1945 San Francisco Conference Guide (1)

Committee Guide

1945 San Francisco Conference

Honorable Delegates, In behalf of MUNUR 2015 and of all members of the Dias, we would like to give you the warmest welcome to the 1945 San Francisco Conference. The Dias for this conference is composed by a very diverse group of people. First, we will have Timothy Daniel Walsh as our Moderator. He will be in charge of giving the word, taking motions and taking care of procedural matters during the Conference. Timothy is currently majoring in International Relations and has completed his Associate degree in arts. Timothy has been participating in MUN for two years, as such, he has attended The Southern Regional Model United Nations (SRMUN) conferences three times as a delegate and will be on staff for fall 2015. Timothy has competed as a delegate at a total of 8 conferences, and served as president of his collegiate MUN club for the 2014 to 2015 academic year. Timothy looks forward to meeting the delegates, and to contributing to what is sure to be a memorable experience for all MUNUR15 participants. Isabella Fuscaldo Jalkh will serve as the Rapporteur for the San Francisco Conference. Isabella is an eight-semester International Relations student with a Minor in Theology and Religions attending the University of Rosario, the hosting University of MUNUR 2015. She is also a part of her University’s

international MUN Team, URDiplomats, and has been participating in Model United Nations for 6 years. Alejandro Castañeda Molina will serve as one of the Conference Directors. His task will be to take in account each of the individual performances of Delegates, manage discussion and help in the development of documents. Alejandro is an eight-semester International Relations student attending also the University of Rosario, with a special emphasis on Security, Diplomatic History and International Relations Theory. This is the first model that he is serving as Director. Finally, Ayyad El Masri will also serve as Director for our Conference. He will be monitoring the flow of debate, helping delegates build up the final documents by administering the topics and their discussion throughout the conference and evaluating the performance of each delegate in accordance to country position. Ayyad is entering his junior year at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. He is majoring in International Affairs and Political Science with a minor in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Ayyad is a former trainer, dais member and school relations coordinator in his university’s simulation programs. With MUNUR, he would be entering his 6th year of participating in Model UN-like programs around the world. As a last word of welcome, we would like you to know that we are very excited and honored to have you all participate in this Conference, and would like to see you excel showing your best abilities and presenting your most creative ideas for the possible creation of a security specialized organ. We wish you the best of luck with your investigation and hope to see you soon in MUNUR 2015.

INDEX 3 Introduction 4 Position Paper 6 Historical Background 10 Economic developments 12 Cultural context 12 But, how can peace be achieved? 14 Current Situation 16 Ending Note 16 Questions a Resolution Must 17 Answer (QARMAS) Glossary 18 References 20 Suggested Reading

UN Photo/Rosenberg

10

Introduction to the Committee

The San Francisco Conference, stated between the 25th of April till the 26th of June of 1945 and that was held in the Opera House and the Veterans Building in San Francisco (Kirk & Chamberlain, 1945, p. 322) was the peace conference that took place right after the end of the World War II. It was attended by fifty delegations from around the globe (Kirk & Chamberlain, 1945, p. 323) and the aim was to create a Charter for an International Organization based on the proposals of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which was held a few months before. The discussion was managed by two different kinds of sessions. On one side, there was the Plenary Session, which was composed by all the delegations and each one of them had one vote (Kirk & Chamberlain, 1945, p. 324), it was presided by Edward Stettinus, Secretary of State of Roosevelt and head of the United States delegation (US Department of State, 2015). And on the other side, there were four committees and other great number of agencies that treated the formal and legal aspects of the Conference. At the same time, there were four commissions and twelve committees to tackle the real issues of the conference (Kirk & Chamberlain, 1945, p. 325), which in return formed the United Nations as we know today. Delegates must know that the present simulation will take in account just the Plenary Session with special emphasis on the discussion, development and creation of an international security specialized organ. In contrast with the 1945 conference, the discussion will not stand on the issues of the development of a General Assembly, the creation of an international Court or the Economic and Social Cooperation. Delegates should also know that the Committee will take in account that the Chapters 1-5 of the Charter are already made, as the emphasis will be taken on the areas regarding peace and security. Your final objective, as you can see below, will be to write new articles for the Chart as it was the final

11

Position Paper

The position paper is a document that serves as a country statement, which includes each country’s position on the topic at hand. The position paper should include an overview on the progress of the countries present in the San Francisco Conference in terms of peace and security. Moreover, the delegates must take into account the historical background of each state in order to provide a set of recommendations that are most suitable for the issuance of a common statement for the whole committee by the end of the conference. The position paper should focus on reflecting upon issues of World War II. A good method to do so would be creating a profile of the country that takes in account the development of the idea of Peace between Nations. This will comprehend research about the participation, if they had any, in the conferences of Peace in The Hague (1899, 1907) and Paris (1919), and in the current post-world-war definition of peace in 1945 as a discursive and political action. The reference to such historical background will give leverage to the knowledge of each delegate and firmness in recommending plans for action. Delegates must take into account four main parts of the position paper: the introduction, the national actions, the international actions and the resolutions. The four parts are to be integrated in a paper of maximum 2 pages (Font: Times New Roman, font size: 12) as follows: Introduction: The introduction must be general yet relevant to the country’s situation. This paragraph should include the current status of peace and security in each country. This should be followed by prospects of peace and security within each country. In other words, provide the

12

motives and expectations from being part of the San Francisco Conference. National actions: This part includes each country’s actions towards enhancing peace and security on a national level. The research of these past national actions will allow each delegate to know how each action has been effective or ineffective within the country’s borders and, thus, be able to emphasize/discourage actions accordingly. With “actions” we are referring to a short, yet relevant number of events that explain the security context of a state in time, its delegate’s duty to research and select only the most important actions that help understand how a country is in the context of the San Francisco Conference. International actions: The international actions should report the country’s actions towards enhancing peace and security on an international level (regional treaties, international agreements, UN conventions…) and how have these actions given leverage to the international atmosphere of worldwide peace and international security. Delegates should use this information wisely in aims of shaping the forthcoming role of the San Francisco Conference. Recommendations: Delegates are expected to include each country’s input on the definitive measures that need to be taken to achieve peace and security. Delegates need to make sure that their position paper is more focused on the analysis of their stance rather than on the description of it. Moreover, Delegates are advised to dedicate part of their research to events that took place after the establishment of the United Nations., in order to take precautions in their final document which helps prevent a negative aftermath of the San Francisco Conference.

UN Photo/McCreary

13

Pre-paper

Taking in account the innovative purpose of this commission, the Dias will now make a list of that we think must be central for the debate. Delegates must think of this list as a sheet of route, as we define that the development of the commission must comprehend this specific issues for reaching its objective. This list is ranked by order of importance, and so it must be understood as the order of discussion in the commission as well. The Dias firmly encourage the reading and analysis of the Handbook, as it has been build specifically for the San Francisco commission. 1. Settlement of disputes: As the central issue of the debate must be the constitution of a formal arrangement where the issue of the resolution of conflicts can be addressed in pacific terms. At this point, delegates must rise questions that concern the formation of a security specialized organ, as well as its objectives. 2. Functions: Taking in account that delegates have already constituted a security specialized organ, the next in order of discussion must be the specificity of its functions. The debate must clarify the specific objectives of the organ; that is: what it’s going to do in relation to maintain, create or defend peace or other different concepts related to the security structure of the international system of states. 3. Organization: At this point, delegates must discuss how will the organ be constituted, which countries should it be in front of it, how many, etc. Delegates must arrange the distribution of representation and power inside the organ in order to guarantee its success. 4. Scope: Having settled the fundamental formal developments of the organ, delegates must also think of the reach of it. Questions should arise about the relevance of a world or regional organization, as

14

well as the applicability of its functions around the area of power of the organ. 5. Definitions: It’s important that delegates discuss how they are understanding peace and security, as well as a threat, etc. Without having settle a common ground in the basic definitions of the big issues of the organ, the real application of the functions of the organization is futile. 6. Instruments: Delegates must now enter one of the big questions asked in the 1945 San Francisco Conference, by having settled a specific organ for the safety of the international security; how it will be able to satisfy its objectives? The debate must now take not formal but real and tactile arguments, because an organ such as this must need to have some minimal means to make actions around it scope.

15

Historical Background

The history of the San Francisco Conference didn’t start by April 25th 1945, it’s clear that the beginning of the creation of the United Nations as an international organization are related to the Peace Conference of Paris in 1919, attended by the presidents of thirty-two countries, and run principally by the four presidents in the photo bellow, from left to right: David Lloyd George from Great Britain, Vittorio Orlando for Italy, Georges Clemenceau for France and Woodrow Wilson from the United States. It’s important to understand this conference because this experience didn’t “represent a break with the past, but rather the continued application of old ideas and methods with some changes deemed necessary in the light of past experience” (Goodrich, 1947, p. 5). Taken in account this historical perspective, it is essential that delegates understand the different historical narratives that took place before the San Francisco Conference. The guide will now focus on the biggest plots that influenced the countries involved in the conference. Delegates should also know that this guide only name and describe a few aspects of the history, as we encourage to look into each issue with a special focus in each country’s position paper When the treaty was signed in Versailles, the League of Nations had its Covenant in the table, as it was the first time that States “had put into concrete form the dreams and hopes of all those who had worked for peace through the centuries” (MacMillan, 2003, p. 84). The dream of Wilson, was “to give order and organization to this peace not only for ourselves (The United States) but for the other peoples of the world as well, so far as they will suffer us to serve them” (Wilson, 1918). Hence the treaty brought a formal arrangement in which the security of the world was to bee administrated by a system called as collective security that could be defined as a “commitment by each member to join a coalition to confront any aggressor with opposing preponderant strength” (Kupchan & Kupchan, 1991, p. 118), or simply, a promise of a great number of

16

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Archives

countries to defense each other when any other would dare to attack any of the group (we could name it a Three Musketeers principle: “All for one, and one for all!”). And it created a method in which the relations of security between states could be based on rules or international laws, with the aim of regulate the actions that could derive in conflict or war. The aim of the League of Nations in the international order was not only to bring peace, but also to change the rules of the development of war and peace, the first seen as an aberration and also as expensive (MacMillan, 2003, p. 84) and the second seen as an opportunity for “the creation of an international setting (as an organization) in which stability emerges through cooperation rather than through competition” (Kupchan & Kupchan, 1991, p. 118). As it would be seen later in the guide, delegates should start thinking in a world in which the solely idea of

17

going into war between states was at this point, absurd. The succession of two great wars in the space of twenty years gave the foundation of a common goal, not just political but also social and economic: a stable peace. This change was answered by the different streams of thought that had starred the political debate that surrounded the international thinking in that time. In one side, there was Wilson idealist thinking that was stated previously, based on a Kantian and Grotian perspective of the human nature, the idealist thought that states, just as humans, could be ruled by morality. Because humans were rational, they had the power to overcome the state of conflict in the world, achieving peace and a life in society (Hunter, 2010, pp. 165,166). However, men also had to be intelligent because they had to realize that they were living in a world in which the conflict was permanent, so they have to search the better solution to overcome this fate. According this thinkers, men have to create somewhat laws for the conflict to be reduced to its minimal levels. International law, in this case, must be created in order “to refrain from committing an international wrongful act (even if that act were to strengthen one’s power), in other words, the objective of any productive law in international terms is to stop bad acts made by any state. In case a wrongful act occurs, other states must follow the universal right to punish such wrongs” (Nijman, 2010, p. 337). In conclusion, peace is a goal that all men should pursuit, because without it there could be not social life possible, and most important, in order to peace to be effective, this objective must be gained by cooperation, specifically, by the creation of international norms and rules. Delegates that subscribe to this kind of thought have to know that peace could be achieved by diplomacy and the rule of law. Based on that, the creation of a security specialized organ is the ultimate goal, hence it is of great importance to have a deeply knowledge about the successes and failures of the League of Nations1 . Delegates should think of the different ways that this organ could create a better world, not just for the states that took part on the war, but also it is important to take in account different countries of the world. Therefore it is important to ask questions around the moral grounds of the organ, the consequences

18

that it could bring to the development of the world, and its impact on the conflicts of the world.

19

League of Nations Photo Archive

On the other side, there was the Realist perspective of international politics that was founded in the writings of Edward H. Carr and Hans J. Morgenthau. Both authors believed in the Machiavellian and Hobbesian perspective of politics, in which the human lived in a natural state were characterized by fear and competition (Carr, 2004, pp. 149,150) a world of constant war and conflict, one in which rules don’t apply and the only way of safety it’s one’s power and will to survive. This political context build the ground of a stream of thought that we call power politics, in which the objectives of the humans, or States in this case, are successful as long as the State has the ability to gain more power than the others. The state has the duty, in this perspective, to achieve more power because it lives in a world in anarchy, which could be defined as the absence in the international perspective of a moral, physical and political authority (Morgenthau, 1945), think for example that you live deep in a

20

forest and you know that there are other people living near you. Imagine then that in the forest there is only one source of natural water to drink and few animals to hunt and eat. Next, realize that you need to live, you cherish life and your objective is therefore, to maintain it as long as you can. You have then a big problem, you need to be better that any other human living near you, cause every other want the same as you and will do anything in their power to collect more water and more meat. What to do? You have two options, retire or win. If you want the second, you need to be better to any other, you simply need to have more power that anyone else, that’s power politics. Try to think now in an international perspective, there isn’t simply any power beyond the one that states have because it’s the best organization that brings more water and more food to the people living in its borders. Henceforth the idea of a submission to an international tribunal or an international organization for the resolution of the political disputes (as war) is just a piece in the aggregate of the methods in which power could be manifested. Therefore, this perspective can’t think of a present or future world without war, because is unreasonable to think in a world without conflict, instead the objective of the international actions of the states is to gain certain stability between countries, in which the power is distributed more or less equally, so the war is not an action that States are in favor to use. Delegates whose state could be best described as developing a power politics foreign policy must think in the moment, that is to say, that the existence of a perpetual peace is impossible. As seen below in the figure 1, the existence of common goals between states will always create competition and conflict, if a state A thinks that a state B is a threat, it will do anything in its power to eliminate the threat, perhaps an intervention is the best method that the state A have thought. And backwards, if the state B sees that the state A is going to somehow intervene in the sovereignty, it will do anything on its power to stop it, even if that resolution would lead into war. This example could also be created on the grounds of the economic relations between states, and its shows that every state has its own goal in the international theatre called the National Interest. Therefore delegates should define the Interests of its countries after the World War II, calculate in its best possibilities the

21

Power that the state has in this moment of time, and how the power has been distributed after the war. The debate between realist and idealist couldn’t be resolved by its own, but the weakening of the Second World War was the catalyst of the creation, of what we call here, a general feeling towards war and a specific belief for a post war order. To begin, it was the factual recognition of the failure of the League of Nations as the policeman of the world, or as Kissinger words, the “End of Illusion” for the international politics, being that “for two decades, the balance of power had been alternately rejected and ridiculed; the leaders of the democracies told their peoples that henceforth, the world order would be based on a higher morality” (Kissinger, 1994, p. 314), as a matter of fact the re-ignition of a World War was the strongest argument for the importance of power politics as the leading force in International Politics.

Fig 1.

The debate between realist and idealist couldn’t be resolved by its own, but the weakening of the Second World War was the catalyst of the creation, of what we call here, a general feeling towards war and a specific belief for a post war order. To begin, it was the factual recognition of the failure of the League of Nations as the policeman of the world, or as Kissinger words, the “End of Illusion” for the international politics,

22

being that “for two decades, the balance of power had been alternately rejected and ridiculed; the leaders of the democracies told their peoples that henceforth, the world order would be based on a higher morality” (Kissinger, 1994, p. 314), as a matter of fact the re-ignition of a World War was the strongest argument for the importance of power politics as the leading force in International Politics. It’s important for delegates to think as if they were on the time, and the begging of the war in 1939 was a statement more social than political, for it was the resignation of fear. Twenty years had been between the signing of peace in Paris and the Blitzkrieg by the Nazis in Poland, which means that the same generation had to suffer the two biggest wars in the history of mankind. However, the World War constructed a feeling of general rejection against war seen as a Total development of the State, that is to say, the reference of the interstate conflict as a legitimate foreign policy action in the international sphere. The World War II was indeed “a conflict that caused more battle deaths, more indirect deaths through disease and starvation, and claimed more victims of genocide than any war before or since” (Lacina, Gleditsch, & Russett, 2006, p. 676) and lead to a scenario of misery and destruction never seen before. From individuals (Withuis, 2010) to the great institutions of the State the damage was enormous, it was also the first international negative stimulus that affected the whole globe, as it was not only a European war, but a war that touched almost every country of the world. Economic developments On the economic ground, the World War II took great influence over two issues. First, the reparations that were made to Germany on the Versailles Treaty and second, the Great Depression of 1929. The great burden that the Allies gave to the Weimar Republic caused in the German population social revolt, because the total amount of the debt were over the 260% of the GNP of Germany at the time (Ritschl, 2012), a number impossible to achieve. The population refused to pay the taxes, the government started to print more money to pay the debt and that lead to a term of hyperinflation 2 in the German economy (Cooper, 1982). As you can see in the pictures below, hyperinflation in Weimar’s Germany were so high that money didn’t have any value at all; kids played with high amounts of cash and people needed a big load of it to buy something. 2

23

On the other side, the Great Depression started on the United States on 1929 with a downfall of the Stock Market, which lead to a period of unemployment and financial crises. People were making huge lines to retrieve money that banks could not return and so they went bankrupt (Cooper, 1982). These situation continued during the 30s and it lead to the introduction of the New Deal by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

AFP/Getty Images

Both crises were characterized by unemployment of more than 20% (Cooper, 1982) and by deep social crisis. In the case of Germany, the most prominent consequence was that laid the ground for the growth of the Nazi party, which took great part of the Parliament in 1932. Furthermore, the war brought an intense impact in the economy of the European states; in the first place, the deaths of great part of the economical active population in the conflict, and in second place, the destruction of great cities like London, Dresden and Leningrad build the necessity of reconstruction of big industrial centers. The end of the war left a landscape of desolation in much of the areas of Germany, France, Poland and the western front of the Soviet Union, one that had high costs for the countries involved.

24

Getty images

Cultural context There isn’t perhaps a better way to understand the existence of a general feeling that with art, for it’s the best way to create a general picture of the influence of the World War II on the lives of the people around the globe. We could start with the Italian Neorealism in movies such as Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City) of Roberto Rosellini and Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) of Vittorio De Sica; in France, it´s possible to highlight the novel of Albert Camus La Peste (The Plague); in the Soviet Union the example of Alexander Solschenitzin around his different novels; and in United States movies such as Casablanca of Michael Curtiz and It’s a wonderful life of Frank Capra, and novels like Slaughterhouse-Five of Kurt Vonnegut. This list of examples have something in common, they were an immediate reaction to the war or were developed by a direct victim of the war, and they have a message in common, the aim of search how to live in an adverse world, one in which all possibilities had vanished. We encourage to Delegates to think and feel the world as if they were in the real time

25

of the simulation, hence the importance of building an intellectual and personal background as general as possible of the issues of the world during and after the World War II. As has been noted above, the general feeling against conflict was that war should be controlled, States could no longer hold the burdens of a world in flames. Not in political terms, in which the War as a political action was seen as ineffective and costly that brought only the destruction of the economic infrastructure, as well as the annihilation of a great part of the population. The allies indeed won the war, but the political gains were far for being seen in practical terms.

But, how can peace be achieved? While this feeling was being developed on the ground, the specific belief of post-war order was being thought on the international summit that took place between the great powers such as the United States, Great Britain and the URSS Before the San Francisco Conference was even thought, there were a series of reunions that were essential in the building of the stream of thought that derived on April of 1945, such as .the Atlantic Charter, the Moscow Declaration, and the Tehran Conference, those conferences worked on what the States must do to ensure international security. The conferences, made on August 19413 , October and November 1943 respectively showed a progression in the idea of an international organization based on the administration of peace and security. At first it was stated that there was an “aspiration to establish a wilder (but not necessary all-embracing international) and permanent system of general security” (Stone, 2005, p. 38). This system, which was thought by Roosevelt and Churchill was formalized in Moscow, where representatives of The United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and China stated that the States must cooperate to build a “general international organization based on the principle of the sovereign equality (…) for the maintenance of international peace and security” (The Avalon Project, 1943). And at last, the leaders of the allies concluded in Iran that such an international organization needed “strategic capability to achieve its purpose” (Stone, 2005, p. 125), making clear the intentions of surpass This first one made on board of a United States ship, the USS Augusta on Placenta Bay, was attended and developed by Roosevelt and Churchill, as is shown on the picture below. 3

26

the historic failures that the League of Nations had. In conclusion, this committee will take special emphasis on the historical background of each of the countries involved. Delegates must take this background just as the first stone on the making of the Position Paper and later in each position toward the issues and debates that the committee will take. There was, at the time of the San Francisco Conference, the idea of building something to confront the struggle for power and peace in the ways of war. By April 1945 the idea was already mature and was concealed in the different Summits and Conferences that took place in the time of the World War II. Delegates must also know that the committee will be taking for granted the first 5 chapters of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Atlantic Charter Foundation

Current Situation It was stated what the states wanted for a post-world war order but the how was only reached in August 1944, in a conference between The

27

United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and China. This conference held in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington created a blueprint for the San Francisco Conference regarding all issues, as it was a draft of the future Charter. In the Conference, delegates make decisions on the purpose of the organization, on issues on membership, expulsion and suspension of states, on the structure of the Assembly and the so-called Security Council, on the way on which states should settle its disputes, the creation of an international Court and about how states should take sanctions against an offending state. Delegates must know exactly what was accorded in each of the previous points, because the San Francisco Conferences’ discussions about security strictly revolved around the items that were stated on the conference in Washington, but remember always to be cautious, as it was stated before, the simulation will cover only the development of the security issues of the constitution of the San Francisco conference, specifically the articles after the fifth chapter of the chart. However, as strong as those decisions were, there were at the time various approaches to peace that defined the way that the Conference of San Francisco was carried out. Those approximations were on the minds of the different countries that assisted to the Conference and shaped the discussion and the debate, this guide collects the biggest and more important ones. Building a Commonwealth of Nations: Or at sometimes called the Four Policemen (Campbell, 1973) was the approach made by the United States in the head of Roosevelt. His thought was to have an organization in which the “the three victors (of World War II), along with China, would act as a board of directors of the world (Kissinger, 1994, p. 395) like a way to ensure peace and security around the globe. This vision would require giving those states some kind of power to act like judges and to enforce some measures to guarantee the nonexistence of international conflict. Rebuilding Europe with the aim of establishing a Balance of Powers in the Region: Was in the mind of Churchill as the traditional path that for centuries was the law in the European international stage. The emphasis on taking

28

Great Britain, France and Germany back to a stage of pre-war, had a goal in which “these countries could counterbalance the Soviet colossus to the east” (Kissinger, 1994, p. 395). Back in 1919, Churchill acting as secretary of state “was one of the few to grasp that Lenin’s Bolshevism was something new” (MacMillan, 2003, p. 67) that could threaten the national interest of his country, hence it should be counterbalance with a strong Europe that could serve as a wall for the aspirations of the Soviet Union. Delegates must think on a way to distribute power in an institutionalized scenario, on the distribution on the functions regarding security on one or a handful of states. In the scope of a Balance of Powers, the ultimate goal is to achieve stability, in the sense that all conflicts can be resolved thru diplomacy and cooperation. War in this sense cannot be ignored, but diverted into peaceful channels. Punish Germany and creating a political wall between East Europe and the Soviet Union, which guarantees the security of the latter: Was the obsession of Stalin in terms of a postwar order. It was in the Yalta conference where “Stalin defined the requirements of peace in the same way that Russian statesmen had for centuries—as the widest possible security belt around the Soviet Union’s vast periphery” (Kissinger, 1994, p. 398). This interest needed terr itorial gains in the form of either invasion de facto or as spheres of influence on the countries located on the East of Europe and in the Balkan Peninsula. Delegates must think in methods in which the collective security would be managed with the aim of preserve the status quo ante, preserving the national interest of each of its countries. Maintaining and promoting regional cooperation: Such as the Pan-American Conferences was the view that shared most of the Latin American countries. Early on 1945 there was in Chapultepec the last American Conference that took place before the San Francisco Conference, under this forum was discussed the views around the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals and the result was a general opinion about the necessity of “some legal check on the latter (on the great powers) by establishing a code of international justice” (Whitaker, 1945, p. 110) as the legalist tradition of most of those States had showed in the peace conferences on the Hague in 1899 and 1907 and Paris in 1919. They

29

also favored a strong Inter-American regional organization that created a specific Latin American interest in favored the regional organization, in expenses of a world one. Delegates must think of methods to combine the regional security system and a possible global one, taking in account the effectiveness of the security measures that must be taken to prevent conflict and the cooperation that could be made to build a complete international security system. Eliminating Colonialism: In the events of post-World War II, a conflict rose between the Allies on the situation of territories previously occupied by Germany and its allies. There was an opposition between the United States’ belief in the right of people in choosing their nation’s own destiny and Great Britain and France’s belief that these states are yet too weak to behold such big decisions and, thus, should be colonized. South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts suggested the idea of a mandate which is a middle-ground between the two opposing opinions. A mandate would allow one robust nation to take control of a fallen state until this state is politically organized, economically prosperous and socially structured and, therefore, ready to be functional on a global spectrum. Delegates must decide on whether to adopt the mandate system yet ensure that it does not lead back to colonialism. Reflecting on the Atlantic Charter, delegates must focus on how to amend such historical documents in order to ensure a strengthened foundation of the United Nations. It is up to the sheer diplomacy of the delegates to decide whether or not to agree on giving the nations their freedom or putting them under a mandate, however, it must be taken into consideration that the balance of prosperity across all countries of the United Nations is a crucial goal in the global development which we aim for at this point. The Situation in the Middle East: At this point of time, the Middle East has been ripped apart by the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. After the end of World War II, the Middle Eastern region witnessed wondrous deterioration in the demographical, social and political organization of its populations; it is manifested with bleak scenarios resulting from the aftermath of famine, unsanitary migration and the tragedies of war. However, the Middle East

30

remains a lucrative target for economic development for it hosts the world’s most-wanted resource; oil. Crucial actions need to be taken in order to ensure the well-being of this region and to inhibit any international greed form taking advantage of the weak structure of the region and exploiting its riches. These actions may include implementing policies on the management of resources (especially oil – the idea of OPEC can be established) since this resources serve as the commanding heights of middle-eastern economy. Furthermore, middle-eastern countries need to plan to relief themselves from remaining an Import-substituting Industry which has recently tended to make them a Rentier state. Politically, countries such as Lebanon need to be freed from the sectarian nature that they have set built their independence upon. Furthermore, taking into consideration that the Middle East is primarily an Islamic society, delegates need to make sure that the theocratic concentration in these areas remains isolated and unable to interfere in international development and spread fears of extremism.

31

Ending Note

The dais would mostly like to stress on the importance of bringing utmost realism to the debate. Moreover, it is crucial that each delegate executes extensive research on the position of the country they are representing, as well as its regional and international allies. It is highly important that each of you thinks of functional approaches towards creating the biggest foundation in the world. The fate of all these countries is in your hands…No pressure.

32

Questions a Resolution Must Answer (QARMAS)

1. Which instruments must the security specialized organ have, that could guarantee the resolution of decisions it makes? Must it have a specific international task-force? 2. Should coercion be a possible tactic of this organ? If so, then what kinds of crises require coercion? If not, then how will this organ tackle national crises within a county’s borders? 3. How should a security specialized organ be organized? Should it have special members? How would these special members cooperate with the others? 4. Should some states be allowed more power than others within this security specialized organ? If so, what would be the determinants of such power? 5. Should there be a specific serving period for member states? Will this be a permanent period or a rotatable one? 6. Which issues should the security specialized organ address? Should it focus on conflicts or it shouldn’t have any focus at all? 7. What would be the kind of relations between the victorious and the defeated of the World War II? Should the latter have any influence in the organ? 8. Could the international specialized organ address internal conflicts? Must it ask for permission to act in such operations?

33

Glossary

Anarchy: Unlike the internal affairs of the states, in which there is a central government above the power of individuals, in the international scene there isn’t any high authority above the state (Powell, 1994, p. 330). This situation is called as a state of anarchy, because states can take any action that they require in order to achieve its internal goals. This actions can only be confronted by the actions of others states in expense of their amount of power. Balance of prosperity: If we understand prosperity as the accumulation of different items that make a society healthy such as economic growth or stable political institutions (Moore, 2015), a balance of prosperity is a situation in which a number of states have a good social, economic and political background that guarantees a good standard of living. Collective Security: Term coined in 1935 in the context of the dispute between Italy and Abyssinia that was held in the League of Nations (Ceadel, 2013). References a method that a group of states can make in order to maintain or achieve security. This method comprehends a group of two or more States that create common rules and norms in terms of security, which sometimes derives into formal agreements. It’s also stated that any possible aggression to any of the states into the collective security, must be answered by all the states, because a threat to one is a threat to all members. General feeling towards war: The accumulation of two World Wars in the space of twenty years generated a common sentiment in the people regarding the importance and relevance of war. The destruction of cities and the death of a great portion of the population gave the international society weariness about war that was seen in the literature, the art, and the movies. It was at the time a general outcry that the conflicts resolved by war were no longer admissible (MacMillan, 2003, p. 84).

34

Kant-Grotian intellectual tradition: In the international relations thought, the works of Immanuel Kant and Hugo Grotius are a great influence in the formulation of theories. Works like The Perpetual Peace and The Rights for War and Peace stated that there could be a way for the states to develop a lasting peace, and that sort of affairs could be managed by law. League of Nations: The League was an international organization that was created in the Conference of Peace of 1919. Initially an idea of Woodrow Wilson, the league objective was to provide the collective security in order to maintain and promote peace through a series of laws (MacMillan, 2003, pp. 83-85). The league lasted until 1946, it was composed by more than 60 countries. National Interest: This concept has been developed by a number of academics (See: Nye Jr., 1999; Rice, 2000), but it reference mainly to a list of goals, objectives or aims that the state should make in order to maintain its security. If we take in account that international politics are ruled by anarchy, each state must do anything in their power to preserve in time, in other terms, survive. Realist tradition: In international relations theory, the classic realist tradition comprehends two main authors: Edward H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau. In broad terms, the main idea of this intellectual thought is that states live in anarchy, so accumulating power is the most successful method to ensure the survival of the people living in the country. It differs from the idealism view because it states that international politics are by nature conflictive, and that peace is a utopia (Williams, 2004). Rentier state: Is a country which its economic structure is determined by the acquisition of wealth derived by a commodity, such as oil or steel (Beblawi, 1987). Reparations: At the Peace Conference in Paris, it was stated that Germany and her allies were the responsible for the war. Taking this into account, these countries had the responsibility to pay the damages and loses of the Allies (MacMillan, 2003, pp. 190,191). Specific belief about peace: Taking into account the development of the war, the heads of state of the Allies worked on an international order that should be achieved at the end of the war. A succession of summits

35

and conferences from 1941 till 1945 were the cornerstone of the building of the United Nations, as they had a series of specific ideas about how to make peace (Stone, 2005). Wilson’s idealism: The idealism was a political thought of the interwar period that defined the international relations between states as one with the possibility to eliminate conflict by means of cooperation and international law (MacMillan, 2003, p. 13). Idealism has its name because it thought that ideas like peace could be achieved, that the international politics could be changed in order to build a less anarchic world. This stream of thought had its biggest influence on the Kantian and Grotian tradition.

36

References

Beblawi, H. (1987). The Rentier State in the Arab World. Arab Studies Quarterly, 9(4), 383-398). Campbell, T. M. (1973). Nationalism in America’s UN Policy, 1944-1945. International Organization, 27(1), 25-44. Carr, E. H. (2004). La crisis de los veinte años (1919-1939). Madrid: Catarata. Ceadel, M. (2013). Enforced Pacific Settlement or Guaranteed Mutual Defence? British and US Approaches to Collective Security in the Eclectic Covenant of the League of Nations. The International History Review, 35(5), 993-1008. Cooper, R. N. (1982). Fettered to Gold? Economic Policy in the Interwar Period. Journal of Economic Literature, XXX, 2120-2128. Goodrich, L. M. (1947). From League of Nations to United Nations. International Organization, 1(1), 3-21. Hunter, I. (2010). Kant’s Regional Cosmopolitanism. Journal of the History of International Law, 12(2), 165-188. Kirk, G., & Chamberlain, L. H. (1945). The Organization of the San Francisco Conference. Political Science Quarterly, 60(3), 321-342. Kissinger, H. (1994). Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster. Kupchan, C. A., & Kupchan, C. A. (1991). Concerts, Collective Security, and the Future of Europe. International Security, 16(1), 114-161. Lacina, B., Gleditsch, N. P., & Russett, B. (2006). The Declining Risk of Death in Battle. International Studies Quarterly, 50(3), 673680. MacMillan, M. (2003). Paris 1919. New York: Random House. Moore, H. L. (2015). Global Prosperity and Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of International Development, 27, 801-815.

37

Morgenthau, H. J. (1945). The Machiavellian Utopia. Ethics, 55(2), 145147. Nijman, J. E. (2010). On Faith in the Moral Force of International Law. Martin Wight and Hugo de Groot: Four Seminal Thinkers in International Theory. Machiavelli, Grotius, Kant, and Mazzini, Martin  Wight. Journal of the History of International Law, 12(2), 329-346. Powell, R. (1994). Review: Anarchy in International Relations Theory: The Neorealist-Neoliberal Debate. International Organization, 48(2), 313-344. Ritschl, A. (2012). Reparations, Deficits, and Debt Default: The Great Depression in Germany. In N. Crafts, & P. Fearon, The Great Depression of the 1930s: Lessons for Today. Oxford: Orxford University Press. Stone, D. (2005). War Summits. The Meetings that Shaped World War II and the Postwar World. Washington: Potomac Books Inc. The Avalon Project. (10 de 1943). Joint Four-Nation Declaration. Obtenido de The Moscow Conference; October 1943: http://avalon. law.yale.edu/wwii/moscow.asp US Department of State. (13 de 06 de 2015). Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. Obtenido de Office of the Historian : https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/ people/stettinius-edward-reilly Whitaker, A. P. (1945). Latin America and Postwar Organization. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 240, 109-115. Wilson, W. (1918, 12 02). Sixth Annual Message. Retrieved 06 11, 2015, from The American Presidency Project: http://www.presidency. ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29559 Williams, M. C. (2004). Why Ideas Matter in International Relations: Hans Morgenthau, Classical Realism, and the Moral Construction of Power Politics. International Organization, 58(4), 633-655. Withuis, J. (2010). Introduction: The Politics of War Trauma. En M. v. Brink, Politics of War Trauma : The Aftermath of World War II in Eleven European Countries. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Universi-

38

ty Press.

Suggested Reading

Academic readings: Eagleton, C. (1945). I. The Charter Adopted at San Francisco. The American Political Science Review, 39(5), 934-942. Glazebrook, G. d. (1947). The Middle Powers in the United Nations System. International Organization, 1(2), 307-315. Herman Burgers, J. (1992). The Road to San Francisco: The Revival of the Human Rights Idea in the Twentieth Century. Human Rights Quarterly, 14(4), 447-477. Lee, D. E. (1947). The Genesis of the Veto. International Organization, 1(1), 33-42. Luck, E. C. (2008). A Council for all Seasons: The Creation of the Security Council and it’s Relevance Today. In V. R. Lowe, United Nations Security Council and War : The Evolution of Thought and Practice Since 1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Area Readings: Glendon, M. A. (2003). The Forgotten Crucible: The Latin American Influence on the Universal Human Rights Idea. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16, 27-39. Karefa-Smart. (1965). Africa and the United Nations. International Organization, 19(3), 764-773. Sherwood, M. (1996). “There Is No New Deal for the Blackman in San Francisco”: African Attempts to Influence the Founding Conference of the United Nations, April-July, 1945. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 29(1), 71-94.

39

Literature Readings: Camus, A. (1991). The Plague. (S. Gilbert, Trans.) Vintage. Orwell, G. (2004). Animal Farm. Signet. Solzhenitsyn, A. (2009). One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. NAL. Vonnegut, K. (1991). Slaughterhouse-Five. Dell.

Movies: Capra, F. (Director). (1946). It’s a Wonderful Life [Motion Picture]. Curtiz, M. (Director). (1942). Casblanca [Motion Picture]. De Sica, V. (Director). (1948). Bicycle Thieves [Motion Picture]. Rossellini, R. (Director). (1945). Rome, Open City [Motion Picture].

40

41

42

© 2015 Universidad del Rosario Model United Nations. All rights reserved. No portion of this background guide maybe reproduced for any purpose without explicit permission from the MUNUR Secretariat

43

www.munur.org

44