CyMUN 2017: Challenges of the “New” Middle-East, a regional and European Dimension

“Middle East” was a term coined through a Eurocentric scope. Indicative are the writings of Clayton Koppes, Captain Mahan and General Gordon, who, in the early 1900’s, sought to find a name for the region between the “Far East”, which was attributed to China, and the “Near East”, which was attributed to Turkey. The officers, as well as a number of other diplomats started referring to the region as the Middle East. Ever since, the Middle East has remained at the center of international attention due to the ongoing conflicts in the region. Since the early 20th Century Middle East has always proved to enjoy natural resources and an important geostrategic location; which both have been a form of curse for the region.

With the end of WWII, the region fell into the vortex of the Cold War, with issues like the Suez Crisis. Different regimes were established, either supportive of one global superpower or the other. Dictatorships were set out to bring stability domestically, but with the end of the Cold War and the wake-up call of the 21st century, the people started demanding political change and social justice.

Yet even with the emergence of the so-called Arab Spring led to the change the people envisioned. Indeed, currently some regions are in a worse situation. Indicative cases are Libya and of course Syria and Iraq. “The challenges of the New Middle East” as CyMUN 2017’s official theme aims at looking at issues pertinent to the crisis, such as immigration, terrorism, international security issues, foreign intervention, among other topics. These topics will be discussed not only in the General Assembly and the Security Council Committees, but also in the specialized Committees on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and on the 1st Committee of General Assembly, focusing Disarmament and International Security (and more specifically on the Iran nuclear deal).

CyMUN 2017 aims to provide the venue for discussion of these burning issues and give the opportunity to the future leaders to express their views.