Procedural Manipulation

One of the key criteria staff use the assess delegates is the use of procedural manipulation. Today, CIMUN uploaded their new Rules of Procedure, which were rewritten from the ground up. You can find the rules here.

What are some excellent tips and tricks that you guys use in your committee? What motions do you use to dominate your committee's proceedings? As you read through the CIMUN Rules, you will find nuggets of gold, which yield ways in which rules can be used to manipulate committee.

Here's a few of the basics:

- If a delegate makes a motion that you do not want passed, you can make a Motion to Suspend the Committee to hold a short break to lobby votes against the motion still on the ledger. Motion to Suspend the Committee takes precedence over all other motions, which means the Chair will call for a vote on that motion first. This is a great way of disrupting the momentum of an opposing delegate.

- There are ways for you to close debate on the topic without having to make a motion (you may not have the votes for the motion to pass).  If a Speakers' List is open, and has no more remaining speeches are on the list, under the Rules the Chair will immediately move the committee into Closure of Debate and enter Voting Procedure. In practice, most Chairs will remind delegates about this rule if the Speakers' List become short. If you wish to use this Rule to your advantage, you can discuss it with your Chair, who could decide (in your favor) not to remind delegates that that the Speakers' List is short, and move into Closure of Debate when it becomes exhausted.

When manipulating the Rules, remember that the Chairs are your friend! Let them in if you are trying to do something procedurally, and not only will they be able to help you, they will also note your attempt at Procedural Manipulation and give you points towards for committee awards.