US Power; on the wane? An analysis of LmunA s theme

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1 MUNSGH LmunA MMXVII CHRONICLE Tuesday the 17th of October Our Trip to LmunA Interviews HMUN Update Page 3 Page 5 Page 8 US Power; on the wane? An analysis of LmunA s theme Wessel Mulder When viewing politics on a global level, it is quite easy to discern several keyplayers in this gigantic game, more commonly called international politics. Several global superpowers immediately come to mind, such as the United States of America, China and Russia. As with any other thing that progresses over time, the status and power of these international dominions are changing, however, and not in the way you may immediately assume. Cartoon by Yara Stoffels According to the Global Trends 2025 report, published by the National Intelligence Council (NIC), a council which encapsulates all United States intelligence agencies, global dominance will slowly be shifting from West to East. Even though the United States will remain the most powerful country in the world, its dominance over the globe will decline and a multipolar world will emerge, with China and India on the front lines. These shifting alliances and increasingly complex structures of international policies are causing some concern across the globe and viewing the future of global politics with an uneasy state of mind usually over the possibility of an anticipated misfortune or trouble does quite accurately describe some experts opinion on the topic. The report mentioned before, and this whole idea of shifting superpowers, has been met with some scepticism. For example, in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was running for the presidency of the United States, he did so on the grounds of the fact that America was about to be overrun by the Soviet Union and Japan. Japan was, back then, fulfilling the roll that China is now - to be taking over the world with economic muscle. This did not happen. To conclude, the topic is quite fascinating to discuss and take a look at. This shift of superpowers would set major economic and political changes into action, which could have a huge global impact. The road this world is taking and this future we are slowly moving into is sure to be an confusing exciting promising interesting one.

2 Dear reader, Welcome to our very first MUNSGH chronicle! Last week, our school attended LmunA, a conference in Arnhem, hosted by the Lorentz Lyceum. LmunA specifically focusses on beginning delegates. Therefore, we visited the conference with mostly first or second timers. In this chronicle, you can find an interview with a first-time delegate and a first-time chair so you get to know how it feels to participate in MUN for the first time. We also had an interview with the Secretary-General of LmunA 2017, Jeroen Mooijman, who will tell you all about the wonderful conference LmunA and his MUN-experience. Head of Press Arno Minasian Lay-out editors Eva de Regt Féline van der Voort Maarschalk Text editor Wessel Mulder Reporters Lois Lagerwij Silvia van Thor Wessel Mulder Photographers Juul Hemmes Lot Bruijs Roald Kool Cartoonist Yara Stoffels COLOPHON On behalf of the press team, enjoy our very first MUNSGH chronicle! Next issue: BERMUN and MUNISH. Kind regards, Arno Minasian Deputy Secretary-General of Communication and Head of Press 2

3 Our trip to LmunA Lois Lagerwij It was an early, not-so-sunny Friday morning when the participants of LmunA started their travel to the Lorentz Lyceum in Arnhem. When almost all of them arrived (one particular person had some trouble getting to the train in time) they were greeted by the busy atmosphere of the conference. As they arrived a little late, everyone went to their committees quickly. That afternoon was spent getting to know your committee, lobbying, lobbying and... more lobbying. As the evening came closer, more solutions were beginning to form. It took quite some time getting to know the school (I must have gotten lost at least ten times that friday), seeing as there were so many halls that looked alike. When the first day in the committee was finished, the delegates went to the auditorium (which was beautifully decorated, I must say!), where the opening ceremony would be held. Everyone was welcomed by tons of pieces of cake, waiting to be eaten. Four speeches were held at the ceremony, varied by a kung-fu act and the opening video of LmunA The headmaster of the Lorentz Lyceum (Willem Zwart) spoke about being happy to be attending LmunA. Secondly, Ery Tijink (who is head of international relations and lobby of Gelderland, the Netherlands) held a speech about the theme of the conference. After that, Toon van Meijl, who talked in detail about the topics that would be debated at the conference. Lastly Jeroen Mooijman, the Secretary-General of LmunA 2017, gave his opening speech. After the opening ceremony it was time for everyone to meet their host family and go to their houses to rest, as the next day was going to be another exhausting day. On saturday, everyone arrived at the school, after having a nice breakfast at their host families, ready for another busy day. The committees continued on the solutions they created the previous day. Debating issue after issue, it was another day full of effort and concentration. Fortunately, there was a lunch break with delicious food (well done, catering!). 3

4 is a box where you can put anonymous letters in, which tend to be hilarious). The first schools had already left and sadly, also for our school, the time had come to go home. This time, the delegates from Haarlem didn t go back with their host families. They continued to go to Pinocchio to eat pizza, before heading off to a LmunA party, which would take place that night. After barely getting to the bus on time and getting some Starbucks at Arnhem Centraal, the journey back home began. Everyone was tired, some even had trouble keeping their eyes open. Fortunately, nobody stayed behind this time. The travel from the pizzeria to the villa where the party was located was quick, yet wet. (We all know that the wonderful country we live in, has the worst timing when it comes to the weather ) Despite the weather being typically Dutch, the party was a great success. There was a DJ, a dance floor and great music. What would you want more in life? Sadly, when the clock hit 00.00, it was time to collect coats and bags from the cloakroom (which was a true battlefield) and get going. Waking up at 7 O clock the next morning was easier for some people than for others. The last day of the conference had arrived and a lot still had to be done. So even though everyone was tired, full concentration was asked of them. The day was spent finishing up the solutions, eating pancakes for lunch, and at the end of the day, reading some gossips! (For those of you who don t know what gossips are, in every committee, there 4

5 Lois Lagerwij Meet the Secretary-General Jeroen Mooijman is this year s Secretary-General of LmunA. While attending LmunA, we got the chance to talk to him about representing Secretary- General, organising LmunA and more. How long have you been participating in MUN conferences? I started in my freshman year, which is the year most people start participating in MUNs, wheni participated in LmunA From that moment on I have been participating in all of the conferences provided by our school and I have been to some great places, like Singapore and South-Korea. How did your first conference go? I have to admit that my preparation was a bit last minute, and at the first few conferences I mostly ran on my general knowledge. Honestly though, if you just look confident while speaking, everyone will believe what you are saying. I also was a bit reserved in the beginning, especially when lobbying. This had to do mostly with the fact that everyone was way older and much more experienced than me. When I had speeched once, though, I realised that it really is not as scary as it seems, so I continued speeching a lot during that first conference. Why did you want to become Secretary-General? Well, first of all I am really interested in politics. I participated in organising LmunA once before, last year, when I was in charge of delegate preparation. Since I enjoyed that a lot, I decided to run for Secretary-General this year. I definitely did not expect to be appointed the position, but no guts, no glory right? So I gave it a shot and against my own expectations, I became Secretary-General. What do you like the most about being Secretary-General? As Secretary-General you are concerned with content: theme, topics as well as organising the conference. Personally, I find the things that are discussed during the conference the most interesting. So I mostly enjoy creating the issues, as well as coming up with the theme of the conference. How did this year s preparation for LmunA go? I think they went pretty great. There were a lot of things that were actually finished quite early, like the housing. Last year, for example, there were some problems concerning housing, while this year we actually had too many host families for all of our guests attending the conference, so I think we handled that great this time around. Furthermore, the administration went incredibly well. However, there are always some things that go wrong at a conference. We had a small crisis this morning, as the roll call papers turned out to be lost, but we managed to solve that just in time, so no damage done there. 5

6 What do you like the most about LmunA? I think the people. I have met so many amazing people through this conference. When I see people walking around for the reunion, organised in light of LmunA s ten year anniversary, I just think: that s what I am in it for. How do you manage your schoolwork next to being Secretary-General? It can be difficult, of course, but an advantage I have over Secretaries-General from other schools, is that having an important position in the organising committee counts towards your practical part of your graduation project (final year thesis). So you could say that being Secretary-General and organising LmunA is schoolwork too. Of course I still have my normal schoolwork, which I tried to do next to LmunA at first, but over the past couple weeks, I kind of dropped it a bit, to focus completely on LmunA, since I still have a vacation before my exam-week. Have you ever experienced something funny during a conference? I can not really think of one specific moment, but what I did find very funny was that in South-Korea, the person representing North-Korea was a South- Korean delegate. You know how we talk about North-Korea a bit jokingly here? He did exactly the same. Even though he has always lived with the tension between the two countries, I still heard him claim that it would be murder to step on a landmine, as landmines have feelings too, in the middle of a debate, and more things like that. 6 What do you plan on doing after school and do you think your experience as Secretary- General will help you doing that? I am studying STEM subjects (subjects related to science) now, but I am actually not planning on studying anything in that direction and have chosen to keep all my options open. Right now, I am really thinking towards politics. The problem with that, though, is that I feel like political science as a study isn t really necessary to follow in order to go into politics. I wouldn t want to work towards a Bachelor-degree, just for the case of getting one. Therefore I am looking at some other options, but I am not sure if I will find one that I would enjoy as much as political science. Do you have any advice for beginning MUN-ers? I would say: go to as many conferences as possible. Because apart from it being really great experience, it s also very educational. Another thing to take into consideration is that there are a lot of things that seem scary at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets, so I think you should just give it a shot! Speeching, for example, is something that was really scary at first for me. In the end, it turned out to be just as easy as in a pratice debate.

7 Interview: First time delegate and chair Silvia van Thor Isabelle Brouwers (14) tells us a bit about her very first experience as a delegate. How did you prepare for LmunA? I had to do research but I will have to do better next time, because sometimes my knowledge about the issues being discussed was too limited. Did you find it hard to do, next to your school work? A little bit. I had a French exam in the morning just before the conference, so I was unable to prepare much on the day before. We also had a lot of exams in the week after, so I couldn t practice much. Will you be at MUNISH and HMUN? Yes! I already signed up for MUNISH and I will probably be at HMUN as well. Were your hosts nice to you? They were very kind and caring to us and we drove in a Tesla! I was there with two friends of mine so it was really cosy! Did you get proper support? We had MUN-hours at school during which we learned about the conference and got some tips for during the debates. Were you nervous? I was really nervous; it was my first time being a delegate and I was afraid of failing and the fact that all the others were much better than me. Luckily, after all, everything was fine. Would you recommend others to become a delegate? I would! I like it a lot because you learn about the issues in the world, you can practise your English and meet lots of new people! Although Merle Beerens (16) has a great deal of MUN experience, chairing at LmunA was a first time for her too. It was your first time being a chair. Were you nervous? Yes, I was. Mostly because I had to chair a plenary for the first time on Sunday and I had to sit on stage in front of so many people at the opening ceremony, but I m glad I ve done it. How did you become a chair? About two or three weeks before the conference a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to chair at LmunA. It seemed that a position was left open because someone cancelled. I said yes, but I had to write a research report for the delegates in just one weekend. Fortunately, I managed to do so on time. What did you do to prepare for the conference? Next to writing the research report, we did a practice debate at school, with everyone who would go to LmunA, which was about freedom of press. Will you be chair during the next conferences like MUNISH and HMUN? I will be student advisor at MUNISH to help the delegates. During LEMUN I will be chairing again and at HMUN I m part of the Executive Staff! Why do you like MUN? First of all, it s good to know what s happening in the world. You learn a lot about it. But mostly I like it because you bond with the other chairs and delegates and get the chance to meet new people. 7

8 HMUN update Quinten van Hoffe Dear reader, Just before summer holidays a brand new Secretariat and Staff for HMUN 2018 was composed. After a long and joyful break it was time to turn my excitement about being Secretary-General into productivity during the first weeks of school. Back to work! Perhaps one of the most essential challenges to complete was to get the Staff together. Not just leading our weekly Staff meetings, but also helping Staff members to get familiar with their roles and to get used to one another kept me occupied. Furthermore, with a slight feel of pride I can inform you that registration for the 21 st annual session of HMUN has opened! This means that schools are now able to sign in for joining our HMUN conference coming April. So far, we have received applications from schools in Turkey, France, Italy, Spain and of course The Netherlands. Seeing so many people showing interest in HMUN gives both energy and curiosity. At the same time it works out nerve-wrecking if I realise what is still to be done by April! Nevertheless, I fully believe this year s Staff can make HMUN 2018 to a great success. Yours sincerely, Quinten van Hoffe Secretary-General HMUN