Model UN Review

Model UN is a simulated crisis international crisis management activity. Each student is assigned to a country and, once assigned to a country, is given a position within that country’s government to represent. Each student is then expected to research their country and the issues which affect their position within that country. During the course of the simulation the students then would handle a variety of crisis situations and act in their country’s best interest in response to each crisis. All-in-all it sounds somewhat tedious and time-consuming. However, the actual activity itself, once it began, was hectic, fast-paced, and a lot of fun.

The most enjoyable part of the simulation for me was seeing the effects of the actions we took on the countries and the world in which we existed in the UN model. When you spend time coming up with a plan and you see the benefits or cost develop in front of you it is a gratifying feeling. You feel as if you have actually accomplished something. Also, you get to see the responses of the countries around the world to your actions.

I feel as though I was adequately prepared for the exercise. Before undertaking the actual activity we were required to research and write a paper summarizing our country as well as a paper which addressed and summarized issues that were relevant to our particular position within the government of the country which we were representing. Doing the research and constructing the papers actually greatly helped me understand my country and position. Also, the papers helped me to better understand the mindset of my country and what actions would be more realistic to take according to how my country behaves.

The action that I was most proud of which my country took was the construction of an effective contingency plan for actions to take in case of an attack from another country. We researched what defense strategy would be most effective and found one from an American General that had been constructed by him during war games. The strategy pitted the American Naval Fleet against the virtually non-existent Iranian Navy. Through using unconventional means and methods of attack the American General was able to largely destroy the American Naval force. We constructed a contingency plan along the lines of the one which the General had constructed and I was proud of this action. No other country showed the same initiative as us.

I wish our group had been more active with open confrontation. We were repeatedly being threatened by Iraq yet we never undertook any real action until almost the end of the simulation. I was disappointed by this. I felt as though we should have initiated action against the Iraqi threat much sooner than we actually did. We had the means and the plan yet we were hesitant to pull the trigger.