Welcome to Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Dearest Delegates,
Welcome to SPECPOL! My name is Ana (but please call me Annie), and it is my absolute pleasure to be your chair at ILMUNC 2012. I am a junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and I am pursuing a major in Bioengineering and minors in Mathematics, American Sign Language and Engineering Entrepreneurship.
Even though my academic interests are wide-ranging, I have been involved in Model UN since high school. I was born in Madrid and raised in Barcelona, where my love of traveling unlocked a keen interest in international relations, Model United Nations and languages. I joined Penn's International Affairs Associations as a confused little freshman and became an Assistant Secretary-General for ILMUNC. Additionally, I was the Director of Operations for Penn's International Relations Conference and I am currently the Director of Special Events for Penn's International Affairs Association. I also enjoy traveling with our intercollegiate Model UN team, and I am psyched to be chairing SPECPOL with the amazing Carey Shuffman for ILMUNC 2012. When I'm not doing Model U.N., I enjoy competing on the slopes, cooking elaborate meals, watching crappy TV and pretending to work on problem sets while really shopping online.
I am extremely excited for this committee, especially since General Assembly is my favorite organ, and the one I have competed in most. This year, we have two controversial and dynamic topics, which should make for a wonderful four days of stimulating debate and innovative resolutions.
As we prepare for conference, I hope you will find the background guide to be helpful and a starting-off point for further research. I encourage you to delve deeper into the issues we will be discussing and come up with creative and pragmatic solutions to them during conference. If you have any questions about the topics or the conference, please do not hesitate to contact our USG – Stephen Rutman.
I am looking forward to meeting you in January and having a great time at what is sure to be the best ILMUNC to date!
Annie Conde
Chair, Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXVIII
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to the twenty-eighth session on the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference. My name is Carey Shuffman, and it is my pleasure to be your Moderator for SPECPOL.
A little bit about me: I am a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Economics with a minor in Consumer Psychology. This will be my third and last ILMUNC, and I am really looking forward to an amazing weekend with all of you! Within the International Affairs Association, I am also the Chief of Staff of the Intercollegiate MUN team and have been actively involved in the club since my freshman year. Aside from my interests in international affairs and Model UN, I am also a member of MUSE (Penn's Marketing Club) and Tri Delta, and I am actively involved in various community service programs at Penn as well.
I am very confident that our two topics will generate a very exciting and stimulating debate, and that each of you will be able to bring thoughtful arguments to the conference and reach comprehensive resolutions regarding these two issues.
The Dais has put in a tremendous effort to prepare for the conference, and we are very excited to see all of the interesting ideas that each of you will put forward throughout the weekend at ILMUNC. Please take time to read the Background Guide thoroughly, and to do some outside research on the topics as well. Please let our USG – Stephen Rutman – if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, and I am really looking forward to meeting all of you in January!
Sincerely,
Carey Shuffman
Moderator, Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXVIII
Topic Summaries
Topic A: Response to National Political Crises – Revolutionary Fervor in the MENA Region
Countries throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa have been swept up in protests against long-standing authoritarian rulers, which have been deemed part of the “Arab Spring,” following the January revolt that ousted Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. In many cases, these demonstrations have been met with brute force, escalating into seemingly endless violence. The revolutionary outbreaks in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, and Yemen have all taken different routes, and the conclusion of each will likely be highly distinctive. As such, the United Nations has been unable to develop a unified response protocol to these national political crises. The UN is highly active in the field of peacemaking today, working in partnership with regional organizations to end protracted conflicts, and to prevent new crises from emerging or from escalating. While the UN has been very proactive in expanding its capabilities in these situations, the recent crises in the MENA region have highlighted the necessity of innovative solutions tailored to individual situations, which fall under the realm of responsibility of the Fourth Committee.
Topic B: International Cooperation in the Peaceful Exploration of Outer Space
Unlike landmasses, waterways, and airspace, outer space is not governed by sovereign nations. As with the right to peaceful nuclear energy, the international community consistently supports the right to peacefully develop outer space programs for all sovereign nations. However, few states have the ability to exercise this right due to the prohibitive costs of technological development and the particular expense of deploying technology into space. The development of outer space technology is so expensive that it creates a discrepancy between developed and developing nations. The only way to grant less developed countries access to space technology is by establishing the means to share both existing technology and the hardware necessary for its utilization. Additionally, international research efforts for the further development of this technology would need to be mutually divided. The Special Political and Decolonization Committee is tasked with determining the most efficient, safe, and equitable ways to promote the exploration of outer space.