In Model UN, merging working papers is the negotiation phase where competing or overlapping blocs fold their draft language into one unified text. It typically occurs after blocs have circulated initial working papers but before the chair accepts a document as a formal draft resolution. The motivation is practical: chairs often discourage a proliferation of near-identical papers, and sponsors want enough signatories to ensure their text reaches a vote and survives amendments.
Mergers usually happen during unmoderated caucus, though some committees allow short suspensions specifically for "merger time." Delegates compare operative clauses side by side, identify duplicate ideas, reconcile contradictions, and negotiate which sponsors retain authorship credit. Preambulatory clauses are generally easier to merge than operatives, since they restate shared context rather than commit the body to action.
Typical points of friction include:
- Sponsor lists — every original sponsor usually expects to remain a sponsor of the merged paper.
- Contradictory operatives, such as one paper calling for a binding mechanism and another for voluntary guidelines.
- Funding and enforcement language, which often distinguishes blocs ideologically.
- Ownership of signature clauses that a delegate built their position around.
Good practice is to assign one or two delegates as "integrators" who physically combine the documents, while others continue lobbying uncommitted delegations. Chairs may require the merged paper to be resubmitted for approval and renumbered. Once accepted and introduced via a motion to introduce a draft resolution, the merged text is debated, amended, and voted on under the committee's rules of procedure.
Mergers are strategic as much as editorial: a bloc that absorbs a smaller paper gains signatories and removes a competitor from the voting bloc, while the smaller bloc trades independence for a higher probability of passage. In large committees such as DISEC or UNEP simulations, two or three merged drafts commonly emerge from an initial field of six to eight working papers.
Example
During the 2023 Harvard National MUN UNEP committee, three working papers on plastic pollution were merged into a single draft resolution after an unmoderated caucus, combining sponsors from the EU bloc and several ASEAN delegations.
Frequently asked questions
Typically after the first or second round of working papers has circulated and chairs have signaled that too many overlapping documents exist — usually mid-conference, before draft resolutions are formally introduced.
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