Crisis Research Starting Points

What should I research?

• Background. This is especially important for crisis committees so you can understand the different tensions that are ongoing in committee, and prepare for crises around those tensions.

  • Timelines. In historical crisis committees, you want to look past the current crisis and see what events happened after to get a good sense of where the committee could be heading. In other crisis committees, the timelines should be up to the present.

  • Causes. Determining the main tensions and conflicts that caused the crisis will help you determine your allies and figure out the perspective of your delegation as well as what needs to be addressed.

  • Sides. There are often different sides in each crisis committee and each specific cause. You need to look into what sides exist and what side you are on to get a better sense of where you stand. You also need to look into what each side wanted and the reasoning behind it.

  • Other events. The other major events that were going on at the time will almost always have an impact on your committees and can show where the focus of each delegation lies. These other events are often a part of the bias of your delegation.

  • Powers. Who are the main powers in committee? And what power do they have?

• Portfolio and Personal Powers. Portfolio powers (the powers provided to you by your title) and personal powers (the power derived from skills or personal connections) determine what you can do within committee and the motives of your position. Good research into these powers is essential to determining your crisis arc.

• Personal files are a great way to determine the bias and perspective of your delegation. These personal files could be letters that your delegation wrote during the crisis or articles they published. Whatever type of personal file (secret or public), try to use them to determine the perspective of your delegation and think about the bias behind each of them. For example, if your delegation gave a speech, they might not be entirely truthful about their opinions, but would rather try to appeal to their audience.

• Crisis Tools. The following are a list of aspects you should look into that will be helpful during committee while you are planning out your directives and crisis arc.

  • Maps. They are a great way to show the effects of each crisis and get a good visual representation of the situation at hand. You can find these with a simple google search unless it is a fictional crisis. In which case, a map might not be relevant or your chairs will provide one.

  • Delegations' resources. It will definitely give you a leg up if you can get a general sense of the weapons and equipment other parties used in the conflict, as it will give you a sense of what powers they will have during committee.

  • Tensions. Knowing the tensions for the involved countries/delegations will help you create your own directives. You can use existing tensions to strengthen your own actions and ensure they are effective. 

  • Delegations' spy networks. Every single delegate should attempt to spy on other delegates at some point. To get a good sense of how to protect yourself or spy effectively on others, you should look into the capabilities of each involved party.

  • Leadership charts. These charts should outline the organizations that each of the delegates is from so you know what jurisdiction they have and who to go to outside of committee.

Where should I start?

• The background guide provided by your committee will have a general overview of the crisis and sometimes the perspectives of each delegate. It should give you a good sense of the following. 

  • Topic Background

  • Current tensions

  • Relevant statistics

  • Sub-topics

  • Committee information

  • Delegation perspectives (not always included)

• Wikipedia is a great place to start to get the background of the event. Utilize it for an outline of the subtopics and crises that happened, but you should look at the sources Wikipedia cites for more information. Do not cite Wikipedia under any circumstances!

• Academic databases (Lexisnexis, national security archives, etc.) are a good way to find information once you have a general idea of what you want to look for. For historical crises, there are many databases like the United States Office of the Historian whose job is to document information about these events. For current crises, taking a look at these databases will provide more specific information for you to use.

• Books will have a level of detail that is often not included in summaries of the crises like in Wikipedia. While you don't have to read an entire book, look for chapters where you could find relevant and useful information.

While a few articles are unfinished articles (denoted with an asterisks), this wiki is updated weekly so feel free to come back and take a look.