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How To Kick Off Your MUN Research?

Which country will you be representing in your next conference?

Learning about MUN and teaching students about MUN is not an easy task. The United Nations is a complex organization. It has many committees with different duties and responsibilities. MUN terminology with all the acronyms is like learning a foreign language. Students are exposed to a huge amount of information and are expected to synthesize and come up with conclusions.

Country Research:

1.      Each delegate needs to research their country and find out some of the basic facts about their assigned country. 

2.      One of the first things you’ll be asked to do in MUN is write up a position paper ( policy statement ).  You will not know how to write such a paper unless you already know basic facts about your country and you’ve done your MUN country research.

3.      Students from all around the world, participate in MUN to learn about the world.  Students become more open minded and more knowledgeable after they have participated in conferences and debates like MUN.

Policy Statement

Resolution Statement

How Many Countries in the World are There?

When asking this question, one will get answers ranging from 100 to 200 countries.  Some students know the specific number of countries but even that number is not 100 percent correct.

There are 193 countries that are member states in the United Nations.  However the following are exceptions:

a.       Kosovo – declared independent yet still some countries are divided on whether it is an independent country or not

b.      Palestine – seeks to become a UN member state but has still not gotten approval

c.       The Vatican

d.      Taiwan – was expelled and only China was given the right to represent its people.

In order for students to understand what is a country, they need to first understand what makes up a country?  According to the Montevideo Convention, there are 4 criteria that define a country:

1.      permanent population

2.      defined territory (sovereignty over a territory)

3.      government

4.      capacity to enter into international relations with other countries. 

Country Profile

            You need to research the following:

1.      The Geography of your country

2.      The Culture of your country

3.      The Government structure ( political structure ) of your country

4.      The Economic structure of your country

Topic Research

HELPING YOU START YOUR RESEARCH OPENING SPEECH & PUBLIC SPEAKING TIPS