The Soviet Union (USSR), the successor of the Russian Empire, was a socialist conglomerate state run by a Communist Party, existing from the end of the Russian Civil War to its collapse in 1991. The USSR encompassed the modern-day states of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. For the time it existed, the USSR was one of the world’s major superpowers, only paralleled by the United States, leading to the prolonged Cold War between the two powers, which provided the impetus for many of the 20th century's major conflicts after WWII. However, towards the end of the 20th century, under the competing pressures of the United States and NATO, the individual republics of the USSR, and the USSR’s leadership, the country collapsed, splitting into the 15 unique states we have today.

In this historical committee, delegates will be sent back in time to just before the collapse of the USSR and will navigate the complex internal and international issues that led to its eventual demise. Delegates will assume the roles of the individual Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) of the USSR and, along with other relevant countries of the time. In these roles, delegates will grapple with each of their conflicting and competing mandates both inside and outside of the USSR, as they discuss the geopolitical issues that led to the USSR’s collapse. Delegates will have the opportunity to change the course of history and present their solutions for how and why the USSR should or should not be dissolved.