Country Research
Research is the most straightforward part of preparing for the Evatt Competition, it just requires a little bit of time! Students should view the Country Brief produced by UN Youth for their allocated country to get an initial country understanding. To supplement this, teams can find information about their country on the UN Website. Having read these, students will need to do some independent research to really understand the political stance of their country more generally and in terms of the content of the resolution. Evatt Competition resolutions are always based on current affairs, so it is a good idea keep up to date with the news!
Selecting the Country’s Stance
Teams should begin by reading the resolution they have been given. Evatt Competition resolutions begin with a preamble that contains preambulatory clauses which give an introduction as to why the Security Council is debating the particular issue contained in the resolution. The preambulatory clauses cannot be changed (amended) by member states. After the preambulatory clauses are the operative clauses which dictate the Security Council’s intended actions and which can be amended by delegates. The fact that the preambulatory clauses cannot be amended does not mean that they are not important! They provide a bunch of helpful hints about the topic, so they are just as important to read as the operative clauses. It is also especially important for teams to read any past UN Security Council resolutions that are cited in the preamble and the preambulatory clauses. View this RESOLUTION to see the difference between the preambulatory clauses and the operative clauses.
The next thing teams should do is brief themselves on the issue contained in the resolution and become familiar with it. It is important to remember, however, that what matters most for judging purposes is not how much research teams do, but how well they are able to apply that research to their diplomacy. After this, teams should ask themselves what principles are at stake in the resolution i.e. does the resolution infringe on sovereignty or does the resolution promote human rights or possibly poverty reduction? Understanding the principle at stake will help teams to understand what their country would do about the resolution.
Teams can use the Stance Worksheet for each resolution to help them structure their thinking about what stance their country would take on the resolution.
It is also a good idea for teams to think about:
- The involvement their country has had in the issue to date, or issues with the same principle
- Their country’s major allies and what their stance on the issue is
- Whether the clauses of the resolution align with their country’s national identity
- The methods their country prefers to solve problems with such as diplomacy, sanctions or the use of force
- The way the resolution would affect decisions in the future if passed
- The thing/s that could be changed about the resolution that would make it more in line with the country’s national interests
It is strongly encouraged that teams have some amendments written prior to their Preliminary Round because, once their round has started, teams won’t have much time to develop new amendments from scratch!