Blog · In committee
Model UN Crisis Committees, Explained
A crisis committee is Model UN with the physics turned on. You play a person instead of a country, the situation changes while you are speaking, and half the game happens in notes nobody else in the room can read. This guide explains how the two rooms fit together, what a directive actually looks like, and then walks through a complete three-note crisis arc, the part most guides skip.
The two-room system
Every crisis committee is really two rooms running at once. The front room is the committee you can see: a chair, a small group of delegates in character, and a rolling debate that produces directives. The back room is the crisis staff next door, who read every private note, decide what succeeds, and write the updates that keep changing the world. Neither room means much without the other.
Front room
The committee, debating in public
- Chair moderates fast, informal debate
- Delegates respond to each update in character
- Passes directives: the committee's official actions
Back room
The crisis staff, running the world
- Reads every private note and directive
- Decides what succeeds, fails, or backfires
- Writes the updates that hit the front room
What travels between them: your private notes and the committee's directives go back; news updates come forward. That loop (note, consequence, update, debate) repeats every half hour or so for the whole conference. Crisis staffers call one turn of it a crisis cycle.
How crisis differs from a General Assembly committee
If you have only done General Assembly committees, almost every habit you have built needs adjusting. The procedure itself is looser (most crisis rooms suspend the formal rules of procedure in favor of a near-permanent moderated caucus), and the differences run deeper than that.
| General Assembly | Crisis | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you play | A country. You argue your government's policy. | A person, with their own powers, resources, and ambitions. |
| The documents | One long resolution with preambulatory clauses, built over days. | Short directives, operative orders only, passed every hour. |
| The world | The topic is fixed. The situation on day two is the situation on day one. | Updates land constantly. The map, the money, and the players change mid-session. |
| Where the action is | All of it is public, in the room. | Half of it happens in private notes nobody else can see. |
| Speaking | A speakers list and timed formal speeches carry the day. | Constant short moderated caucuses. You speak every round or you disappear. |
The character point matters most. Your background guide gives your character a biography, and buried in it are your portfolio powers: the things you personally control without needing a committee vote. A finance minister can move money. A general can move troops. A newspaper baron can print whatever he likes. Everything you do in the back room has to flow from those powers, which is why the first hour of any crisis prep is reading your own bio like a lawyer.
Directive anatomy: the whole document in five parts
A directive is what a resolution becomes when you delete everything except the orders. No preambulatory clauses, no "deeply concerned," no perambulating at all. Formats vary by conference, but almost every good directive has five parts:
- A title.Short and memorable. "Operation Winter Larder" gets debated; "Directive 7" gets forgotten.
- An addressee. Who carries the orders out: a ministry, an army group, a named agency.
- Numbered orders.Specific ones: what, who, how many, by when. "Send troops" fails; "move two divisions to the northern border within 48 hours" happens.
- An intended outcome. One line so the backroom knows what success should look like. Many chairs ask for it; write it even where they do not.
- Signatories. At most US conferences a handful of signatories introduces a directive and a simple majority passes it, often several times per session.
Committees produce three kinds of document with that skeleton, and the difference between them is who gets to see the action.
| Type | Who sees it | How it passes | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Committee-wide directive | The whole committee debates it; in-world, the action is public. | Introduced with a few signatories, passed by simple majority at most conferences. | Big public moves: deploy the army, open a tender, pass an emergency law. |
| Private directive | The committee (or a bloc) approves it, but the in-world public never learns of it. | Same vote, but the backroom keeps the action covert in its updates. | Covert operations: intelligence work, secret negotiations, deniable force. |
| Press release | Everyone, on purpose. It is a statement, not an order. | Voted through quickly; contains no operational instructions. | Spin: calm the markets, blame a rival, prepare the public for what comes next. |
A worked crisis arc: three notes from one finance minister
Here is the part guides usually wave at and never show. The scenario is invented for teaching: the cabinet of Meridia, a fictional small republic in the 1930s, facing a currency crisis and food riots in the capital. Our delegate plays the Finance Minister. In the front room, the minister co-authors this directive:
Committee-wide directive (public)
Emergency Provisions Directive
To: Ministry of Finance, National Railway, Interior Ministry
- Opens a public tender for 50,000 tonnes of wheat and rye at a fixed premium of 15 percent over the exchange price;
- Directs the National Railway to prioritize grain shipments to the capital for fourteen days;
- Caps the retail price of bread in the capital for the same period.
Intended outcome: bread in the capital within a week; the riots end.
Signatories: Finance, Interior, Agriculture
Sensible, public-spirited, and popular in committee. Now watch what the same delegate sends to the back room across three crisis cycles.
Private crisis note 1: build quietly
To Halvard Brenn, my associate at the Coastal Mercantile Bank, The cabinet will spend this week shouting about the border and the currency, and nobody will be watching the grain markets. I want three things done quietly. 1. Move 40,000 crowns from my personal accounts into a new account under the name Aurora Trading Company, incorporated in Vessing, with you listed as director. 2. Have Aurora buy purchase contracts for wheat and rye from the northern estates, delivery in ninety days, at today's prices. Spend no more than 30,000 crowns. 3. Find me one clerk inside the National Bank's reserves office who is underpaid and ambitious. Do not approach him. Just get me his name. If anyone at the exchange asks why a new firm is buying grain contracts, let them believe Aurora supplies shipping lines. Reply by courier, not by post. The Finance Minister
Private crisis note 2: convert resources into capability
Halvard, Well done on the contracts. Now we turn paper into position. 1. Use Aurora's remaining funds to lease the two rail-side warehouses at Vessing junction and take physical delivery of the grain as the contracts come due. I want the stock under our lock, not sitting in some estate barn. 2. Hire eight warehouse guards through the Vessing dockworkers' hall. Pay them monthly, in cash, from Aurora's account. 3. The clerk you found, Oskar: offer him 200 crowns a month to send me a weekly copy of the reserves ledger. If he hesitates, remind him that the Finance Ministry reviews promotions at the National Bank. One more thing. Start a quiet rumor at the exchange that the southern harvest is coming in short. Nothing traceable. A worried merchant here, an overheard remark there. The Finance Minister
Private crisis note 3: execute
Halvard, The cabinet passed my Emergency Provisions Directive an hour ago. The government will announce a public tender for 50,000 tonnes of grain at a fixed premium within days. Execution as follows. 1. Aurora bids for the full tender through two intermediary firms so the size of our position is not obvious. Accept partial awards. Do not haggle. 2. Deliver from the Vessing warehouses. The guards supervise loading. Nothing moves at night. 3. Take the proceeds and buy the outstanding debts of the National Herald, and with them a seat on its board, in Aurora's name. A finance minister who feeds the capital and owns its morning paper does not get dismissed quietly. Burn this after reading, which I say knowing full well that you keep everything. The Finance Minister
That is the whole craft in three notes: build quietly, convert resources into capability, execute in step with your public positions. Each note asks the backroom for something specific enough to say yes to, and each one leaves them a hook to write an update from. A note that says "I take over the grain supply" in cycle one would have been rejected as unearned; the same outcome, built in stages, reads as inevitable.
Front-room strategy: what wins that GA never taught you
The private game does not excuse you from the public one. Crisis staff and chairs compare notes constantly, and awards go to delegates who run both rooms well. Four habits matter most.
- Stay in character, always.You are not "the delegate representing the Finance Minister." You are the Finance Minister, with his grudges and his interests. Chairs reward delegates whose speeches would make sense coming from the actual person.
- Speak every round, even for fifteen seconds. There is no speakers list to hide behind. A crisis room forgets you in twenty minutes of silence.
- Co-author directives fast. The first readable directive after an update usually frames the debate. Draft with two or three allies while others are still reacting, and put your name on it.
- Keep your arc consistent with your speeches. Backrooms punish contradictions. A minister who demands transparency in the front room while running a smuggling ring in the back should expect an update in which a journalist starts asking questions. Our worked example survives scrutiny because the public directive and the private plan point the same direction.
What a joint crisis committee (JCC) is
A JCC is two (sometimes more) crisis committees sharing one backroom: two rival cabinets, two war rooms, two boards fighting a takeover. The updates one room generates become the crises the other room faces, so the "world" is partly played by real opponents instead of staff. Rooms talk to each other through communiqués, formal messages passed between committees. JCCs are the most fun and the least forgiving version of the format, so treat them as a second or third crisis, not a first.
Should you do crisis this year?
Honest answer: crisis is the best version of Model UN for a delegate who already has the fundamentals, and a rough weekend for one who does not. Try crisis now if you can move through points and motions without thinking, you can speak decently with zero preparation time, and you enjoy improvising more than researching. Do a General Assembly year first if procedure still costs you attention, if you need prepared remarks to speak well, or if this is your first season. There is no shame in that sequence; it is the normal one, and a GA year spent learning to write and whip a resolution makes your first crisis dramatically better.
Either way, the skills are trainable. If you want a coach to watch you work and tell you which room you are ready for, a free trial class is the fastest way to find out.
Common questions
What is a crisis committee in Model UN?
A crisis committee is a fast-moving Model UN format where a small committee (often a cabinet, board, or war council) responds to a scenario that changes in real time. Delegates play individual characters instead of countries, pass short directives instead of resolutions, and send private notes to a crisis staff who turn those plans into news updates that reshape the situation mid-session.
What are portfolio powers in a crisis committee?
Portfolio powers are the resources and authority your assigned character personally controls: a defense minister can move troops, a banker can move money, a newspaper owner can print stories. They are usually spelled out in your character biography in the background guide. The backroom will reject any note that asks for something outside them, so read your bio twice and build your plans from what your character can actually do.
What is the difference between a directive and a resolution?
A directive is a short action document: a title, numbered orders, and signatories, passed in minutes and executed immediately. A resolution is the long-form General Assembly document with preambulatory and operative clauses, built over an entire conference and voted on at the end. Crisis committees use directives because the situation changes hourly and nobody has time for "deeply concerned."
What happens if the backroom rejects my crisis note?
Usually nothing dramatic: the action simply does not happen, and you may get a reply explaining that your agent failed or needs more detail. Common causes are asking for something outside your portfolio powers, skipping steps (buying an army before you have money), or being vague. Rewrite the note smaller and more specific, and it will usually go through on the second try.
Are crisis committees harder than General Assembly committees?
They are harder to start in, not harder in absolute terms. Crisis assumes you already know parliamentary procedure and can speak without preparation, then adds a second private game on top. A delegate with a year of General Assembly experience usually adapts within one conference; a complete beginner spends the weekend just figuring out what is happening.