Recognition of shortcomings

We aim to keep in center some professional focuses when it comes to organising our conferences. That is why we strive to learn from our peers and our own mistakes which is why we always seek and reach better solutions for challenges lying ahead of us. When it comes to realism, creativity and engaging topics, we have to take into consideration that solely simulating bodies of the United Nations, and discussing topics already talked through by appointed professionals, may not lead to a sufficient educational outcome. This is true as, on one hand, today’s world order is highly influenced by actors both above and under the state level whom we have to include in the discussion, and on the other hand, we have to put issues into a different perspective to offer our participants an opportunity to resolve issues of the 21st Century. That is why at Munapest, we always felt that we must not lean back and be satisfied with simulating the UN as it has been for decades. To keep the whole idea interesting, we aimed to make it more life-like which has led to many new aspects taken into consideration. As our delegations have travelled around the world, we gathered knowledge from all the MUN societies, to whom we are very grateful, and tried to combine the best parts of the innovations with our own ideas. That has led to a system which is becoming more coherent by every year it is tested.

Solutions

The basic idea is the following. The whole conference has one big narrative, let it be a continent or a major dynamic in world affairs. This narrative has several aspects that different committees or councils (by us referred to collectively as chambers) have to address. Of course, such major chain of events are limited in number, therefore we decided that we should include minor changes to real life events which might further our cause in a way that does not harm the conference’s life-like nature. This is one of the main reasons we include the “Crisis” which serves at many levels at once. With diverging reality, it gives us a chance to connect dots before the conference starts, so to create the main narrative of the conference, and, during the conference, with minor escalations and its reactive nature, it allows us to engage states and participants that might not be sufficiently active. Furthermore, the crises also give delegates a chance to handle certain issues interactively and to understand the magnitude of a single decision by calculating possible outcomes. Upon this, there is the term “Interconnectivity” which indicates that every action taken by a participant or a chamber may have an effect on states being represented, on other chambers or on the main narrative of the conference itself. For participants to be fully informed of such events at all times, we introduced the “Press Corps” which also consists of participants whose task is to be the eyes and ears of the conference, and let no event and no person stay undetected. Of course, for many actions to have consequences, money is of utmost importance. Involving a financial chamber within the conference raises the stakes of each and every decision made. For this, we decided to include a “Financial Committee” and its delegates will be responsible for the investment of their respective states’ financial resources into the most promising deals of the conference. 

Our Reforms

Interconnectivity

Diplomatic Corps

Crisis and Diverging Reality

Press Corps

Hierarchy

Treaties

Financial Committee

International relations and challenges of the 21st Century cannot be understood if we do not take into consideration the magnitude of the interdependence of certain issues, topics or regions. That is why, during Munapest, we attempt to scrutinize our general topic and main narrative with the help of each and every chamber having a small slice that they contribute to this comprehensive approach. This is called interconnectivity. Each participant is committed to resolving one major issue by doing its part and keeping in mind that their actions may have unforeseeable consequences for others if they act irresponsibly. Further deepening the interconnectivity, we created various channels: the Press whose goal is to gather and distribute information throughout the whole conference, the economic system to implement a crucial segment of diplomacy and the Diplomatic Corps is introduced to Munapest in 2019 as well.

With the topics and chambers being interconnected, it is up to a small proportion of participants to keep the delegates of their represented states focused on their own agendas while also serving the bigger picture and the main interests of their represented states. The Diplomatic Corps (or as the French acronym composes: CD (Corps Diplomatique) is an independent body that is supposed to coordinate the efforts of all members of their state’s delegation. This allows them to achieve a higher level of communication between states and also leads to a higher degree of interconnectedness. These delegates will serve as “grey eminences” throughout the conference gathering information from lower hierarchy delegates, helping the head delegate making decisions, and disseminating information, coordinating the efforts of the delegation as a whole.

For us to be able to introduce a main narrative connecting each chamber and to engage the highest number of states, changes and developments to real-life situations are sometimes inevitable. Without the concept of diverging reality, many chambers might not be able to contribute to the most exciting topics or some states might feel neglected to a level of boredom. Fear not! Our team of young experts in the field of international law are eager to connect the dots for these occasions and artificially create situations which in real life might not occur but are valid and believable scenarios. This way, real-life events, that would require attention from the international community but are ignored due to their low intensity, can be lifted into the spotlight for real examination. This leads to our participants getting to know about minor events in the world that have the potential to cause real harm to international peace and security. Chambers will have to discuss their own individual topics at hand but a crisis might just cause a twist for some that will dictate them to change their thinking, their sides and adapt to the new setting laid ahead of them.

Being the eyes and ears of the conference, Press Members are tasked with not letting any relevant happening go undetected. Press Members are, during the simulation, employees of a News Agency which have been carefully selected according to the certain topic and relevant states at hand. There, they will have to work to cover the events of the Conference from their Agency’s point of view, providing a certain degree of bias. Depending on the Agency, Press Members may also have to support some States’ interests through their reporting.
For the rest of the Conference, the Press Corps will be the primary source of up-to-date information from all the other Chambers. It will be essential to follow news published as in each article, as one might expect, the devil is in the details.
By introducing the Press Conference, Press Corps Members will have a chance to be in the spotlight and steal the show by provoking and testing representatives of their preparedness, ideas and standpoints.

States represented in multiple Chambers will be considered Delegations, that have common aims and resources. Each Chamber will have a designated level of representation, so Participants could be Foreign Ministers or Ambassadors to the UN, just to name a few possibilities.
Being at the top of a delegation’s Hierarchy will come with many rights but also responsibilities. A Delegation’s top Representative (a Head Delegate) will be the only one authorised to approve Bilateral and multilateral Treaties in the name of their State.
A Diplomatic Corps (or CD delegate) is considered as the right hand of the Head Delegate and will often be invited to other Chambers to speak on behalf of their Delegation.
The Financial Committee Delegate, responsible for the budget of a Delegation, and the CD delegate, who supposed to represent the needs and expertise of all lower level members of the delegation are together the advisors of the Head Delegates. They will support them in making hard decisions regarding what the Delegation should focus on and where to allocate the Delegation’s limited resources.

State interests do not always require the consensus of an entire Chamber but only the agreement of two or more States. Delegates will be able to achieve their aims, gain resources as well as support possible allies by signing bilateral or multilateral Treaties.
However, only a limited amount of resources will be at the disposal of Delegations - money will often be in short supply.. Furthermore, resources will not only be required for signing treaties but also for dealing with unexpected Crisis events, so Delegates must be mindful of their spending!

As the financial backbone of the conference, Financial Committee members will have the task of preserving the limited resources of their individual States’ to the most crucial projects their Delegations might want to achieve. With also having a main topic to discuss and treaties to support or talk others out from, these delegates will have a major impact on the course of the conference. Before a Head Delegate may make any decision regarding resources, it would be highly encouraged to ask the opinion of the respective Financial Committee Member supposed to support his or her decision-making.