Model United Nations General Assembly Conference 2
Project Description: For this project, our class participated in a model United Nations General Assembly Conference. We conducted in-depth research on the concept of nuclear non-proliferation and further examined international diplomacy. For the conference, each of us were assigned a country, mine being Russia. We had to research our countries to determine their position on the issue at hand, in addition to other general information about the country. Our class wrote policy papers, and drafted resolutions based on our countries opinions. The conference correctly and realistically resembled a General Assembly conference.
Project Reflection
Succeeding the adversity of WWII, fifty-one countries founded an international organization to promote perpetual peace and security: The United Nations. The UN has attempted to, and in some cases, succeeded, in minimizing the tension between states. While the founding of such an organization was an advancement of international diplomacy, states unwillingness to find compromise is prohibitive to the UN. This was brought into perspective in this project, through the challenges that were brought up when trying to pass any resolution.
I can’t really answer this question because I wasn’t here for the conference. I have learned a lot about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation, but my presentation skills haven’t improved and my habits for group discussions haven’t gotten any better.
Overall, I’ve learned a lot throughout the project. Besides the knowledge that I’ve gained about nuclear non-proliferation, I’ve also become slightly better at talking in front of people. I generally dislike talking in front of a group of people, so this project challenged me. I also learned about international diplomacy and the challenges that come with drafting a resolution that enough states agree on. It is particularly challenging to come to a consensus with countries that have an extremely different perspective on the issue.
Particularly with Russia, there are a lot of layers to their actions. It is not uncommon for Russia to say one thing, but do something completely different. If I were to do this project again, I would go more in depth in my research. I think I got slightly confused, because, on paper, Russia seems to be very compliant. They were signed on to the NPT, along with a lot of other treaties. However, based on other information I read, it seems like Russia practically ignores their treaties at times. I would’ve liked to have gone more in depth to figure out what their real intentions were.
Since mankind found nuclearization, states have cowered behind treaties and the deterrence theory for protection. The issues of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation cannot be stressed enough, and we need to take action now before any nuclear accidents occur. If a nuclear weapon was to go off, whether it be in Moscow or New York or anywhere else, thousands of lives would be lost. It is too big of a risk. The Russian Federation has much at stake in the current conflict of global denuclearization, since we have invested more than any other state in our nuclear arsenal. Russia stresses the importance of respecting each state’s rights to develop a military arsenal and stockpile conventional arms for the purposes of self defense and national security. The Russia Federation also advocates for the development of a system that would eliminate global tension and bring international peace and security. We would support any resolution that supports the IAEA, prohibits any proliferation of nuclear technology, limits the budget that can be spent on any states nuclear arsenal, and prohibits developing, manufacturing, or testing of nuclear weapons.
Model United Nations General Assembly Conference 1
Project Description: For this project, our class participated in a model United Nations General Assembly Conference. We conducted in-depth research on the Venezuelan refugee crisis, and further examined the political and economic unrest in the country. For the conference, each of us were assigned a country, mine being Russia. We had to research our countries to determine their position on the issue at hand, in addition to other general information about the country. Our class wrote policy papers, and drafted resolutions based on our countries opinions. The conference correctly and realistically resembled a General Assembly conference.
Russia Policy Paper While the continuing political and economic crisis in Venezuela has resulted in disputes on the legitimacy of the country’s head of state, Russia stands behind Nicolas Maduro as the constitutional president of Venezuela and accuses all nations for not providing enough aid in a violation of human rights. The adversity began around 2013, when the country’s current leader, Hugo Chavez, passed away due to cancer, leaving vice president Nicolas Maduro to run the country. Chavez was an admired leader as a result of his social welfare programs, but this ultimately led to Venezuela’s economic collapse. In the early 2000s, Venezuela was considered the fastest growing of all Latin American countries. Chaves took advantage of the wealth, and designed over thirty different programs to promote the wellbeing of Venezuelan citizens. Maduro continued this excessive spending after he took office, but oil prices took a sharp drop in 2013, leading to an immediate decline in the economy (Nasa, pbs.org). The Venezuelan government quickly attempted to aid the economy by increasing inflation, a tactic that often works when an economy experiences a short-term recession. Instead of temporarily boosting the economy, it “just got worse as oil prices continued to fall, compounded by other factors that reduced Venezuelan oil output”. The government imposed inflation spiralled into a hyperinflation rate of 53,798,500 percent (Friesen, forbes.com). With shortages everywhere, people began to campaign to remove Maduro from office. Despite the fact that “Venezuelan economy shrank by 30% from 2013 through 2017”, Maduro got re-elected into office in 2018. Juan Guiado, head of the national assembly, took this opportunity to claim that the election was not legitimate, and that a specific law put him in office (Fisher, nytimes.com). The economic situation has continued to decline, with extreme shortages of food, medicine, and basic necessities. Four million refugees have fled the country, and require financial aid and fundamental materials (Anthony, washingtonpost.com). Russia has much at stake in the conflict, investing over 3 billion in Venezuela, and it intends to continue a strong relationship, both diplomatically and economically, with the nation. While there is confusion to who is the correct leader of Venezuela, Maduro’s re-election was completely legitimate. Evidence pointing towards a sabotaged election is anecdotal; citizens of Venezuela couldn’t believe that, despite the financial situation, Maduro got re-elected. Maduro is not at fault for the economic crisis, it was Chazes’ fault for enabling unsustainable programs. Russia proposes sending a peacekeeping force in to Venezuela to settle the political unrest in defense of President Maduro, diminish some of the violence, and restore order to Venezuela. In addition to this, Russia requests each country with a GDP over 1 trillion dollars, (US, Japan, India, Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, UK, Brazil, and Canada) provide 20 million dollars in aid. To maintain each country’s national sovereignty, if any country chooses not to meet this requirement, sanctions will be imposed. Other countries are permitted to donate as well, but in terms of their own generosity.
Works Cited Anthony Faiola, Rachelle Krygier. “As Venezuela's Crisis Deepens, the Most Vulnerable Are Joining the Exodus.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 Aug. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/as-crisis-deepens-the-most-vulnerable-venezuelans-are-increasingly-joining-the-exodus/2019/08/07/0d1fd254-b2f0-11e9-acc8-1d847bacca73_story.html. Carmody, Michelle. “What Caused Hyperinflation in Venezuela: a Rare Blend of Public Ineptitude and Private Enterprise.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 27 Oct. 2019, theconversation.com/what-caused-hyperinflation-in-venezuela-a-rare-blend-of-public-ineptitude-and-private-enterprise-102483. Casey, Nicholas, and Jenny Carolina González. “A Staggering Exodus: Millions of Venezuelans Are Leaving the Country, on Foot.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/world/americas/venezuela-refugees-colombia.html. Fisher, Max. “Who Is Venezuela's Legitimate President? A Messy Dispute, Explained.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-guaido-legitimate.html Friesen, Garth. “The Path To Hyperinflation: What Happened To Venezuela?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 7 Aug. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/garthfriesen/2018/08/07/the-path-to-hyperinflation-what-happened-to-venezuela/#77f0635e15e4. Herbst, John E, and Jason Markzak. “Russia's Intervention in Venezuela: What's at Stake?” Atlantic Council, Atlantic Council, 30 Sept. 2019, www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/russias-intervention-in-venezuela-whats-at-stake/. Kurmanaev, Anatoly. “Why Is Russia Helping Venezuela?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/world/americas/russia-venezuela-maduro-putin.html. Nasa, Rahima. “Timeline: How the Crisis in Venezuela Unfolded.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 22 Feb. 2019, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/timeline-how-the-crisis-in-venezuela-unfolded/. Rainsford, Sarah. “Venezuela Crisis: Why Russia Has so Much to Lose.” BBC News, BBC, 1 Feb. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47087875. Venezuelanalysis.com, Steven Chovanec -. “Venezuela's Elections Were Not Free or Fair – They Were Undermined by the US.” Venezuelanalysis.com, Opinion and Analysis, 3 July 2018, venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13870.
Project Reflection
International relations has always been an interesting topic to me, so I enjoyed learning more about it through this project. When drafting my proposed resolution, I found myself looking at Russia’s actual draft resolutions for a solution to the Venezuelan refugee crisis. I’ve always found foreign affairs, particularly those relating to economics, extremely interesting. As a result of this, the issue of the Venezuelan refugee crisis was particularly engaging.
Overall, I’ve grown a lot throughout project. My most apparent area of growth would be the knowledge I received when working on this project. In addition to that, I’ve also become slightly better at talking in front of people. In general, I dislike talking in front of a group people, so this project challenged me. To be specific, the speech that I had to give was difficult. Since I transferred to Animas, I have found that I have been pushed out of my comfort zone to talk in front of groups, and this conference was another opportunity for that.
I think that I was prepared for the conference. I had a speech written, and I knew a lot about the topic. For me, a certain amount of preparation translates to more participation. Since I don’t like talking in front of people, the amount that I participate in a discussion or conference is not dependent on how prepared I am. Of course, I won’t say anything if I don’t know what I’m talking about, but most of the time I am prepared. For example, during the conference I had a lot of things that I could have said, but kept quiet.
For the second conference, I want to attempt to participate more. I think my speech was good for this conference, but I want to try to work on my delivery. In addition to that, I want to submit an amendment to change one of the resolutions.