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Join The Student Room TodayBe part of the UK's largest and fastest growing student community. It's free to join and a lot of fun - Get inspired, express your ideas, interact and share TSR Model UNFrom The Student RoomTSR Wiki > Life > Debating > TSR Model UN
TSR Model UNSummaryThe Model UN in The Student Room has existed since around May 2005. The original idea of the Model UN was for users of The Student Room to take on board their own choice of country for them to "represent", and then debate from that countries Point of View, rather than their own. This process encourages debates and helps MUN users see all points of view on the controversial issues. Current Discussions
Getting startedThe TSR Model UN is relatively simple in structure, and very user friendly. Getting started is quite easy- Craghyrax explains how the MUN works here. Basically, all one has to do is apply to join the MUN usergroup (by going to 'Groups' in 'My Account'), and await a PM from Mrgd291190. Then you just have to choose a country, PM him your choice, and you're good to go! We ask that members who join are able to participate regularly in our discussions, thus ensuring the continued prosperity of the TSR MUN. HistoryThe idea of having a Model United Nations on TSR was first proposed in May 2005 by a little known member named Dexnell. The idea was met with strong support and interest (the original thread can be seen here. The idea was soon given the go ahead... The oldest thread which exists in the MUN was created on 20th May 2005. The first threads in the Model UN were largely to do with actually setting it up, rather than being in character. In these threads, the first Secretary General was announced, and although the voting records were destroyed during the TSR "upgrade" in late January 2006, it can be seen that Deej2 won that election. (It is interesting to note that despite being the driving force behind creating the MUN, Dexnell received very little support in his attempt to become the first Secretary General. After his unsuccessful campaign, he rarely, if ever, participated in the MUN. He would go on to serve as Speaker in the House of Commons (HoC), but eventually resigned. He has long since departed TSR). Deej2 was largely responsible for getting the MUN off its feet, and the core rules of the MUN were laid down by Deej2 on 8th July 2005 (a thread which still stood as a sticky at the top of the MUN subforum until it was rewritten by Nefarious in June 2007), and by the 7th July bombings the forum was active enough to hold debate. On 1st November 2005, Deej2 resigned from his role as Secretary General subject to the election of his successor. This election, like the first one, was done by nominations. The following nominations were made: - Kondar nominated beekeeper - Agent Smith nominated Bismarck - Aiman nominated Agent Smith
"I'm afraid it is stagnant. The UN is not working, and it will not work unless we stimulate more interest and involvement" - Beekeeper
Agent Smith immediately began a plan - which he announced during the election and which was endorsed by Beekeeper - to redistribute countries. Although in the long run this turned out to be a wise move, at the time it was a controversial topic that turned into a heated debate, with some even calling for Agent Smith's resignation mere days after he was elected. The main debate was taking place here.
This thread also gives us a snapshot of the representatives from the 16th April 2006. Agent Smith's reign was largely successful, and turned the MUN into a very active and popular subforum. During the time of Agent Smith's reign, several members came forward who would turn out to play a major role in the MUN in the future. For example, UnaChance, who had a brief spell as France and later the USA in the future, Brimstone who served as France for some time, and also Nightowl, who as of 19th July 2006 acted as Secretary General after joining in January as Malaysia and after a week being elected to represent China up until April 22nd. The Secretary General election for Agent Smith's successor happened slowly, with the first call for nominations being posted over a month before the actual election. This produced odd results in the election, as can be observed here. The period of seven days during the election was a time dubbed "the week of anarchy" in the MUN, due to the lack of debate that actually occurred. This is best shown in the 48 page Election thread. However, in this thread the celebrations were stalled by allegations of rep whoring over one of the candidates from the French representative election, who had withdrawn his nomination from the Secretary General election. Eventually, Nightowl won the election by securing 60% of the vote. After this, Nightowl carried out some reforms of the MUN, for example the placing of time limits on debating in the Security Council so motions and resolutions have a better chance of seeing an outcome; purging it of inactive members by a strict week long roll call every two months; He also created the “SC Voting Forum” so members of the “General Assembly”, i.e. those not on the Security Council, can see how the voting was going as well as seeing members' voting records. He has also created the hugely popular Off Topic Thread AKA The “MUN Society”, which reached the 10,000 post mark on the 14th of April, 2009 by Ukebert. A new Off-Topic thread was created by Mrgd291190 and Craghyrax. In July 2006, brimstone became the first Deputy Secretary General. In this role, he held minimod powers and took control of the MUN forum whilst SG Nightowl was on holiday. The position of "Temporary Secretary General" with similar authority was granted to A Y A Z when Secretary General Craghyrax was absent in August 2007. Nightowl was succeeded by Apollo as Secretary General. Then came Nefarious until summer 2007. The reign of Nefarious was judged to be a successful one, although activity tailed off towards the end, as people left to do exams and go to university. It was during his reign that the MUN Member of the Month scheme was introduced (see MotM). In attempt to raise recognition of the MUN and to inspire more debate and participation, Nefarious decided to completely overhaul the charter. Alongside this was the removal of all countries and new elections for P5 and non-premanent members of the SC. Although contraversial at the time, it appears that it did increase activity markedly. The scheme also involved the election of a new Secretary General, Nefarious having decided to stand down. This unremarkable election was fought between 6+6=12 and Craghyrax, the latter being the victor with 10 votes to 2. The reign of Craghyrax as Secretary General was highly successful, many new members joined and new debate was stimulated. The main change in this time was the relative status of the UN's Organisations and Observers. Whereas previously there was only the UNHCR represented by Ethereal, once wackysparkle took over the WHO in Nefarious' reign she began to try and raise the level of recognition in the GA. The arrangements for UNO's are now complete, after many weeks of intense debate. Recent additions include a UNO Headquarters sticky, an ordered structure to the number and theme of UNO threads, and a new clause added to the charter. Alongside this debate, the MUN discussed the possibility of dual representation (eg one member holding more than one position). ukebert suggested that active members be allowed to represent both a nation and a UNO. The MUN voted against this change, though it was later incorporated under the terms of Dual-Representation, during the term of SG Mrgd291190. In this way the MUN has seen evolution and greater definition in recent times. Craghyrax stepped down in September 2008 as the longest serving Secretary General in the history of the MUN. The election to find her successor was fought between 01kij114, wackysparkle and ukebert. The latter triumphed by a margin of 4 votes over wackysparkle. The stewardship of ukebert was characterised by his advancing of the Position Paper idea that he had first touted as the Liechtenstein representative. He also presided over numerous heated debates, including the Israel-Gaza conflict and the first Hypothetical scenario - the US' bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities. The reign of ukebert was seen as being very successful in continuing the good work started by his predecessor, and he was the first Secretary General to promote the MUN in the wider TSR community. In January 2009, ukebert announced his resignation after 5 months in the post, and Mrgd291190 was elected as the 8th Secretary General in February 2009. Mrgd291190's election has been characterised by major reforms to the MUN, which include the introduction of Dual Representation, regular Hypothetical/Historical scenarios, and proposals for a brand new position - the Attorney General. Resolutions and MotionsResolutions and motions have only really become a major player in the Model UN format recently. Members have been encouraged to make a resolution or motion about matters as a vehicle for debate on issues, for example North Korea or Iran. Members can also start motions and resolutions to change procedures in the model UN, for example the Resolution to ban certain emoticons from the sub forum, although this resolution failed to pass. Important resolutions discussed in the MUN include:
MotMProposed by A Y A Z, this was a method of voting for the representative who it was perceived did the best job of representing their country, and of generating and stimulating debate in the MUN. The scheme was first trialed for March 2007. Below are those that received it.
After this date A Y A Z left TSR in a dispute over reputation, and requested that his intellectual property, which included the MUN MotM be respected. Perhaps appropriately, this means that the final to date award of the MotM went to the person who first proposed it, and had not previously received it. Other useful links |
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