Crisis Delegate Guide - WordPress.com · As a delegate in this committee, you will represent a specific person with specific powers within a specific government. Therefore, the powers

JM N

Historical Berlin Conference Crisis Rev. 2/7/2018

SDRJMUN Session XLI

Crisis Delegate Guide

San Diego Regional Junior Model UN Session XLI

Official Crisis Delegate Guide

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Introduction from your Crisis Managers

(Hi I'm) James Gordon, a senior at Patrick Henry and one of the Co-crisis directors for the Berlin Conference this year. Personally, outside of MUN I enjoy fencing, scouting, and plotting world domination...not that I'm much different in committee, but I digress...As a delegate, I've been to my fair share of crisis committees and I must say you have signed up for a unique and, hopefully, amazing experience. The dynamic of these types of committees allows you, the delegate, to exercise your own will for world domination (if you're into that kind of thing), think far more creatively, and be more active in the choices you make. I look forward to working with all of you, and I wish you the best of luck in tackling the problems we the Crisis team will have to throw at you.

-James Gordon

Hello, my name is Colin Adrian Chamberlin, I’m one of you Crisis Directors for SDRJMUN this year, I’m senior a Point Loma High School, where I’m a member of our varsity academic league team, Co-Vice President of the Model UN club, Grand Marquis of the Honourable Entomology Society and the Right, the Honourable, the Lord, the Grand Chancellor of the Point Loma Vexillological, Historical and Geographic Society, colloquially known as ‘Flag club.’ I absolutely love History, but particularly the late bronze, medieval and romantic (industrial) ages, and hope to major in Political Science or Public Policy when I go off to college. My favorite historical figures have to be Theodore Roosevelt, Napoleon III, Huey Long as well as Justinian and Theodora. Among other things I love wargaming, MUN (obviously), swordsmanship (though I’m not particularly good) and hiking when I get the rare chance. All that being said, I’m not much for philosophy or ideological debates (in fact I don’t like debating in general) and prefer analysis of specific policy and actions on their merits alone. That’s one of the reasons I love crisis committees. I believe crisis committees give us a change from the typical MUN back-and-forth speeches and debates, and give us instead an active, dynamic and altogether more immersive experience of politics, whether they be international or national or local through MUN. It was crisis committees that helped transform me from a very shy and introverted kid, like I was when I started, to the leader of three clubs and the only student speaker at our special History Awards Banquet. I hope that everyone can have the same kind of dynamic, transformative, but most of all, simply fun, experience I’ve had in this committee and look forward to seeing the wild schemes and webs of intrigue which pop up this year!

-Colin Chamberlin



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What is a Crisis Committee? A Crisis Committee addresses a series of crises given throughout the conference. They can be about topics past, present, or even hypothetical future. All Crisis committees distinguish themselves from a traditional General Assembly (GA) MUN committee through continuous updates that delegates have to address to ‘solve’ the larger crisis. These can take many forms, but often they are used by the staff who direct the conference to punish or reward actions taken by delegates or the committee, to create a more dynamic and, hopefully, more fun Model UN experience.

Instead of representing entire governments, delegates usually represent specific people with specific goals, traits, and motivations; crisis committees tend to involve more work and research on everyone’s part. Further, because of the nature of the committee, this will require delegates to strategize; the actions of individual delegates change the nature of the problem and require constant work to ‘solve’ the crisis.

If you’ve ever been a delegate in JMUN before, you can think of a Crisis committee being like an endless version of the actual JMUN crisis! In Crisis Committees, individual delegates have real power. Unlike GA or SC (Security Council), which encourages working together to find a common solution, Crisis Committees have the potential to be more cutthroat, encouraging fierce competition among delegates. This is created through directives. Individual delegates can send private directives (or actions) to the Crisis staff who will approve or disapprove of each one on its own merits. Therefore so many people enjoy crisis committees more than traditional ones; they allow a lot more freedom and can be a lot more intense than any other committee. If prepared for properly, they will be the most fun committees one will ever experience.



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Procedures

A crisis committee operates by mostly the same rules as any other committee, yet there are a few key differences like how you debate, and how you vote. You’ll receive occasional crisis updates, and you can do cool things like make press releases and assassination attempts through directives.

Unmoderated Caucuses (unmods) are the best time to write directives and plan with other delegates. This is time when rules of procedure are suspended for an allotted time and delegates are free to roam the room talking to other delegates or writing directives.

Moderated Caucuses (mods) are times to debate with other delegates over a specific topic, with specific speaking times and optional comments. Be careful of what you say in a moderated caucus, because you have to remember that Crisis Committees aren’t SC or GA where they are debates of ideas. They’re more like competitive manifestations of power, so giving away too much in a mod may cue other delegates in to your plans. That being said, be sure to still talk as much as possible in Moderated Caucuses, because they can be an excellent opportunity to control dialogue in committee or assemble a voting bloc.

Voting Blocs are rare and only used if a committee directive is on the dais and needs to be voted upon by the committee.

Regular Committees vs. Crisis Regular Crisis Speakers List No Speakers List No Formal Actions taken Formal Actions taken through

directives Delegates make resolutions together which are voted upon in voting bloc.

Voting bloc for committee directives only. There are no resolutions in crisis committees.

Delegates debate in a variety of ways through speeches from the speaker’s list, comments, unmoderated caucuses, and moderated caucuses

Delegates argue in the format of moderated and unmoderated caucuses— there is no speakers list!

NOTE: if all actions fail/are exhausted, the committee

will default back into an unmod. You do not need to

move to return to an unmod.



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The Function of Crisis Staff

Crisis staff (or Crisis Gods) control everything that happens in committee, from the success of your actions to group or committee actions to every crisis update, every press release and every little shift in the balance of power. Crisis staff are the most important people in committee. They take the directives from the committee and approve or deny them then look at the effects of the directive versus those of the other directives to determine what happens in the next crisis update, which they will also periodically give. They work behind-the-scenes to give you the very best committee possible!

For the most part, delegate actions will decide the direction the committee goes in, but, occasionally, the Crisis staff might make a new problem occur, seemingly out of the blue, if the committee is progressing too comfortable a pace, or if two delegates seem to be dominating we might pit them against each other to create an opportunity for others to get their voice heard.

Simply put, the crisis staff are who determines whether or not x or y will occur, if you write a good directive the Crisis Staff will usually approve it, and you will see its effects soon, in the form of a Crisis update.

KEEP IN MIND: Though they are vitally important, the Crisis Staff doesn’t actually make most of the actions in committee. They work off of what you do; if the delegates don’t take enough actions or word their directives properly, The Crisis staff has the liberty to implement their interpretation of events; therefore, make sure to give them feasible and specific directives.

KEEP IN MIND: Crisis Staff aren’t your enemies. They appreciate delegates who take risks and

think through problems well over those who want to try to placate them, remember, we’re all here to

allow you to have fun above everything else.



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A Crisis Update is an update as to the state of the crisis and what is happening, and might even be affected by what directives you wrote. Usually, the crisis staff comes into the room and announces a new problem, or what is happening at the moment. Crisis updates usually occur about 2-3 times per hour. For this committee, Crisis updates will contain announcements about territorial gains and map changes as they are vital to the Berlin Conference.

If your directive is not approved that is not a reflection of your performance in committee in any way! The Crisis Staff works to provide you the best committee experience, and sometimes they may have a different goal in mind.

The Crisis and Committee Staff

Committee Staff Head Chair

The Head Chair is the person with the gavel who will be approving your committee motions. They will be available to pass your notes to Crisis and answer any questions!

Committee Staff Vice Chair

The Vice Chair is the person next to the head chair. They will also be running your notes to crisis and help the head chair

Committee Staff Page

The Page is the person who passes your notes to crisis and pass your notes to other delegates in committee

Crisis Staff Crisis Managers

The Crisis Managers are the people behind-the-scenes who are in charge of approving your directives and crises.

Crisis Staff Crisis Aides

The Crisis aides are the people who present crises and help the crisis managers facilitate the crisis. You can also ask them your questions!



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Your Powers as a Delegate As a delegate in this committee, you will represent a specific person with specific powers within a specific government. Therefore, the powers available to you may vary quite a bit from person to person. For example, Admiral Horatio Nelson will have completely different powers than the Duke of Wellington, even though they are both from the UK and oversee its armies. You will be provided with a sheet detailing the exact parameters of you powers and resources at the beginning of committee—your “Portfolio Powers” sheet. Your powers may change over the course of the committee, so be mindful of what you actually control when deciding how to approach a problem.

So how does one actually take actions, utilize their resources and potentially even kill other delegates? In one word: Directives.

Directives as sort of mini resolutions with very different formatting. They are a direct action taken by you, written down with as much specificity as possible onto a small sheet of paper or a notecard and passed to a Crisis aid or to the Dias. Make sure to title them with your character name so the Crisis Staff knows who it’s by.

What can you put in a directive? Directives in a crisis committee can take almost any FEASIBLE action. This typically includes but is not limited to:

Your personal, communiques and joint directives are completely secret unless someone else has planted spies near you.

Crisis staff can approve or deny directives, so be sure to make your requests somewhat sensible, or they will get denied. Sometimes however, you might not hear about your directive because it got lost or because it got denied. Please do not just keep sending it over and over, this won’t make the crisis more responsive, they’ll just get annoyed unless your directive got lost.

REMEMBER: Don’t use any of the resolution writing clauses when

writing directives, the language can be as informal or formal as you like,

just do what works for you and is readable by the staff.

• Troop movements • Public declarations • Forming international pacts and treaties • Annexing nations, joining two nations • Setting up diplomatic summits • Espionage • Ordering arrests or trials

• Reconnaissance • Supporting rebels • Assassination attempts • Trade actions • Resource movement and/or development • Staging or executing military coups



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Other Types of Directives

Joint Directives

A combination of powers of various delegates. They are unknown to the rest of the committee unless stated otherwise. They are signed by the delegates involved. Be sure to use these if your actions need approval of another delegate ranked above you or coordinating an action between two different departments.

Committee Directives

A directive taken on behalf of the entire committee which is typically used to denote a change of committee policy or the foundation of delegate specified rules. This is most like a resolution, as the delegates vote on whether to adopt the directive or not.

Press Release

Statements made by your character to the committee and beyond, they are used to sway public opinion and announce goals, plans, condemnations, and similar declarations. NOTE: You can issue false and/or anonymous press releases as you see fit.

Communiques

statements or messages from either the entire committee or a single delegate to a delegate or country not in committee. They can be used to set up meetings with outside sources or simply request specific things from these outside countries/delegates NOTE: they are pronounced “com-oon-eek-ays” not “com-oon-ee-ks”



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Directive Example Here is a great example directive that actually got passed in committee before:

A typical directive is a small sheet of paper that is folded with the crisis character’s name on it. If the directive is approved, it is usually sent back to the delegate with the words “approved” or a note from crisis on it. This is a pretty specific example and demonstrate that the delegate knows the boundaries of their power. This example directive is about the average expected from a directive. For more complex ones you may find yourself writing a whole page of directive, but try not to do this too often, stick to these average, simple actions unless you absolutely have to send all of your actions at once.

v Response from Crisis (on the back of the paper)

The radio broadcast is highly successful, and causes a small revolt in Panama which kills 1 US soldier. The US puts a $50,000 reward on your head.

v To: Crisis, From: Grobart

Create a Cuban radio broadcast denouncing the terrorism of the USA and calling on the UN to condemn the actions and expressing solidarity for Panama in conjunction of their articles calling for action against the US



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How to be Successful As you can imagine, because of the near endless possibilities, Crisis committees require a lot more research on the topic to be successful, in this case, you will need to be sure to exhaustively research your character, the context and the other characters through which the crisis takes place.

When it comes to researching your character, this is done mainly so you can figure out what your end goals are. The most important thing you can do besides research is to prepare, strategize, and have an endgame. You will want to know who you are representing, what they do, and their character traits and flaws. We certainly aren’t going to make you act out your character on a stage, but you should try to do things that make sense for that person to do. Your character will determine what you can do and your methods of achieving your goals.

The most important thing you can research is the context in which the crisis takes place. For a crisis on the Great Depression in the USA, for example, you’d want to research the big names, but most importantly the events leading up to Black Tuesday, the big companies that crashed, the crazed consumerism of the ‘roaring twenties’ etc.

For any crisis committee, a thorough understanding of the political and cultural landscape is essential, and we mean beyond the background guide. It’s a great jumping off point, but if you want to have fun you’re going to need a lot more research, especially be careful to research some of the geography of the places in play so you don’t make silly mistakes like moving troops into the French Congo instead of the Belgian Congo or not knowing where your country actually is. In summary, make sure you go in understanding what’s happening so you aren’t completely lost the first time the crisis updates start rolling in.

As soon as you’ve got your research, you need to start strategizing. Though this is not totally necessary, it helps you get a bearing on what you want to do and gets you brain in the right place to focus on all the little nuances of the committee. Be flexible, you can’t predict “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” so you’re just going to have to do your best to figure out how you might accomplish something, but not so exhaustively plan as to fail if you veer off of it.



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Remember that you're not the only delegate, you’re competing with real people, not a machine, they will be near impossible to predict until you see them in action, so plan around them as much as you can.

What about in committee? Well it depends on your personal situation, we won’t be able to give you much advice other than improvise, improvise, improvise. Crisis is great because unlike GA where everything is super preplanned, Crisis can go anywhere and do anything, so just be prepared to improvise as much as possible, things you think of off the fly may have more repercussions but they’re more likely to succeed and as long as you have a good grasp on what’s happening around you, you should do extremely well.

Crisis is a balancing act, that’s why it’s so hard to give advice for. The most we can tell you is not to focus too much on any one thing. You need to have an endgame, but be prepared to change everything about it to get there. You need to remember to speak in committee and practice good diplomacy while taking actions behind everyone’s backs. Crisis committees involve a myriad of skills, so the situation might not always play to your strengths, but don’t let this panic you. The worst thing you can do is stress yourself into a frenzy then start missing vital information in committee because your brain is fried. So, just make sure you know a good deal about the topic then try to relax going into committee.

That being said, our final piece of advice to you is to make sure you come prepared. Feel free to brink what you think you need for the committee, provided its appropriate of course. This is included, but not limited to items such as books, maps, articles, and “family-trees” of plans. Bring items which help you play to your strengths in relation to the direction of the committee.

ASIDE: History and specific policies shouldn’t be followed to the letter, you are a real person but you don’t have to make all of their mistakes if

there is another logical path they could’ve taken. As long as you stay sensible and grounded in the context, feel free to innovate as much as

you want with your policies.



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Helpful Tips What to Know The country you’re representing

Your country's military and exploration power

Your country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Your position in government or business

Your position on the topic

Your allies and enemies, as well as partners in trade

Other events are happening at the time

Your country's resources: oil, money, etc.

What is on the Table World Domination – a possibility

Assassinations – Not actual ones, but fake ones that make the committee just a little more fun. These will be explained more in committee

Final Words

The crisis staff giveth and the crisis staff taketh away

Don’t be afraid to ask Questions! The Dais and Crisis Staff are here to

support you!

If your directive isn’t approved, that’s not

reflective of your performance!

Crisis Delegate Guide - WordPress.com · As a delegate in this committee, you will represent a specific person with specific powers within a specific government. Therefore, the powers

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