MUN glossary: terms every delegate should know

Model UN has its own vocabulary, and the first hour of a conference can feel like a language lesson. This glossary explains the terms you are most likely to hear, grouped by when you will meet them. One warning before you start: some words mean different things at different conferences, and a few mean something else again at the real United Nations. Where that happens, the entry says so. When in doubt, your own conference's rules decide.

People and places

Delegate: the person representing a country or organisation. THIMUN's rules treat "representative" and "delegate" as having the same meaning.

Delegation: the country or organisation a delegate represents, or the delegates representing it together.

Member State: a country that is a member of the United Nations. National Model United Nations (NMUN) defines it as a country granted membership by the General Assembly on the Security Council's recommendation.

Observer: a non-member state or organisation allowed to take part in debate. At NMUN, observers cannot sponsor resolutions or vote on substantive matters, but they can sign working papers and must vote on procedural matters. At THIMUN The Hague, all delegations have full voting rights.

Chair: the person who runs the committee's formal debate. At the UN, the Chair of a Main Committee opens and closes meetings, gives delegates the floor, makes sure the rules are observed and is expected to act impartially for the whole committee.

Dais: the raised platform or table at the front of the room where the committee's officers sit. NMUN notes that "the Dais" is also used for those people as a group.

Director and Moderator: titles used at Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN). The Director is the expert on the issues; the Moderator is the expert on procedure and usually chairs formal sessions.

Rapporteur: at the UN, an elected officer who reviews the report on a committee's work and presents it at the closing meeting.

Bloc: a group of countries with shared views that tend to work together. The UN calls these political groups or caucus groups.

Documents

Background guide: the paper the committee's staff prepare on each topic. HMUN calls it "the foundation of substantive preparation," while NMUN says it should be treated "only as a starting point" for research.

Position paper: a short document, written before the conference, setting out one delegation's position on the committee's topics. The UN describes it as "a brief and concise description" of a state's or organisation's "position and priorities." THIMUN calls its version a "policy statement."

Working paper: an early draft of a resolution, written and revised by a group of delegates during the conference.

Draft resolution: at NMUN, a working paper the Dais has accepted, which is then debated and voted on.

Resolution: a draft resolution that the committee has adopted. At the real UN, General Assembly resolutions are recommendations and "not legally binding." Only Security Council resolutions can be binding.

Preambular clause: a clause at the start of a resolution that gives the background and reasons for acting. It usually starts with a word such as "Recalling" or "Noting" and ends with a comma.

Operative clause: a numbered clause that says what the committee decides to do. It starts with a present-tense verb such as "Requests" or "Urges" and ends with a semicolon, except the last one, which ends with a full stop.

Sponsor: a delegation that wrote a draft. At NMUN, sponsors are the countries that created a working paper's content. At the UN, the country drafting a text is its "main sponsor" if others co-sponsor it.

Signatory: a delegation that signs a draft so it can be debated. HMUN stresses that signatories "need not support the document that they are signing."

Amendment: a proposal to add to, delete from or change part of a draft resolution. At NMUN, a friendly amendment is one all the sponsors accept, so it is added without a vote, while an unfriendly amendment lacks their support and is voted on. Some conferences, including Harvard WorldMUN and THIMUN The Hague, have no friendly amendments.

Directive: in HMUN's crisis committees, the document delegates write instead of a resolution.

Debate

Speakers' list: the queue of delegations waiting to give formal speeches. The UN's guide says the Chair, or a secretary, keeps it "at all times."

The floor: the right to speak. You "have the floor" when the Chair has called on you.

Yield: what you do with time left after a speech. At HMUN you can yield to another delegate, to questions or to the Chair. At THIMUN, to yield the floor means giving it up, finally or for a point of information. NMUN has no yields, and at the UN "speakers do not yield time to another speaker."

Moderated caucus: at HMUN and many other conferences, a focused debate on one sub-topic, with its own topic, speaking time and overall time limit. NMUN has no caucus motions, and the real UN does not use the term.

Unmoderated caucus: a break from formal debate in which delegates talk freely, form groups and write. HMUN says it "temporarily suspends formal debate."

Lobbying: THIMUN's term for the informal session where delegates build alliances and draft resolutions. Berkeley Model UN compares it to an unmoderated caucus.

Crisis committee: a fast-moving committee where events change in response to delegates' decisions. At HMUN, delegates in these committees can play individuals with real powers, not only countries.

Right of reply: a chance to respond when another speaker has criticised your country. NMUN defines it as a response to comments that disparage "the sovereign integrity" of a delegate's state.

Points and motions

Motion: a formal request for the committee to do something, such as start a caucus or close debate. The committee votes on it. The UN's guide says "proposals for procedural matters are called motions."

Point of order: a point raised to correct a mistake in procedure. At the real UN it is the only procedural point.

Point of parliamentary inquiry: a question to the Chair about the rules of procedure. NMUN and the real UN do not have it.

Point of personal privilege: a request about your comfort or well-being, such as being unable to hear. THIMUN allows it to interrupt a speech only if the speech is inaudible. NMUN and the real UN do not have it.

Point of information: at THIMUN, a question to the speaker or the Chair. NMUN, HMUN and Harvard WorldMUN do not use it, and it is not allowed in formal UN meetings.

Suspension of the meeting: at NMUN, a brief period of informal debate. At HMUN and WorldMUN, it stops all committee work until the next meeting.

Adjournment of debate: at NMUN, a motion that ends debate on a topic and its draft resolutions without voting on them. The UN calls this kind of motion, when used to block a draft, a "no-action motion."

Closure of debate: a motion to end discussion and move to voting. At NMUN it needs a two-thirds majority.

Dilatory: a motion that may obstruct or delay the will of the committee. NMUN's example is a suspension motion proposed right after several others failed. The Dais can rule disruptive motions out of order, and at HMUN the Moderator can rule a caucus motion dilatory.

Tabling: a word with opposite meanings. At the UN, tabling a draft means formally submitting it. At NMUN and WorldMUN, tabling means shelving a topic or draft.

Voting

Quorum: the minimum number of members who must be present for a meeting to open or for decisions to be taken. At NMUN, one-third of the members must be present to open debate, and a majority for any decision to be taken.

Present / present and voting: answers at roll call. At NMUN and HMUN, "present" keeps your right to abstain on resolutions, while "present and voting" means you must vote yes or no on them. At the real General Assembly, "members present and voting" simply means members casting a yes or no vote.

Procedural vote: a vote on a motion. At NMUN, every delegation present must vote, with no abstentions.

Substantive vote: a vote on a draft resolution or an amendment to it.

Abstention: choosing not to vote yes or no. At NMUN, abstentions "do not affect the result of voting."

Simple majority and two-thirds majority: HMUN defines a simple majority as more yes votes than no votes, and a two-thirds majority as at least twice as many yes votes as no votes, with abstentions left out of both.

Roll-call vote: a vote in which each delegation is called by name to state its vote. The UN calls it a recorded vote. "Roll call" also means the attendance check at the start of a session.

Division of the question: a motion to vote on parts of a draft separately. NMUN calls it a "division of the proposal," and the UN also calls it a paragraph vote, a "division of proposal," a divided vote or a separate vote. At NMUN, preambular clauses cannot be divided.

Placard: the sign with your country's name that you raise to ask for the floor or to vote. The UN calls it a nameplate.

Consensus: adopting a decision without a vote. The UN's guide says this is "the most basic definition" of consensus, and that consensus "is not the same thing as being unanimous": countries can let a text pass while keeping reservations.

Where to go from here

Each of these terms comes up in practice in our guides to MUN rules of procedure, writing an MUN resolution, giving an MUN opening speech and MUN position paper format. For the Security Council, where some of these rules work differently, see how the UN Security Council works.

For committee-by-committee guides, read our explainers on the First Committee (DISEC), ECOSOC, the Human Rights Council and WHO and the World Health Assembly.

To use this vocabulary in a summit setting, Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.