GA/Spec Committees

General Assembly

General Assemblies (also known as GAs) are the bread and butter of Model UN. They are meant to most accurately represent the bodies of the United Nations. Delegates represent UN member nations in a large committee format with broad topics like world hunger or income inequality. Some examples of GAs are the WHO, DISEC, and SPECPOL. They follow parliamentary procedure to the letter and have little to no changes in how things are done. You may see 30 to 100 delegates in these committees. You will be writing resolutions to help solve global issues in these committees. To prepare for the conference, using the background guide and your own research, you can write a position paper to outline the problem and how it affects your country, how it’s been dealt with in the past, and potential solutions.

Specialized

Specialized committees represent non-UN bodies like presidential cabinets, labor unions, or sports teams. They are smaller than GAs, with 20 to 40 delegates. While delegates usually represent people or agencies, they may also represent countries as well. They are bound by the foundations of parliamentary procedure, but have more room to change the rules to better simulate the body in question. They can incorporate crisis elements, like drops and directives. Your background guide will contain any information about incorporating crisis elements if your committee plans to incorporate them (To know more about crisis elements, check out our crisis tab). You will be writing resolutions to help solve the specialized issues in these committees. To prepare for the conference, using the background guide and your own research, you can write a position paper to outline the problem and how it affects your character or country, how it’s been dealt with in the past, and potential solutions.

GA/Spec Fundamentals

Additional questions or concerns can be emailed to committees@msumun.org