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Date Posted: 21:44:13 07/30/03 Wed
Author: Igor AL Silva
Subject: Task 13

First of all, I would like to explain the two reasons why I decided to do the material development below. The first reason is because I was not very glad with so many examples of the communicative approach only to basic or sometimes intermediate levels. I wish there were much more things regarding students in advanced level. The second reason is related to the experience I had when I went to AMUN (Americas Model United Nations), which took place in Brasilia a couple of weeks ago. Actually, it was a simulation of the United Nations dedicated a priori to International Relations and Law undergraduate students. However, it was a great experience to improve vocabulary and knowledge concerning Law, external politics and culture. Each group of students formed a delegation and was supposed to represent its country’s external politics in a certain area of the UN, such as Security Council and Legal Committee. Therefore, we needed to behave just like a diplomat defending his/her country’s interests concerning a certain topic, such as “rebuilding and strengthening legal systems in war-torn nations. Then the activity I suggest is the following:

In a advanced class with about 10 students at least, the teacher is supposed to make a warm-up, asking the students:

a) Do you know what the UN is?
b) What is its functions?
c) What is its origin?
d) Which countries belong to the UN?
e) What is its most famous and important council?

After making this warm up, the teacher is supposed to present a text concerning the United Nations’ or a committee of the United Nations’ organization, structure and function, as it is presented below:


History of the Security Council
The history of international relations is known by having its deep-rooted nature lying on an emblematic trade off between national sovereignty and interstates affairs. This nearly inflexible relationship often turned into an explosive combination in world history, often setting off war from behind the scenes.
In an attempt to manage this central aspect of international relations, there were several periods of time when nations tried to establish common rules of behavior in the name of peace and security. Nonetheless, there was constantly little identification of problems arising among states as much as there was no apparent requirement for institutionalized instruments to manage international relations.
The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and its recognition of the principle of national sovereignty created an uneven precedent for the development of international mutual recognition and the principle of order among states. The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) represented the first effort to draft a formal international order that established the main basis for a new European security order subsequently to the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars.
Many years later, early in the twentieth century, the immediate aftermath of World War I took the form of an international peace conference in Versailles, 1919. Heads of state and diplomats met to build a global security mechanism within the League of Nations, when the concept of collective security1 was first developed. This chronological instant is central to our discussion, as the history of different attempts to the consolidation of a collective security structure highly intersects with the history of the United Nations itself, and particularly with the creation of the Security Council.
As the League of Nations was not able to avoid confrontation among states, the post-World War II moment was one of special recognition of the need for a realistic and effective institutional architecture that would set peace and security in the world. The outcome of these optimistic times was the foundation of a ruthless structure of positive international law. Institutions pretty much based on both the Kantian ideal of comprehensive State support to the establishment of a juridical system and the values of multilateralism conceived by President Woodrow Wilson were established.
The United Nations was the most important outcome of this aim, and this became visible in a sequence of diplomatic meetings. From Dumbarton Oaks (1944) to the Yalta Summit (1945), heads of State determined the basis of the international organization to be created at the San Francisco Conference in June 1945.
At that time, the United Nations represented the new form of a systematic and institutionalized approach to the management of war and peace issues in the international system. The need “to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest […]” (UN Charter, Preamble) was resolute behind the legal structure that was created.
The reality of the Cold War quickly rushed these hopes and expectations. During part of the bipolar confrontation, the UN effectiveness was challenged. As an obvious effect, the Security Council - UNSC turned out to be powerless, though not irrelevant, in deciding on many issues that pertained to its mandate in global security affairs. Nonetheless, rising demands for UN involvement in security affairs became inevitable in the post-Cold War period and, despite some failures in recent years, the UN is playing an increasingly vital peacemaker and peacekeeper role.
The Council’s Mandate
At the time the United Nations Charter was signed by the 50 founding members, a brand-new instrument of international collective security emerged in the world scenario. The UN Security Council, the major body within the organization, was entrusted with primary responsibility vis-à-vis the maintenance of worldwide peace and security.
Chapter V of the UN Charter deals specifically with the composition, functions, powers, voting and procedure matters of the Security Council. Originally, Article 23 called for eleven members, though Article 27 stated that seven was the number of affirmative votes considered necessary on procedural matters. On December 17, 1963 amendments were adopted to Articles 23 and 27. The first one increased the number of Council members from eleven to fifteen and the latter increased the number of votes required for procedural matters from seven to nine.
Five of the fifteen members have a permanent seat on the Council. It is the General Assembly’s duty to elect the other ten non-permanent members for a two-year term. The Permanent Five (P-5) have the use of veto power guaranteed in any UNSC legal deliberation.
Under the Charter, the Security Council’s functions and powers consist of: a) to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations; b) to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction; c) to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement; d) to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments; e) to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken; f) to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression; g) to take military action against an aggressor; h) to recommend the admission of new Members; I) to exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in "strategic areas"; j) to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice3.
All Member States of the United Nations, under the Charter, consent to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. Whereas other organs of the United Nations can only make recommendations to national governments, the Council has the exclusive power to make decisions that Member States are compelled to act upon.
Every time there is an event that threatens peace and security in any site, the UNSC must act. Its repertoire of practice encompasses measures such as demand that parties in conflict reach an agreement by peaceful means; mediation, negotiation, investigation and diplomatic undertaking (Chapter6) and deployment of peacekeepers (performing cease-fire directives or keeping opposing forces apart in order to avoid extra hostilities under “Chapter 6½”). The Council may also decide on enforcement measures (Chapter 7) such as economic sanctions and collective military action.



After reading the text, the teacher should stimulate the students to discuss upon it:
a) Does the information on the text confirm what you thought the UN should do?
b) Does it confirm your knowledge concerning its origins and participants?
c) After all these information, do you think the UN was effective regarding what took place in Iraq a few months ago?

(These questions can be answered individually, but question letter (c) should be discussed in groups of about 3 or 4 people and then they should report to the rest of the class what conclusion they got.)

Then, as this texts is quite long and the discussions may take a long time, the teacher should suggest a homework. The next week, there would be an UN simulation and each student should represent a country. So there would be made a raffle, taking into account that the P-5 (China, Russia, USA, France and England) cannot be set aside and there should be at least one representative of each continent. After this, the teacher would suggest students to study upon their country’s external politics and what would be its probably position concerning the following agenda:

- A couple of months ago, there was a coup in Congo, and its government was changed by a dictator who is against the Occident, mainly the USA, and is believed to be allied to some extremist Muslims. Some neighbor countries state that the troops near the boundaries are increasing and they are afraid of a Congo’s attempt to move the boundaries. Besides, there are rumors that the new Congo’s government is trying to develop weapons of massive destruction. Drawing on these information, the Security Council is immediately convoked. Then how would your country position regarding this situation?
a) Is it better to invade Congo immediately?
b) Is it better to wait?
c) Is it better to try a diplomatic resolution?


Thus, the next week, the students are supposed to be prepared and make speeches in front of the class defending or opposing any of the positions above. In fact, the students are supposed to make small speeches as long as the positions are being spread. However, it is important to make them get to a conclusion before the end of the class.

I think that is the most interesting activity because the learners are expected to get prepared to the class, but they will have to react to situations which they were not expecting and try to give immediate responses to them.



According to Littlewood, this is a social interaction activity (in a broader perspective) and also a sharing and processing information activity.





(For further information, access www.amun.com.br)

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