Welcome to Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Dear Delegates,
My name is Sam Shelley, and I'm very excited to be chairing SPECPOL this year with your moderator, Chuck Schmitt. Chuck and I both served on the ILMUNC Secretariat together for the last two years. During ILMUNC XXVIII, I served as the Business Director of the conference. This will be my eighth ILMUNC, having participated four times as a delegate during high school and three times as a member of secretariat. I am sad that this will be my last ILMUNC, but I am confident that this year’s will be the best ILMUNC yet!
First, a little bit about myself; I am a senior at Penn majoring in Computer Science and Business. I grew up only 2 hours away from Penn, in New York City, where I hope to return after I graduate. In my spare time, I am a politics junky, and I spend an inordinate amount of my time reading political blogs.
Chuck and I are very excited about the topics that SPECPOL will be debating this year: the UN’s role in monitoring elections and the self-determination of Kurdistan. We want these topics to expand your horizons on issues that you may not have studied previously, and it is our hope that learning about these topics will expand your understanding of international relations.
I hope you will all read the background guides we have provided and come ready with interesting solutions. Please continue to do additional research beyond the background guide in order to be well prepared for conference. It is especially important that you are aware of the political status and alliances of your country, so you ensure representing your nation's policy.
I look forward to meeting you all in January, and I hope you all have an amazing conference! Feel free to contact Paula Berenguer, our USG, if you have any questions about committee.
Yours,
Sam Shelley
Chair, Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXIX
Dear Delegates,
As your Moderator for the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you the 29th session of the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference. I am absolutely thrilled to be chairing this extraordinary committee, and I could not be more excited to guide you in solving two of the most unique issues that the United Nations has to deal with. My main goal is not just to be fair, but also to make sure that your ILMUNC experience is as much fun as possible.
If you will, I would like to take a brief moment to introduce myself. My name is Charles Leo Schmitt III, but I would prefer it if you simply called me Chuck. I am currently a fourth-year student at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Philosophy, Political Science, & Economics, with a concentration in Distributive Justice. The International Affairs Association has been a big part of my life at Penn. Previously, I served on the secretariat of ILMUNC, as well as the board of our intercollegiate team. Once in a while, I manage to tear myself away from the world of placards and gavels to indulge my obsessions with cuisine, pop culture, and world travel.
Please do not hesitate to contact your USG, Paula Berenguer, if you have any questions about the background guide, the conference, or myself. As we get closer to conference, it would certainly behoove each and every one of you to read the background guide and, hopefully, to dig even deeper into the topics. The quality of this committee really does depend on you, and I am confident that your innovation and creativity will produce fruitful solutions to some of the biggest problems that our generation has to deal with. I’m very much looking forward to meeting all of you in November and can’t wait for what will certainly be the best ILMUNC yet!
Stay classy,
Chuck Schmitt
Moderator, Special Political and Decolonization Committee
Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXIX
Topic Summaries
Topic A: UN’s Role in Monitoring Elections
The transition from oppressive and corrupt leadership to a fair democracy proves to be an immense struggle for most nations facing this issue, simply because the infrastructure and methods necessary to identify and eliminate corruption have never existed. A key issue that many developing countries in transition face is the immense challenge of conducting fair elections. This topic is extremely relevant in this century, as many countries in the Middle East, Africa, and other areas of the world face the difficulty of replacing current corrupt governments with fairly elected rulers. The UN must decide on its role in monitoring these elections, as it is essential to preserve the country’s autonomy to provide infrastructure and manpower to minimize corruption. Delegates will collaborate to form solutions that create a balance between internal and external regulation to legitimize the new democratic governments.
Topic B: The self-determination of Kurdistan
Kurdistan is a roughly defined region between Turkey and northern Iraq that has recently been gaining importance in the United States’ involvement in the Middle East. Their right to self-determination has been brought to the forefront when the press recently shed light on the problems and divisions in the nation. The push for their independence brings up general issues that many regions of the world have encountered before in the process of self-determination. With independence movements in all four regions of Kurdistan, it is essential that delegates discuss whether this is feasible and positive. If the previous two conditions are met, delegates must also address how the new nation will set up elections, a government, a system of law, and necessary infrastructure for development.