In today’s world, liberalism (a faith that hopes to connect the world through its economy, society, and culture) seems to be disappearing from what it once encased itself in – the USA, Europe, and even China. It’s as if Thomas Hobbes saw into the future and was right all along – sovereignty is what serves the country best and can embody a human desire for power. Hunger for power can call for the means of invading another country’s independence (realism – to always be ready with a military, offensively and defensively).
A desire to influence other actors and achieve an outcome has been evident within our world, and dates back to a long way, and still is ongoing – all because of this being in a country’s national interest (sovereignty). Due to this, an ability to work together (interdependence) is slowly disappearing, and this notion of a borderless world is gradually fading too (globalization).
Since the election of Trump, the world has is in even more significant discord then before. With Trump completely shutting out a lot of countries (like Mexico, the DPRK, and the Middle East), this beautiful notion of interdependence (an essential principle of liberalism) seems to get even fainter by the second. To further compliment the situation, Russia has invaded Ukraine due to the country’s national self-interest, and the EU has imposed sanctions on Russia. To also add insult to the wound, to prevent any form of diversity, Catalonia voted to separate from Spain.
So is liberalism dying? Yes, it is fading away into oblivion. Countries like the USA seem to despise interdependence at the moment, while Russia has gone in and illegitimately invaded Crimea in search of more power (strengthen military). A free international trade has been in abeyance with sanctions on countries like the DPRK (also sanctioned by China and the DPRK and the USA are both threatening each other with military force), Iran, and Cuba from the US, while Russia has received sanctions from the EU for invading Crimea. Myanmar has been causing ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims to protect their sovereignty from outsiders).
We have seen both offensive and defensive realists appear more often, such as Russia being offensive realists (Crimea vs. Russia) and defensive realists, such as the US, France, and Germany (NATO). With the world superpowers turning to power politics, can they influence the remaining countries to convert from liberalists to realists? Perhaps time will tell.
These are just a fraction of ideas that one must consider during MUN club.
| LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance |
Mainly, we have to discuss multiple topics that are affecting our world’s ability to achieve notions of peace. It’s clear that my engagement is debating potential solutions to these given questions, which aligns with the beautiful idea of UWCSEA – to unite all nations through discussing global issues.
| LO7 – Recognise and consider the ethics of your choices and actions |
As I am representing a particular country, I have to be very considerate on what I say on my country’s behalf, and also have to consider the feelings of other delegates within the room. I must quickly evaluate my ability to phrase my conversations with others in a way that isn’t offensive.
