Model United Nations Essential Vocabulary

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From the Desk of the Lead Delegate

3 min readSep 21, 2018

One of the most important roleplaying aspects of Model United Nations is the use of official diplomatic terms. They are instrumental in making Model United Nations similar to the actual United Nations. To the dismay of many a delegate, they are also a source of extra complexity. This list thematically sorts out all the jargon you need to know in order to actually understand what everyone is saying. And no, memorization is absolutely not required (in fact, you may print this list out and bring it to your conferences if need be).

Baseline Terms:

Conference- a large scale Model United Nations event with multiple committees.

Committee- a gathering of delegations that has a specific roleplaying goal (i.e. solving world poverty).

The Chair- the facilitator of a Model United Nations committee. There can be multiple Chairs in a single committee.

Delegation- student representing a nation or entity in a committee.

Double Delegation- two students representing a nation or entity in a committee. Some committees do not allow double delegations, so be wary.

Committee Terms:

Decorum- Chairs will proclaim “decorum, delegates!” if a committee session has become too talkative or rowdy. Similar to saying “order in the court!”

Parliamentary Procedure- the system most committees use to organize themselves. For more information on Parliamentary Procedure, see the post called “The Roots of Yggdrasil.”

Present and Voting vs. Present- during roll call in a committee using Parliamentary Procedure, you will say either “present” or “present and voting” when your nation is called. It is highly recommended to say “present and voting” (Why? It sounds better! This roll call is largely ceremonial).

Resolution Terms:

Resolution- a document stating the steps a group of delegations will take to solve world problems. Made up of different sections called clauses. There are two types of clauses: preambulatory and operative. Resolutions are considered to be the goal of Model United Nations.

Preambulatory Clauses- the introductory phrases at the beginning of a resolution used to state the problem(s) a resolution is trying to solve (i.e. terrorism in Mali). Preambulatory clauses need to use preambulatory phrases to be legitimate.

Preambularory Phrases- a set of ceremonial words and expressions used to start a preambulatory clause. A common preambulatory phrase is “aware of.” A preambulatory clause using “aware of” might state “aware of the expansive terrorist network in Mali and the threat it poses to the world…”

Operative Clauses- the phrases in a resolution informing the audience of how the resolution intends to solve the problem(s) mentioned in the preambulatory clauses. They need to use operative phrases to be legitimate.

Operative Phrases- ceremonial words and expressions that are used to start operative clauses. For example, “designates” is an operative clause. It could be used like this: “(Preambulatory) aware of the expansive terrorist network in Mali, this resolution(Operative) designates northern Chad as a safe zone for refugees fleeing the terrorists…”

Commitee Types:

General Assembly- the simplest and most common form of committee, uses parliamentary procedure.

Crisis Committees- general assemblies that receive real-time roleplaying news updates from the Chair. A crisis committee could be serene and tranquil one moment, and chaotic the next. Still uses parliamentary procedure.

Joint Crisis Committees- like a crisis committee, but with an added twist: the committee is split into teams, with the teams usually being two opposing factions. Catalonia and Spain are good opposing factions for a Joint Crisis Committee. Still uses parliamentary procedure.

Specialized Committees- rare, smaller committees that often diverge from normal Model United Nations formats. Many do not use parliamentary procedure at all!

Miscellaneous:

Delegate Dances- awkward dances held after some conferences have ended all of their committee sessions. They are but another endearing characteristic of Model United Nations.

FUNMUN- If you have extra time at the end of a committee, a Chair will initiate a period called FUNMUN. This means, to be frank, that the committee has no more rules and you are free to go as wild as you want until committee ends.