entirely crisis-based, so it should be interesting.
As a teaser for the conference, check out this video made by a delegate in last year's Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian committee. Very well done!
I'm running the National Security Council; its topics are A) NSC Reorganization and B) Iran. It's almost entirely crisis-based, so it should be interesting.
As a teaser for the conference, check out this video made by a delegate in last year's Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian committee. Very well done!
I hope someone makes another video of this year's conference.
If you're going, don't hesitate to introduce yourself to me! I really enjoy meeting other MUNers, and I'd love to know what you think about my site. (And I know I know, I need to update =P)
See you at YMUN!
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