The Advantages of Fantasy Committees by Mert KARAÇAM

Some MUNers really enjoy the Fantasy Committees while others do not like the idea of a fantasy committee taking place in a Model UN Conference since they are not related to UN or its purpose by any means. Fantasy committees are the committees in which we simulate the problems of a world that do not exist. This is part of the reason why they are criticized and seen unfit to the Model UNs. Model UNs are meant to educate the participants as well as entertain them and fantasy committee opponents claim that the fantasy committees are not only out of order due to their proceedings and unrealistic nature but fail to give the participants a new perspective and doesn’t improve them in a way a regular committee would.

But the aim of this article is to offer them another perspective. As someone who has been highly interested in high fantasy fiction, which is the most unrealistic of its kind, I’ve always believed that fantasy fictions, no matter how improbable they are, get their share of the reality. A world may be created based on witches, giants and elves but at the end of it all, all the unrealistic elements should be balanced with a core structure from our world.

And maybe one of the most important structures is the political dynamics of the fantasy world.
I’m not implying that all the fantasy fictions have sufficient aspects enough to be turned into a committee but there are many that can be.
As an example, I am serving as the USG responsible for the Hunger Games Committee at ANTALYAMUN’18 this year.

The committee will proceed with the JCC procedure since we will be simulating the revolution it is the most convenient procedure but this doesn’t have to be the case for all the fantasy committees. A fantasy committee may proceed just like a Security Council or another body of the UN. And the participants gain another perspective over the UN’s procedures by simulating them on a different universe. As for the agenda items and topics, as I stated we will be simulating the revolution and if you consider it, it is just another failed state crisis masked as the Hunger Games so even though problems are not in the way they seem in our world, their references are just the same and from my point of view this makes the experience, an unforgettable one.

At the end of this experience you will acquire all the skill that you would acquire from a normal committee. You’ll improve your

• public speaking,
• crisis management,
• critical thinking,
• and many other skills.

The only thing you’ll be missing will be learning more about our own World. But I ensure you, with the new perspective you gained from a fantasy committee, you’ll look at our World through Alice’s looking glass and you’ll not only believe the impossible, but you’ll also work hard to meet it.

As a conclusion, fantasy committees do not have any place in UN’s itself but I believe that as long as they serve the same purpose with the Model UNs they can be included to Model UNs as they can be both very educating and entertaining. Not all fantasy fictions can be turned into committees but those who are sufficient enough to be turned into one will offer the same experience that of a regular committee.

Mert KARAÇAM
The Writer of MUNTurkey