Model Arab League (also known as MAL) is an educational

simulation A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

in which students learn about

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

and

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

through debates in multi-regional model competitions, competing as representatives from the

Member States A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

of the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

. MAL was established in 1983 by The National Council on US - Arab Relations as a Youth Leadership Development Program. Participants are encouraged to use the experience to hone their skills in

public speaking Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

debating Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

and

, in addition to the primary goal of the program which is to learn about the politics and history of the Arab world. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the competitions are administered by The National Council on US - Arab Relations (NCUSAR). Outside the United States, the

University of Peloponnese The University of (the) Peloponnese (UoP; , ΠΑΠΕΛ, PAPEL) is a Greek tertiary educational institution, composed of campuses in Tripoli, Corinth, Kalamata, Nafplio, Sparta, and Patras. The University of Peloponnese offers 22 undergraduate ...

hosts the Corinth Model Arab League (CorMAL) and the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...

hosts the Cairo International Model Arab League (CIMAL).

Structure

Model Arab League (MAL) is a debate simulation of the

, a format similar to that of the

Model United Nations Model United Nations, also known as Model UN (MUN), is an educational simulation of the United Nations, which teaches students about diplomacy, international relations, global issues, and how the United Nations is run. During a model UN confe ...

(Model UN), which challenges students to accurately represent the needs and interests of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN) member countries. One of the biggest differences in structure between Model UN and MAL is that the latter is made up of only 22 member countries in contrast to Model UN's 193 member states. This difference in size allows for more focused and in-depth debating, but with a purview restricted to the history and politics of the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. Model Arab League is administered centrally from

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

by The National Council on US - Arab Relations (NCUSAR), which works with local hosts to coordinate and run conferences across the United States. The National Council also updates debate topics and research guides yearly by utilizing nationally appointed student leaders who also act as secretariat for the National University Conference. Model Arab League Conference 2022

Conference Administration

MAL conferences are primarily run by regional coordinators, who are supported by a team of MAL students. The regional host is responsible for conducting outreach, recruiting new participants, scheduling conference space, and staffing the conference. Additional oversight is provided by a NCUSAR representative who travels to each conference to provide assistance in regards to interacting with students, ensuring standardization across conferences, and being the final say when enforcing

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedures are the accepted Procedural law, rules, ethics, and Norm (sociology), customs governing meetings of an deliberative assembly, assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of inte ...

The rest of the conference is led by pre-selected student leaders divided into upper and lower secretariat, and headed by a Secretary General (SG), in similar fashion to the

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

. The SG reviews draft resolutions created in council and checks for proper formatting and accurate policy simulation. SGs also enforce parliamentary procedure when necessary and are often supported by an Assistant Secretary General (ASG) and Chief of Staff (COS). The Upper Secretariat will include additional positions for larger conferences, such as ASG-2, and ASG of Information. The Lower Secretariat consists of Council Chairman who moderate debate in each council. These positions are usually filled several months ahead of time at the discretion of the local host and the National Council representative. Chairs are supported by a Vice-Chair,

Rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

, and Parliamentarian, all of whom are voted on by members of each council. Vice-Chairs support the Chair in reviewing resolutions, and will often chair for short periods to gain additional experience. Vice-Chairs regularly become full Council Chairs at the next regional conference. Lastly, Rapporteurs maintain lists of countries wishing to be heard in debate, while Parliamentarians may be called on at any time to clarify parliamentary procedure.

Conferences

Model Arab League Conferences fall into three categories: College, High School and International. In the United States, the college competitions consist of a series of regional conferences and as well as several national conferences held in Washington, DC.

List of Conferences

The College regional and national conferences include (as of 2020): The Southeast and the Northeast conferences are both the oldest and largest regional conferences and draw in several hundred participants every year.

Councils and Topics

Model Arab League conferences are divided into councils that each focus on a specific area of Arab League policy. Although the councils offered by international conferences such as the Cairo International MAL tend to fluctuate, The National Council on US - Arab Relations (NCUSAR) assures that most simulations within the U.S. share common councils and structure from year to year.

The Councils

The NCUSAR-sponsored council list consists of eight councils, though not all of the councils are simulated at all models.

Joint Defense Council (JDC)

The Joint Defense Council primarily deals with matters of

collective security Collective security is arrangement between states in which the institution accepts that an attack on one state is the concern of all and merits a collective response to threats by all. Collective security was a key principle underpinning the Lea ...

within the Arab League. The JDC operates under the guidelines of the ''Treaty of Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Between the States of the Arab League, June 17, 1950.''

Council on Palestinian Affairs

The Council on Palestinian Affairs is charged with evaluating and responding to the plethora of issues involving the Palestinian people and their interaction with their neighbors. As Palestine is a fully recognized Member State of the Arab League, the representative from Palestine has considerable influence in this council.

Council of Arab Social Affairs Ministers

This council deals primarily with social matters relating to the Arab world, such as human rights, refugees, etc.

Council on Political Affairs

The Council on Political Affairs focuses on matters related to political interactions between Member States of the Arab League and between the Arab League or certain Member States and states outside of the Arab League.

Council of Arab Environmental Affairs Ministers

This council is concerned with environmental conditions within and related to Member States of the Arab League. Issues such as water rights,

agricultural chemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical typically refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicid ...

, and long-term environmental sustainability are often discussed in this council.

Council of Arab Economics Affairs Ministers

The Council of Arab Economics Affairs Ministers focuses its efforts on ensuring the economic success of the Arab world. This council has historically focused on topics such as long-term economic stability, diversification away from primarily oil-based economies, and ensuring adequate employment opportunities for persons living in the Arab world.

Special Summit of Arab Heads of State

The Special Summit was available in certain regional competitions, as well as the national competition in Washington, D.C., for the 2008 competition. This simulation is unique from the others in that instead of simply role-playing a diplomat from a Member State, individuals working in this Special Summit are actually asked to role-play a

Head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

of a specific Arab League Member State. This leads to a unique experience for everyone involved in the Special Summit as they are the final authority on all policy matters for their respective state, and therefore must be careful of their announced decisions and negotiations in this body as they may impact all of the delegates from the same Member State assigned to the other councils.

Special Council

Special Council is not restricted to any one theme, and rotates every year to a new area of concern not covered by other councils. Previous Special Councils have addressed violence against women and children, post conflict recovery, and religion and extremism. The Special Council for the 2021-2022 MAL season deals with issues related to Technology and Cyber-security in the MENA region.

Arab Court of Justice (ACJ)

The Arab Court of Justice is an idealized body that does not actually have a counterpart in the Arab League. The ACJ is simulated at Model Arab League conferences in order to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of such an entity to the Arab League. The ACJ typically deals with controversial matters within the Arab world and attempts to provide solutions for these problems. Court cases have historically ranged from refugee and employment disputes to questions of resource allocation and territorial disputes, particularly with regard to

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

. Much of how the ACJ functions is modeled after the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

Member States

Initially, in 1945, there were only six members. Today, the

has 22 members, including three African countries among the largest by area (

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

) and the largest country in

Western Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

(

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

). There was a continual increase in membership during the second half of the 20th century. , there are 22 member states: and 5 observer states (note: the below observer states have been invited to participate during select Arab League sessions, but do not hold voting privileges):

Suspensions

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

was suspended from the Arab League on 26 March 1979 due to the

Egypt–Israel peace treaty The Egypt–Israel peace treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed by Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minist ...

. In 1987, Arab League states restored diplomatic relations with Egypt, the country was readmitted to the League in May 1989 and the League's headquarters were moved back to Cairo in September 1990.

was suspended on 22 February 2011, following the outbreak of the

First Libyan Civil War The Libyan civil war, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were ...

. The Arab League voted to restore Libya's membership on 27 August 2011 by accrediting a representative of the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

, which was the partially recognised interim government of the country.

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

was suspended on 16 November 2011 in the aftermath of the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. On 6 March 2013, the Arab League gave the

Syrian National Coalition The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, commonly named the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), or the Syrian National Revolutionary Coalition (SNRC) was a political organization founded in Doha, Qatar, in November 2012 ...

Syria's seat in the Arab League. On 9 March 2014, secretary general

Nabil Elaraby Nabil Elaraby (; 15 March 1935 – 26 August 2024) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the 7th Secretary General of the Arab League from 1 July 2011 to 3 July 2016. Elaraby also had roles in the United Nations, holding positions at t ...

stated that Syria's seat would remain vacant until the opposition completes the formation of its institutions. In 2021, the Arab League initiated a process of normalisation between Syria and other Arab nations. On 7 May 2023, at the meeting of the

Council of the Arab League The Council of the Arab League ( / ISO 233: ) (also the Arab League Council) is the principal institution of the Arab LeagueOron 1960: 123 and was created by article 3 of the Charter of the Arab League. History On 11 October 2023, Arab foreign ...

in Cairo, it was agreed to reinstate Syria's membership.

References

External links

*
Model Arab League website
{{Arab League Youth model government Educational programs