Academic Forum for Foreign Policy
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| Basic data | |
| Establishment date: | January 22, 1991 |
| Place of foundation: | Vienna |
| President: | Michael F. Pfeifer |
| Vice President: | Andreas Jilly |
| Members: | approx. 5500 (as of January 2013) |
| Website: | www.afa.at |
The Academic Forum for Foreign Policy (AFA) - University League for the United Nations was founded in 1991 and is the non-partisan association in Austria for all young people, students and young academics interested in international issues. The AFA is the independent youth organization of the Austrian Society for Foreign Policy and the United Nations , a member of the Federal Youth Representation (BJV) and is a founding member of the International Youth Network for the United Nations (UNYANET).
The AFA has more than 4000 members in Austria and around 2500 interested parties all over the world. Membership in the AFA is open to anyone up to 35 years of age. All activities and projects of the AFA are carried out by around 120 active members on a voluntary basis. The activities include lectures, discussions, further education events, debating clubs and simulation conferences on international and foreign policy topics as well as on the United Nations and are carried out by the local committees in Vienna , Graz , Linz , Salzburg , Innsbruck and Eisenstadt as well as by the federal government.
Well-known former or active members of the Academic Forum for Foreign Policy (AFA) or its predecessor organization the Academic Association for Foreign Policy (AVA) are, for example, Ewald Nowotny or Kurt Waldheim .
VIMUN
The largest event organized by the AFA is the Vienna International Model United Nations (VIMUN), which has been taking place annually at the beginning of August since 1995 as the only UN simulation in Austria . With around 250 participants from 40 nations, the VIMUN is only considered to be of medium size, but is the only MUN in the world to have the full length of the event in the conference rooms of a UN headquarters, in this case the Vienna UN City , as a venue. In addition to authentic simulations of UN committees and organizations such as the UN Security Council , the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) or the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), various social programs are offered every evening. These programs range from a meal at a renowned Viennese Heuriger or a festive reception in the Vienna City Hall to a reception at the Spanish Riding School or clubbing in a well-known Viennese disco.
Global view
The magazine Global View, published by the AFA in cooperation with the Austrian Society for Foreign Policy and the United Nations, sees itself as an information and discussion platform for everyone who is interested in the field of international relations , foreign policy and the United Nations . The task of the Global View, which appears four times a year with contributions in German and English, is to give young authors the opportunity to publish their opinions on foreign and global issues, with guest contributions from international experts appearing again and again. The editor is currently Michael F. Pfeiffer , editor-in-chief is Bernd Hermann .
Debating Club
The Debating Club of the Academic Forum for Foreign Policy (AFA Debattierclub) was founded in Vienna in October 2004 . In addition to the AFA debating club in Vienna, there are also local AFA debating clubs in Eisenstadt , Graz , Linz and Salzburg .
In Vienna, the debates take place weekly and are held in German or English . The venue is usually the club room of the Austrian Society for Foreign Policy and the United Nations (ÖGAVN) in the Stallburg ( Hofburg ). Since 2011, all AFA debating clubs have been members of the Association of Debating Clubs at Universities .
Participation is open to everyone and is free of charge. The structure and the rules of the debate follow the format of the open parliamentary debate . There are two teams, pros and cons, that start the debate after 15 to 20 minutes of preparation time . Each team consists of three speakers. Each speaker has seven minutes to speak. The active speakers can vote on one of three pre-set topics for each debate. Your position (for or against) will be drawn, however.
There is the possibility for guests from the audience to participate spontaneously as non-attached speakers. The non-attached speakers have a speaking time of three and a half minutes in which they can argue either in favor of the pro or the con. Outside the restricted speaking time, questions and short requests to speak from the audience and the other team are permitted. The first and last minute of a speaker from a political group is protected. The first and last 30 seconds of non-attached speakers are protected. In addition, the AFA's debating clubs also take part in debating tournaments and organize debating tournaments such as the championship in German-speaking debating with more than 200 participants.
Special projects of the AFA Vienna
Global Advancement Program (GAP)
The Global Advancement Program (GAP) is a one-year diploma course for around 30 students who are distinguished by their high level of qualification and special commitment. In the program, students are given the opportunity to supplement their university theoretical training with a diploma course that focuses on applied and practical content as well as personal experiences, perspectives and strategies from (former) government members, top diplomats, business and media representatives and personalities contains other areas. In terms of content, special emphasis is placed on practical relevance, which cannot be found in this form in any university textbooks. Top-ranking speakers have been speaking at the GAP from the very beginning. The sixth year is running in 2015/16. The founder and first General Secretary was Christian Mayrhofer (2010 / 11–2012 / 13), General Secretary 2013/14 was Stefan Weinhofer and General Secretary 2014/15 was Philip-Sebastian Marchl. The chair for 2015/16 was Shirin Ghazanfari.
For 2016/17, already the seventh year, the two fields of study were available
- Politics and Diplomacy (Chair: Viktoria Forstinger )
- Economy and Finance (Chairman: Alexander Staudigl )
for optional. Both fields of study include the modules Politics / Diplomacy, Economics / Finance, Media / Culture and Interdisciplinary, whereby the focus is of course adapted to the two fields of study mentioned above.
The speakers in the program were or are, among others: Alfred Gusenbauer , Wolfgang Schüssel , Josef Ostermayer , Eva Nowotny , Gregor Woschnagg , Alexander Van der Bellen , Armin Wolf , Rudolf Kaske , Peter Jankowitsch , Manfred Nowak , Richard Kühnel , Ewald Nowotny , Georg Kapsch , Wolfgang Anzengruber , Thomas Wieser , Stefan Ruzowitzky , Eugen Freund , Alexandra Föderl-Schmid , Rainer Nowak , Nikolaus Rottenberger .
Vienna MUN Club (VMC)
The Vienna MUN Club was founded in March 2011 to give schoolchildren and students, and above all the members of the AFA, the opportunity to deal intensively with issues of international politics in a small group and thus both their debating and English skills as well as their knowledge to improve international relations within simulated Security Council meetings. The Vienna MUN Club meets fortnightly on Saturdays in the AFA premises. The debates are based on the VIMUN rules, most of which are identical to those of the UNSC. The members of the Vienna MUN Club also take part in international MUNs, most recently the LIMUN in London and the MIMUN in Moscow.
Web links
- Academic Forum for Foreign Policy (German / English)
- Austrian Society for Foreign Policy and the United Nations (Ger.)
- United Nations Youth Associations Network (en.)
- Vienna International Model United Nations (en.)
- Global View magazine (German)
- Debating Club d. Academic Forum for Foreign Policy (Ger.)
- Championship in German-speaking debating (German)
Individual evidence
- ↑ UNYANET members ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Members of the VDCH - Debating on site. In: vdch.de. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012 ; accessed on November 21, 2014 .
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website of the Global Advancement Program (GAP). Here are u. a. to find the speakers, sorted by year.
