A crisis cabinet is a specialized Model UN committee format that simulates a high-level executive body — such as a presidential cabinet, war council, royal court, or revolutionary junta — confronting a fast-moving emergency. Unlike a General Assembly committee, where delegates represent entire member states and negotiate long resolutions, a crisis cabinet typically seats 10–25 delegates, each portraying a specific individual (e.g., a defense minister, intelligence chief, ambassador, or industrialist) with personal powers, resources, and agendas.
Debate is driven by crisis updates delivered by a backroom (or "crisis staff") that periodically injects news, ultimatums, assassinations, troop movements, or media reports into committee. Delegates respond through two main instruments:
- Directives, which are short action documents passed by the cabinet as a whole (public or private) ordering policy responses.
- Personal notes (sometimes called "crisis notes" or "portfolio requests"), sent privately to the backroom to use a character's individual authority — moving assets, calling allies, leaking documents, or conducting covert operations.
The cabinet's decisions feed back into the unfolding narrative, and the backroom adjusts the arc accordingly. This produces a branching, partially improvised storyline rather than a fixed agenda.
Crisis cabinets are common in North American collegiate circuits — notably at conferences run by Harvard, Penn, Chicago, McGill, and Yale — and have spread widely in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Historical settings (e.g., the Cuban Missile Crisis ExComm, the 1789 French Estates-General, the Politburo) are typical, but futuristic and fantasy cabinets also appear.
Skills rewarded differ from traditional MUN: delegates are judged less on speechcraft and bloc-building, and more on portfolio knowledge, creative directive-writing, strategic use of personal powers, and the ability to anticipate and shape the crisis arc. Backstabbing, secret alliances, and coups are generally permitted and often expected within the simulation.
Example
At Harvard National Model United Nations 2023, delegates in the "Kennedy Administration, 1962" crisis cabinet portrayed figures such as Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk while responding to backroom updates simulating the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Frequently asked questions
A single crisis cabinet is one room reacting to a backroom-driven storyline. A JCC links two or more cabinets (e.g., USA vs. USSR) whose directives directly affect each other, with the backroom mediating between them.
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