What's up with this thing called MUNs?

So, I gather that if you are here, reading this, that you already know, at least a little bit, about this thing called 'MUNs'. You might know about it because you are an active member of the community or because you have attended one conference before but haven't gotten the chance to attend more or you might have even just heard about MUNs from that one eccentric friend of yours who just can't seem to be able to stop talking about them (been that friend, still that friend). Whatever category out of these you fit in, or if you have a completely different relationship with the MUN world, you most probably still have some questions about not necessarily what MUNs are, but about their history and how they came to be the international phenomenon that they are today.

Well, first off, we should start with the basics and that is what MUN stands for and what it is exactly. Well, MUN stands for Model United Nations and it is a type of conference meant to simulate, more or less accurately, the real United Nations. In these conferences, students assume the role of representatives of different nations around the world in a certain UN organ and are tasked with discussing and finding solutions for a specific global issue (which should be agreed upon through compromise, but that's just how 'discussing' works), all while trying to not offend other delegations in the speeches which are actually meant to offend them. (I know, the last part sounds kinda off, but believe me, anyone who's ever attended a MUN conference knows the feeling.) Sounds like a pretty ordinary idea for a conference, however, MUNs have taken a long time to become so massively spread around the globe.

Now, before we can discuss more about the actual history behind MUNs, we have to take a further step back and look onto the history of, you guessed it, the United Nations. Now, I know that we already have an article all about the UN on the magazine (be sure to check it out after reading this one, if you haven't read it yet) so I won't bore you with the details of it all, but what is imperative to know is that the UN was preceded by the League of Nations. The League of Nations, abbreviated LON, was the first international intergovernmental organization of its kind and it had the main purpose of maintaining world peace, which is pretty obvious since the organization was formed just after the end of World War I, following the Paris Peace Conference, on the 10th of January 1920. Around a year later, at Oxford University, a series of Model League of Nations, ran by students, emerged on campus, bearing the name of "International Assembly". At that point in time, it was still a foreign notion for many to negotiate disputes at the negotiating table and not by use of outright force, but that was exactly what these conferences promoted. The idea of such conferences spread later on in the United States of America, as a result of a trip from the first President of the Oxford International Assembly to Harvard in 1922, which inspired the Harvard Liberal Club to organize the first American International Assembly. Even though they simulated a different entity, the Model League of Nations did not differ so much from the current Model United Nations, in the sense that participants still had the same purposes and goals: represent a specific nation and debate with other upon a global issue while trying to find solutions.

While the Model LONs were going quite well, the actual LON was not in such good shape, hence the start of World War II. (I am by no means blaming solely the LON for the start of WWII, but, you know, I'm just saying, they were not that great at keeping world peace.) When World War II eventually ended, the international community was, once again, bent on creating an organization that would ensure global peace and replace the other attribution of the League of Nations, all while aiming to succeed in the matters in which the LON had failed. As a result, on the 24th of October 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence. Following the dissolution of the League of Nations and the formation of the United Nations, Model LON swiftly transitioned into becoming Model UN, the MUNs we know today. The first recording of a MUN conference was at Swarthmore College, in 1947, and the conferences that followed have become yearly traditions for the universities that are holding them, as is the case for Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), one of the oldest conferences in the world, having been founded in 1953.

Now, you might have noticed a pattern here. All the conferences I have mentioned are either in the US or the UK, which has a simple explanation. Europe generally catches upon things a bit later, so that's why the first-ever known MUN conference that took place in Europe was The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN), in 1968, a while later after the first conference ever held in this format. However, we European MUNers (yes, that's an actual term, used to describe someone from the MUN community) have something to be very proud of: even though THIMUN came into existence a bit later than other well-known conferences around the world, it actually revolutionized MUN conferences. Now, this is something I have kind of failed to mention previously (actually, it was more something I've done intentionally) but MUN conferences generally have to follow a set of rules, called rules of procedure, and the very first THIMUN conference completely changed the way people looked at them. THIMUN introduced an utterly different set of rules of procedure from the usual ones used by conferences in North America, and they are, to this day, the second most used rules of procedure around the world.

After the appearance of THIMUN, the whole concept of MUN conferences started to spread further throughout Europe and conferences were steadily developed in Asia and Africa as well. After quite a while (a really, really, really long while) MUN conferences finally appeared in Romania, more specifically in 2009, when the Bucharest International Student Model United Nations (BISMUN) came into existence. Now, if you're wondering why I am particularly interested in the appearance of MUNs in a small country at the crossroad between Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, well, that's mostly because we are based over here, so there's that. Even though BISMUN was meant for students attending university, high school students slowly became interested in this type of conference as well and so they started attending and also organizing their own. Generally, MUNs in Romania tend to follow a variation of BISMUN rules of procedure, which are largely inspired from HMUN rules of procedure, however, there are some notable exceptions, such as MUNOB (Model United Nations of Bucharest) rules of procedure, which are more along the lines of the rules of procedure used at THIMUN.

Now, I feel like in this article we have focused a lot on the historical aspect of MUN conferences, however, I think that you're all still wondering what actually goes on during these conferences. Well, for one, there is a lot of debating, and when I say a lot, keep in mind that MUN conferences are generally four days long and some are even longer. However, when you are actually debating through the stance of your country, which might be totally different from your personal one, and everyone else around is doing the same, it suddenly doesn't seem that tedious or overwhelming anymore. And what makes this type of debating stand out from traditional forms, is that it involves the powerful elements of diplomacy, knowledge of international relations and problem-solving, as the point of the actual debate is not necessarily for your side to win something, but to solve the global issue that is being discussed. Now, this more academic part of MUN conferences barely scratches their true potential. MUN conferences represent incredible opportunities for networking and connecting with people from around the world, with whom you share similar interests. And don't get me started on delegate socials at the end of a committee day, which are a well-deserved break from the formalities of the conference and to really get to know the other participants and form everlasting friendships.

You see, aside from their rich history and their academic value, MUN conferences are really about being part of something bigger, of having the opportunity to inform yourself about certain global issues and to truly understand all of their facets. They are about being part of a community concerned not just with their sole well-being, but that of others, in the international plane. They are about, well, to say it in a very cheesy manner (don't judge me, this article got me really sentimental), forming a lifestyle, even if you are a casual MUNer or someone who never misses a conference.

Article cover photo credit: Clara Silvana Popescu