IFV Authorship Guide

[Magecastle]

Please note that this guide was written by @Simone_Republic.

GA IFV guide - Template:

[B]Overview[/B]
This proposal seeks to XXX

[B]Recommendation[/B]
XXX

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote [B]XXX[/B] the GA proposal at vote, "XXX".

[I]This IFV Recommendation was written in collaboration with our World Assembly Legislative League partners.[/I]

The Overview should be a succinct summary of the proposal at vote. It should take a neutral tone and be a summary of the proposal at vote. Opinions on the proposal itself should go into the recommendation section.

The recommendation should build a clear rationale for voting in favor/against a resolution. Due to readability, 3-5 sentences would work best. Please avoid technical arguments - bear in mind that the Forum is open to anyone over the age of 13 - unless the resolution is very technical itself. Sometimes this is unavoidable as GA resolutions have become more technical in recent years, given the rising prevalence of very strict use of legal terminology (and the demographics of GA becoming more driven by those with a legal background). Historically, TNP IFVs have argued both sides, i.e., making both a For and an Against case, but this practice has changed in recent years, more in favor of taking a view in advance, largely based on the forum vote.

GA IFV guide - other notes:

• Do not attack the author of the resolution for acting in bad faith, or any personal attacks in general, unless a very clear case can be made. (This should apply even if the author is in a region at war with TNP - if TNP will oppose a resolution due to sanctions, say so in the IFV, but don't attack the author personally). This is becoming more important as TNP/WALL increasingly dominates authorship of GA resolutions. An author that persistently pushes a resolution to vote that TNP disagrees with should not be judged in bad faith - it's a view that we happen to disagree with, but that a minority is in favor (if it makes quorum in any case).
• It is not current practice to offer "no recommendation" on an IFV, although it has been done in the past.
• The Alternative Wording of a string of "nos" should NOT be used without Delegate sign off. It has only been used twice (for the fourth and fifth condemnations of The Communist Bloc in the last five years) and for SC.
• The quote "This IFV Recommendation was written in collaboration with our World Assembly Legislative League partners" should be used if we lifted the recommendation from a partner on WALL. This has been rare in recent years (as of 2023) as TNP usually contributes more to WALL than the other way around, largely as there are more TNP authors. SC we have done a few times especially when commending someone who is a member of a region in WALL but outside TNP.
• An IFV can be written by any staffer, not just the one who posts the voting thread. There is no restriction on the author (or co-author) of the resolution itself (or repeal target thereof) writing the IFV. In past practice, the author has been forced to write the IFV to defend it but in recent years (as of 2023) this has been rarer, given a higher number of TNP authors on GA resolutions as well as IFV authors in MoWAA. Some authors decline writing the IFV themselves but this is not a set rule.
• Please pay particular attention if the resolution is a TNP/WALL resolution for a repeal of a previous TNP/WALL resolution, especially if the author opposes the repeal, and especially more importantly if the repeal is an insta-repeal. If the author is in favor of the repeal (to fix a mistake, usually), that is usually fine (and can be noted in the recommendation itself), but if the author is fighting against the repeal, please check with the Delegate and/or Minister. This has been an issue in recent years because of the prevalence of TNP/WALL authors repealing each other's resolutions.

First edition: May 2023
Second edition: November 2023