Guest Article Written & Submitted by Anish V.
While every Model UN Conference differs in its nature, most conference organizers actually take their topics from and design their committees using a common list of key themes! These are roughly based around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, which were adopted in September of 2015 by the UN General Assembly. A set of 17 goals aimed at transforming our world to create a more sustainable global future, they cover topics including no poverty, zero hunger, gender & racial equality, affordable energy, and climate action; these are the goals that form the basis of a vast majority of MUN Conferences and underpin many committee topics. We’ve created this article to help YOU, the seasoned delegate, become an expert on 5 common committee topics & types that you’re bound to encounter along your MUN journey: environmental issues, nuclear disarmament, the situation in […….] committees & the UNSC, regional bodies/organizations, and historical crisis committees!
1. Environmental Issues
Given that the environment is a topic that truly affects every nation on Earth, our first spotlight topic shouldn’t come as a surprise – one of the staples of MUN Conferences across the country & globe is a committee focused on today’s pressing environmental challenges. The vast variety of resources needed to tackle this issue ensures that every country, no matter how big or small, can contribute to the debate in a meaningful way, making it a perfect fit for any MUN Conference’s committee lineup.
The environment is one of the most commonly touched upon topics within the Sustainable Development Goals. Goals Six (Clean Water and Sanitation), Seven (Affordable and Clean Energy), Eleven (Sustainable Cities and Communities), Twelve (Responsible Consumption and Production), and Thirteen (Climate Action) touch in some way on safeguarding the future of our planet.
Great resources to turn to to get started with your research on climate change and potential solutions include Departments/Ministries of Energy from your Member State or the Conference of the Parties (COP), which is held every year barring extenuating circumstances. Other great sources for information on this issue and policy relating to it are looking to see if your countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, and subsequent treaties including the Glasgow Agreement from COP26. Finally, the UN’s own website has a ton of great information on pressing threats related to climate change and what the UN is currently doing to combat them.
Climate change is also constantly featured in today’s news, another great source for the most up-to-date information! Recently, Hokkaido University researchers have said that under current warming trends of the Earth, the sea level could rise by as much as five meters by the end of the millennium. Around the globe, scientists are continuously doing research and finding more information about this issue facing our entire world, so keep looking for more & new information.
While climate change might seem like a broad topic, many MUN Conferences take this a step further and dive into relevant sub-topics which you should definitely consider in your research process! Some of these sub-topics may include: Clean and Affordable Energy, Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change, Addressing Air Pollution, Lack of Biodiversity, or Deforestation.
Finally, a piece of advice if you’re representing a country that’s a climate change denier or isn’t doing much to combat it: find your allies and stick to your policy. Your ability to ensure that the conversation isn’t homogenous will be appreciated by your chairs!
2. Nuclear Weapons
Moving on from addressing peaceful ways to protect our planet, nuclear weapons proliferation/nuclear disarmament is another incredibly common topic that is addressed in Model UN Conferences each year. While nuclear weapons don’t cleanly fit into any one of the Sustainable Development Goals, different aspects of nuclear weapons can fit into goals like Affordable and Clean Energy in regards to nuclear energy or Life on Land/Life Below Water in regards to radioactive nuclear waste from testing and deployment, and Peace, Justice, & Strong Institutions in terms of creating stronger global security.
All in all, nuclear weapons are one of the most engaging security topics to have in MUN simulation, and a staple of almost any conference. One of the best parts about this topic? The potential to reach so many different possible solutions. Further, these solutions can depend on the committee type that you’re in. For example, the General Assembly First Committee (Disarmament and Security Committee or DISEC) might reach a vastly different consensus than the Security Council with its five veto powers.
If you’re preparing for a committee addressing nuclear weapons, there are boundless resources to look at in order to become a master of nuclear policy! Looking at your country’s nuclear background is a must, and looking at the Nuclear Threat Initiative website will also be of huge help. Additionally, checking out past foundational/landmark treaties including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement (NPT) are great places to start to discern country policy. You can also consider your country’s relationship with other nuclear weapon states, both NPT-compliant and non-NPT compliant, including India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, and the DPRK. Finally, be prepared to go beyond the typical conversation about “nuclear weapons are good for safety,” or “nuclear weapons are harmful because they can kill,” and address other issues including nuclear waste, the testing of nuclear weapons, and nuclear energy.
While this topic doesn’t appear in the news as often as climate change, world powers are always dealing with nuclear weapons and their threats behind the scenes. For example, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has recently increased the frequency of its missile testing, having tested missiles seven times at the time this article was written. This solidifies the DPRK’s unique position as the only country to have tested nuclear weapons in the 21st Century.
In regards to important sub-topics to consider for nuclear weapons and disarmament, the most common ones are, as mentioned earlier: Nuclear Disarmament, Addressing Nuclear Waste/Fallout, Preventing the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and Harnessing Nuclear Energy Safely.
With all of this information in mind, if you’re representing a country in a nuclear weapons committee, stand your ground! Most countries have strong views on nuclear weapons one way or the other, so work to bring your ideas to the table, but perhaps most importantly, always remember to consider others’ ideas & perspectives!
3. “The Situation In [….]” Committees & the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
One of the more dynamic committees commonly featured at Model UN Conferences is the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The best topics to discuss in a UNSC? Any major ongoing geopolitical conflict – giving delegates the opportunity to truly tackle today’s most pressing challenges! These committees can touch on any one of the SDGs, but the role that the Sustainable Development Goals play in the committee will be less when compared to a purely General Assembly Committee.
The Security Council is extremely interesting for so many reasons. Firstly, and most obviously, veto powers are in play here. If you’re representing one of the five permanent members of the Security Council (The Russian Federation, the French Republic, the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), you have a lot of ability to sway the committee given your ability to veto. However, even more uniquely of note, because of the nature of the Security Council, the committee can shift between a GA and a Crisis committee, giving you the best of both worlds! For example, while addressing ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a crisis update featuring the DPRK testing more nuclear weapons can give you the opportunity to respond with more targeted action to an ongoing global security topic of discussion. Additionally, this kind of committee is great because there are only 15 delegates in the committee room, which means you have more time to stand out and show what your country believes in.
While it’s hard to provide specific resources about contemporary conflicts & topics given their evolving nature, being aware of geopolitical relationships and current global tensions & dynamics will give you a leg-up in your research! Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics details a lot of geopolitical conflicts that could be the subject of your next Security Council committee. Additionally, it’s super useful to know about the additional powers & functions of the Security Council, including creating new peacekeeping missions, controlling, managing, & amending existing peacekeeping forces, investigation of potential disputes, and arria-formula meetings.
Before we move on to our next topic, one final piece of advice about Security Council committees: if you are a veto power, don’t be afraid to use it, and perhaps of more strategic importance, threaten to use it. Even the threat of a veto will convince countries to be even the slightest more amenable to your goals. However, don’t overuse it! What about if you happen to be one of the other 10 countries without veto power? Fear not – use what power you have and your unique perspective to be a major influence in the committee (and perhaps bring the non-veto power countries together in an alliance)! For more information on the UNSC, check out George Mullens’ article on the Security Council.
4. Regional Bodies & Committees
While the UNSC deals with issues on an international scale, regional body committees are a great way to deal with more specialized issues in a particular place/context. The topics on these can be similar to those featured in Security Councils, but may also include peaceful topics like addressing poverty or more region-specific current events like Brexit.
Regional bodies are some of the most fun committees to register for because of the sheer amount of variation between them. From the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to the African and European Unions, to the Arab League and ASEAN, all of these organizations give you the chance to work for a more specialized body to bring about change for your region and your country. These regional bodies can also be suited for either GA-esque or crisis-style committees, making them an engaging committee choice for any MUN Conference.
In terms of preparation for these types of committees, you have to KNOW ABOUT YOUR REGIONAL BODY! Knowing about the structure and the powers of the committee itself will ensure that you’re able to harness available resources and address solutions in the most effective way (especially important given how differently each of these organizations operate). For example, knowing about the many different organs within the European Union will help you navigate the avenues by which to solve the issue at hand, and if worst comes to worst in a NATO committee, you can always move to invoke Article 5 (if you know about it, that is).
While specific resources for researching these types of committees are a little more difficult to provide given the wide variety of topics and bodies, in general looking at webpages for the specific committee that you’re assigned to is a great way to begin to understand the topic and its relevancy. Additionally, looking at previous work your body and the UN have done and analyzing what’s worked and what hasn’t is a great way to prepare. Furthermore, keep up to date on the news through reputable news organizations to ensure that you’re working with the latest and best information!
5. Historical Crisis Committees
Without a doubt, participating in a historical crisis committee is one of the most fast-paced, crazy, fun, and rewarding experience you can have as a MUN delegate (if you’re interested in crisis-style MUN). These committees can be quite the doozy, and juggling between what you know about the past alongside the new information you’re being given through real-time crisis updates makes them even more challenging & dynamic.
Historical crisis committees are great for so many reasons. Firstly, they give you the unique opportunity to dive into the minds of famous historical figures as they made the decisions that have impacted & shaped the world that we live in today. You could be President Harry Truman as he oversees creation of the atomic bomb, or go into the mind of King George III as the American colonies fight to gain independence. Additionally, historical crisis committees give you the chance to change history. Will you save President Nixon from his resignation by addressing the Watergate scandal differently? Can you prevent the collapse of the USSR?
These committees truly provide delegates an opportunity to go outside of their comfort zone by getting into & embracing a historical character’s persona. Furthermore, given that these committees have crisis notes, you’ll also have the ability to work on private goals unknown to the committee – you can shape the course of history that your character would have wanted to see (that is, if the other delegates don’t stop you….)! Throughout the committee, delegates are given the opportunity to showcase a variety of different skills, which makes for a very engaging committee experience as the conference staff’s work & the various crisis arcs at play entangle to create a complicated web of “who did that?!?” and “how do we fix this?!?”!
While, once again, recommended resources may depend on your specific committee, in general, looking at information from historical news articles including archives from current news sources is an awesome way to start! For example, if you were in a committee dealing with the effects of the death of His Royal Highness George VI and the coronation of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, you might check out this article about the coronation. Additionally, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Museums Research Center, or the Library of Congress can also provide great sources for researching the past.
Wondering what historical crises you might encounter and get the chance to re-shape as a delegate? A few common examples of great historical crisis topics include the American Revolution, WWI & WWII, the Six-Day War, the French Revolution, saving the USSR, German Reunification, Medieval Japan, the Space Race, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or Trust Busting.
A few final pro-tips for historical crisis committees: get into character and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty with some controversy and scandal! Crisis staffers love to see unexpected, fun, & creative crisis ideas, and these are definitely most likely to get you noticed and help you to win awards! Work to weave your personal arc into the direction the committee is heading.
Are YOU ready to put your new research expertise into practice? Want to try out a new committee topic or type?
