Scotmun 2020 13Th – 15Th March Committee Study Guide: Crisis
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ScotMUN 2020 13th – 15th March Committee Study Guide: Crisis Table of Contents Welcome from the Directors .............................................................................................. 3 Introduction to Crisis ......................................................................................................... 4 Basic Mechanics - Cabinets, Directives and Sessions ....................................................... 4 Cabinets ............................................................................................................................. 4 Directives ........................................................................................................................... 5 Sessions ............................................................................................................................. 6 What Delegates Can Expect ............................................................................................ 6 What We Expect from Delegates .................................................................................... 7 Historical Background ....................................................................................................... 9 The Establishment of the Vichy Government .................................................................. 9 The Emergence of the Resistance ................................................................................... 9 German Actions Against the Resistance ........................................................................ 10 A Move Towards a Unified Resistance .......................................................................... 11 Cabinet A: Vichy France ................................................................................................... 13 Cabinet B: The French Resistance ..................................................................................... 15 Useful Espionage Principles ............................................................................................. 16 References ................................................................................................................... 19 2 Welcome from the Directors Dear Delegates, Welcome to the ScotMUN Crisis! This year we will be focusing on the fight of the French Resistance against the Vichy French and the German Occupation. Often within Crisis, the thought of tackling a World War II topic seems unfathomable as there are so many belligerents and fronts. By focusing on a more specific aspect of the larger conflict, we hope to bring to life some of the dilemmas and challenges of this period, as seen through a much smaller lens than you’d have in a war room. We are looking for delegates to appreciate the complexity of the topic and be mindful of the context of the crisis when writing your directives. Whether this is your first crisis, or your 5th or 10th, we will endeavour to push you to achieve more within the confines of the crisis timeline. We look forward to seeing you all in March 1943! Best wishes, Maria Slobodina Crisis Director Martin Galland Crisis Assistant Director 3 Introduction to Crisis Crisis isn’t at all like the standard committees in Model United Nations. General Assembly and other main branch committees operate primarily using a series of moderated caucuses that are regulated by the chair. In crisis there are little to no moderated caucuses, and the chair is also a character in the crisis. The chair is there to guide the committee and to help it achieve its goals, but the events of the crisis can and will affect them just like they could affect a delegate. In crisis, you do not represent a particular country, instead - you will receive a biography of a specific person prior to the crisis and would be expected to effectively become the character throughout the crisis. Whereas the main written product of a GA delegate would be a resolution, crisis delegates achieve most of their success through communicating via unmoderated caucuses and individual/collective directives. Directives are messages sent to the Crisis backroom where they are assessed and processed to either forward or challenge your progress. In essence, a directive should tell the backroom staff two things: what and how you want to do things. In a holistic approach, crisis basically lets you interact with the world beyond that of the discussions within the committee sessions. However, do not worry, as we will explain everything to all of you again at the very beginning of the conference, and we will be very happy to help you in the times before and during the conference! Basic Mechanics - Cabinets, Directives and Sessions If you are new to Crisis, or even if you are familiar to crisis, then there are a few things that you will need to know for ScotMUN Crisis Committee sessions. This section will cover the three main components that are essential to this year’s LIMUN crisis format: the Cabinets, Directives and the Sessions. Cabinets Cabinets are the physical rooms to which you sit and contain the other delegates you may choose to interact with. In crisis, cabinets can represent a country's government or other specific institutions. Do remember that you alone are responsible for meeting with people inside your cabinet, while the facilitation of meeting people outside your cabinet is the responsibility of the backroom staff. Be thoughtful that each cabinet and character can have their own motives and objectives. Of course, as in real life, the cabinets are not to restrict your imagination, but to guide you in the initial steps of the crisis. As the crisis develops, your positions will change, the nature of cabinets will change, and you will have much more flexibility to choose from with your character. A brief description of your title will be included in your bio. In general, these descriptions of your title will show you the limitations and capabilities of your position within and outside the cabinet. 4 However, in no way do they limit what you can do. The backroom can easily miss things out, and within the context of the crisis, we can accommodate information / capabilities / powers you think are missing from your bio / character. In general, this crisis will have two cabinets: • Vichy France • The French Resistance Directives Directives are the backbone of any crisis. They effectively act as requests which can bolster your own position and alter the crisis as a whole. However, beware everyone within the crisis is also sending directives. All directives are sieved into the backroom and from there they are processed. The extent to which a directive is approved will often depend on how logical it can be for the backroom. Directives also come in all shapes and sizes, so don’t worry too much if you don’t have much experience. However, in a nutshell, directives should follow three points. Directives should be: 1. Realistic Think about it, can your character accomplish this with the resources currently available to them? If not, backtrack your plan a little bit and see if you can first acquire the necessary resources for your plan to be feasible. 2. Detailed If you submit a very short directive, it’s likely that it is not detailed enough to pass, and this can seriously backfire and sometimes even damage your character long-term. Here it’s good to ask yourself questions. How? When? For example, if you want to follow another character ‘discreetly’, you might want to think about what clothes you are wearing, what distance will you keep from your target and how you will avoid detection by whatever security detail they may have. Here, your aim is to close all the potential loopholes in your plan. 3. Precise Directives should be precise and to the point. Where possible, like with military operations and acquiring assets, try to specify numbers. Again, think about what would be realistic. Being detailed is good, but too much detail will also slow down the processing time for your directive. In principle, every sentence of your directive should add something meaningful to your plan. However, it is important not to neglect intra- and inter-cabinet diplomacy. You can accomplish a lot with your own directives but diversifying your tactics in committee can potentially let you finish the crisis with even bigger gains. It’s not just about what directives you write, but what kind of directives you can persuade your committee members to write or, in fact, not write. In theory, convincing someone to lower their guard for you could be the difference between death and a successful cabinet defection. 5 Sessions As mentioned, crisis is mainly composed of unmoderated sessions with a chair who is also a character within the crisis. However, crisis also includes unique styled sessions that move beyond just this standard session, as determined necessary by the backroom directives. There will probably be fewer cross-cabinet meetings than in some other crises you might have seen but they will likely still occur. Cabinet sessions themselves will also be accompanied by news updates throughout. You will also have access to the News screen and it is very important that you read through all the updates, even though they might not necessarily look like they relate to your cabinet / character. Remember that in crisis there is always a reason for an update or news. Hence, you can expect that even though something might seem illogical or irrelevant, you can count on some other delegate building up something to achieve their own goals. In these news updates all public announcements