Even the most experienced delegates dread merging because the process can easily make or break it for any delegate’s position in committee. No matter how articulately you spoke during moderated caucuses or how well you led your bloc, a poor merger can demonstrate to your chair an inability to negotiate, a skill that is essential in Model UN. Many good delegates have a basic plan of what to do when mergers become necessary: when your chair announces that your committee is only looking to accept 3 out of the 6 or so draft resolutions on the table, the ideal plan of action is to find a smaller, less represented bloc that aligns with your resolution’s tenets. However, as many of you also know, MUN committees are dynamic – they often do not yield the cookie-cutter scenarios that you have learned about in practices or trainings. More often than not, the bloc that you decide (or have to) merge with is larger than your own and has a leader that is quite vocal in committee. What to do then? There are a few strategies you can employ to ease stress that can arise from a merger.
One-on-One Talk
When large blocs are involved, the merging process looks like a crowd of 15 delegates shouting over each other and huddling around a computer or piece of paper. As you may imagine, or have experienced, merging papers becomes a longer and more tedious process when more delegates are involved. This is where talking with bloc leaders one-on-one becomes extremely useful. To do this, send a note to the leader of the other bloc involved and ask to meet outside the committee room, where you can better discuss the details of the merger without distractions. Feel free to bring a close second-in-command outside for an extra point of view, as the end goal of the merged resolution is to represent the blocs’ positions as well as possible. Though it is important to have a large say in what goes into the resolution, the best delegates keep in mind the interests of all the countries involved.
The benefits of talking to the other bloc leader one-on-one is twofold: it makes the merging process more efficient and eliminates the other bloc’s advantage in numbers, which is often enough to overpower small-bloc influence in mergers.
Organization
Once you can talk to the bloc leader one-on-one, organization of the final resolution is key. More importantly, being the one who organizes the merger is key. Not only does physically keeping your papers tidy make it easier for your chair to type up drafts, but it also allows you to control what clauses are incorporated into the final resolution. There are many different systems you can use to organize what goes into your merged paper, but a T-chart system with a draft resolution assigned to each column is one good example. However, no matter what organizational system you use to record changes on paper, begin the merging process by reading your resolution first with the intention of using it as the backbone for the final paper. Read your resolution clause-by-clause, marking down whether a clause is being kept, deleted, or amended as you discuss each solution with the other bloc leader. This way, when you read the other bloc’s resolution, any uncovered details in clauses that overlap in fundamental ideas will be added under your resolution’s clause. The main goal of controlling merger organization is to ensure your bloc is well represented in the final paper.
Bloc Representation
Control over how the resolution is presented to your chair and committee is crucial to your standing in committee coming out of the merger. Bloc representation applies to both submission of the resolution and how the committee refers to your bloc post-merge. The first aspect, submitting the resolution to the chair, is a tangible record of your leadership in the bloc, whether it be sharing the resolution Google Doc, handing in a USB with your country name on it, or turning in the resolution papers themselves. Always strive to be the delegate with ownership of the document, USB, or has the papers in hand.
The second aspect of bloc representation deals with how the committee will address your bloc going forward. If your bloc was referred to in committee by an acronym, aim to give a name to your new bloc that heavily reflects your previous title. For instance, my partner and I once used the acronym HELPER to structure our draft resolution and then merged with a paper that used the acronym PIONEER. Our merged paper became known as HELP PIONEER in the committee, but delegates quickly referred to it as the new Helper bloc because our resolution had become the backbone of the merger – the other bloc was represented, but never overpowered our delegation because of the strategies we used.
At the end of the day, merging is one of the hardest processes in Model UN, especially when dealing with larger blocs. Simplify the merging process by talking one-on-one with bloc leaders and using a system on paper to organize your clauses. Ensure your bloc’s voice is preserved in the final product by using your working paper as the skeleton to add to in the merger and demonstrating bloc leadership to the chair. Of course, all advice should be taken with a grain of salt – everything that could possibly diminish another bloc’s influence in committee will likely be met with hostility. Above all, remember to remain confident and calm. The best MUN delegates know how to assert themselves without getting heated in even the most stressful situations.
