MUN: Why You Should Join!

A committee room at Georgetown University.

Model United Nations (MUN) is an academic stimulation of the United Nations where participants (delegates) take the role of diplomats in a committee. Depending on the structure of the committee and what its function is, a delegate can represent a country or an official of a country. For example, in a United Nations Security Council committee, a delegate can be Pakistan, United States, Russia, etc. whereas in a Chinese Ministry State Security committee, a delegate can represent the director of a bureau i.e. the director of the bureau of counter-agency. MUN strives to provide students a platform where they can learn how UN committees work. MUN conferences are either Crisis structured or General Assembly (GA). In a Crisis committee, delegates react to crises that arise during the period of the committee. In a GA committee, delegates represent all of the members of the General Assembly of the UN. MUN conferences are held throughout the world. Conferences are usually hosted by middle schools, high schools and universities. The host schools do not participate, but rather, plan, chair, and staff committees. In the United States alone, about 90,000 students are members of MUN. Some of the earliest and most well-known conferences include: UPMUNC (University of Pennsylvania), ChoMUN (University of Chicago), and HMUN (Harvard University).

A delegate representing Cape Verde.

With globalization at its highest peak, it is very vital that students are well aware of the world and its happenings. Because MUN promotes students’ interests in world affairs, MUNers are well-informed about current world issues. They are also very knowledgeable about history and world politics as these are the fundamentals of MUN. Delegates are assigned their role, either a country or a particular official in a respective country weeks prior to a conference. It is expected of each participant to read their background guide and prepare for committee. While the background guide will have information on all of a committee’s character, reading it is not enough as it tends to leave out a lot. Thus, in order to be fully prepared to role-play a country or an official, a delegate must conduct his or her own research to find out as much as possible about his or her country or character, such as allies and enemies, stance on certain policies, etc. This research can be done by reading archival data either on the internet (a Google search will do the trick) or in books.

MUN provides students the space to learn and practice valuable skills which helps them throughout their lives as they embark on careers. Throughout a conference, participants engage in public speaking, writing, negotiations, problem solving, consensus building, conflict resolutions/compromise and corporations. No matter what career path a MUNer might choose after college, the skills listed above are all vital and useful. Also, MUN participants have been known to lead great and successful careers. Stephen Bryer, Ryan Seacrest, Samuel L. Jackson, Stephen M. Schwebel and George Stephanopoulos are all former MUNers.

MUN gives students the opportunity to network. We have all heard about the importance of networking and how necessary it is for a person’s life. MUN allows its students the chance to meet new and interesting people who are probably going to be the big politicians, lawyers, educators, etc. in the near future. MUN conferences are probably the best way to network. Do yourself a favor and JOIN MUN!