Model UN: Charlotte Edition

Team Australia-General Assembly Plenary

Model UN (MUN) is a program that simulates the events that go on in the United Nations.  People who are interested in political science or international relations, or anything regarding global policies should definitely participate in Model UN (or Model Congress) .

Charlotte Model UN team

So back when I posted about my Washington DC adventures, I was participating in National Model Congress. It was very fun,  educational experience which emphasized the intensity of procedure when it comes to  passing federal legislation. This time I am participating the Southern Regional Model United Nations. This is basically Model National Congress except on steroids. Instead of having a less than 75 people representing congressmen in the House of Representative, MUN has over 100 people in one committee representing the numerous Member States of the United Nations. Every state has its own interest and when it comes to humanitarian goals, everyone is on the same page, HOWEVER, the methods of execution are totally different. That's where things get a little messy. In addition to the increased number of participants, there are completely different rules of formatting when it comes to writing legislation. In Model Congress, each individual can write his or her own bill and all together the representatives in the committee debate the bill and vote whether to implement the program and/or make it a federal law. In Model UN,  all resolutions that are written affect all the participating countries. The wording of the legislation (working paper) is very sensitive and effects more people globally. If the working paper finally does become a draft resolution, the UN has to debate and vote on the new piece of legislation. If the sponsors (writers) of the resolution did enough effective negotiation prior to the official vote, the drafting resolution may be voted through to becoming an official resolution.

I sit in windows to de-stress.

Its a very extensive, complex, and time consuming process, but its worth all the knowledge and experience gained in the three day conference. Traveling from city to city is a pretty good bonus as well :)

P.S. Camy's Corner has had its first viewer from China! In the spirit of Model UN, its really nice to have a new country viewing my blog. Adding China to my list of visiting countries, Camy's Corner has been seen in 38 countries (and counting). I love the globalization and international love <3