Historical United Nations Security Council

Agenda Item: Syrian Civil War

The Security Council is one of the Six Principal Organs of the United Nations. Since this is a historical version of the Council, the committee is set in the past and focuses on decisions as they were made at the time. The purpose is not simply to recreate events, but to reassess them with the benefit of hindsight. Delegates are expected to step into the roles of historical actors while aiming to make more effective, thoughtful, and cooperative decisions than those taken in reality. The idea is to recognize past failures, question political deadlocks, and explore how alternative actions could have prevented escalation and long-term consequences.

The Syrian Civil War demonstrates why this approach is important. What began in 2011 as an internal uprising against the Syrian government gradually turned into an international conflict. Foreign intervention by major powers such as the United States and Russia, alongside regional actors, shifted the war beyond Syria’s borders and intensified its impact. As global interests and rivalries became involved, the conflict grew more complex and harder to resolve. In a historical UNSC setting, the focus lies on identifying earlier moments where stronger diplomacy, clearer action, or different political choices could have limited international involvement and reduced the scale of the crisis.