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INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE
ABOUT MODEL ARAB LEAGUE?
E-MAIL PROGRAM COORDINATOR
MEGAN GEISSLER
Megan@ncusar.org
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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MODEL ARAB LEAGUE
In 1983, student delegations representing 20 schools gathered at Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C. to participate in what they assumed would be a
one-time simulation. Little did they know then that, over the next 26 years,
the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations' Model Arab League (MAL) would grow
to the point where 13 Models would be held annually throughout grassroots
America. These January-through-April events include 2,000
students, 200 universities and secondary schools, hundreds of faculty advisers,
and are held in 11 cities each year. Since that first year, over 28,000 students have
participated in MAL.
The Models have no peer as a proven effective way to discover and promote
excellence among America's leaders of tomorrow. They offer students an
unsurpassed opportunity to acquire and develop practical leadership skills
directly related to the United States and one of the world's most vital regions.
In the process, students learn about the most important social, economic,
cultural, and political issues facing Arab leaders and ordinary citizens.
As representatives of the Arab League's 22 member-states, student delegates work
to achieve consensus on questions real-life diplomats wrestle with daily. They
vote on resolutions they have written that seek to resolve some of the Arab
countries' most difficult challenges. The dynamics and interactive nature of the
role-playing among the students stimulate critical thinking, heighten
creativity, expand knowledge, and cultivate understanding as no book, video, or
coursework ever could.
Participation in a Model is of value to all students regardless of their
academic major. It matters little if at all whether their school has an academic
course offering on the Arab countries, the Middle East, or the Islamic world.
Students gain invaluable firsthand leadership experience and hands-on training.
They acquire this through the Model's constant challenges and interaction in
the course of public discussion, the application of time management skills, the
use of parliamentary procedure, and the dynamics of debating, writing, and
editing. All this occurs under pressure and tight deadlines that mirror the
actual realities and tensions inherent in the give-and-take that comes with
activism in public affairs.
In experiencing how a resolution they have prepared succeeds or fails on the
basis of whether their fellow delegates find its rationale sufficiently
persuasive, student delegates also refine their interpersonal skills. At the
final session, adult judges with experience in international relations announce
the names of individual students and delegations whose performance has earned
them highly coveted awards. These and other student participants are provided
priority consideration for partial scholarships in the National Council's
language and area studies academic programs in the Arab world.
At the end of any Model, all delegates come away having practiced and improved
considerably the kinds of skills that will serve them well all their life in any
field they pursue. This one-of-a-kind practical experience brings students and
their faculty advisers back year after year.
Model Arab League is the National Council on U.S. Arab Relations' gateway to other university
and high school leadership development programs, including the League of
Arab States Exchange, studying at the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Students / Yemen Language Center, and internships in Washington, DC.
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