What It Is
A crisis committee is the high-adrenaline counterpart to a traditional General Assembly committee. Instead of dozens of delegates debating one topic toward a resolution, a smaller cabinet (often 15-25 delegates) reacts to an unfolding storyline that changes by the minute. Delegates usually represent individual people with specific powers — ministers, generals, advisers, oligarchs — rather than whole countries, and they shape events through directives and private actions.
How It Differs from a General Assembly
In a GA committee, debate is public, slow, and aimed at a written resolution. In a crisis committee, the timeline is compressed, information is incomplete, and outcomes depend on speed, strategy, and the powers each delegate controls. A behind-the-scenes crisis backroom (the crisis staff) injects updates, plays non-present characters, and adjudicates the consequences of delegates' actions.
Directives and Crisis Notes
The committee acts through two main instruments. Directives are short action documents passed by the committee (public directives) or by a faction, directing resources, military moves, or policy. Crisis notes (or personal directives) are private messages a delegate sends to the backroom to use their own character's powers — moving troops, spending money, making secret deals — often without the rest of the room knowing. The interplay of public coordination and private scheming is the heart of crisis.
Common Formats
Crisis committees come in several shapes: a single cabinet; a joint crisis committee where two or more rival cabinets act against each other through a shared backroom; a historical crisis committee set at a fixed past moment; and a continuous crisis committee where the timeline carries forward across sessions.
Why It Matters
Crisis rewards a different skill set than general debate: rapid decision-making under uncertainty, negotiation, creativity, and the ability to think like the historical or fictional figure you represent. It is widely regarded as the most engaging MUN format precisely because delegates can change the course of the simulated world.
Example
In a crisis committee simulating the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, a delegate representing the US Secretary of Defense sends a private crisis note ordering a naval quarantine while the committee debates a public directive on diplomatic channels.
Frequently asked questions
A resolution is a single, long document a General Assembly committee debates and amends over a whole conference. A directive is a short, fast action document a crisis committee passes repeatedly throughout the session to respond to the evolving crisis.
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