Natural Progressions of Politics: Monarchy, Republic, Socialism, Anarchy

By: Piper Davenport

Following the Spanish loss of territories to the United States in the Spanish American War, ending in 1898, the Spanish citizenry experienced a wave of nationalist perspectives. The subsequent years saw divisions form between the right and left winged parties. In 1923 Miguel Primo de Rivera established a conservative Catholic Nationalist state whose rule returned the working class to practices aligned with the feudalism of the Dark Ages. The year 1931 saw Rivera’s overthrow at the hands of the centrist, anti-monarchy, Second Spanish Republic. Despite the power shift instability maintained its reign.

In order to address the drought they are experiencing, the government of the Republic established a working paper on Land & Agrarian Reform. Though it finds its bones in liberal policy, the paper’s comprehensive solutions are a result of the cooperation between the opposing parties. The main tenets of this paper are as follows: a land ceiling above which landowners would be forced to pay exorbitant taxes to retain the land, regulations on working conditions, and agrarian reform that allows the working class equitable access to property. To fund the implementation of these reforms the committee proposed a graduated property and income tax.

Concerns were certainly raised by the conservative bloc, many of whom were frustrated by the overall centrist nature of the paper. The most significant issue subjected to debate was a clause regarding an eight hour work day that allowed for laborers to work overtime on their own volition. Conservatives worried that “this would effectively force people to work overtime at the risk of either losing their jobs or not being harder,”; this concern was furthered by the continued lack of anti-descrimination provisions. Additionally, concerning a clause establishing different levels of taxation based on region, conservatives worried that people would just migrate to regions of lower taxes. A co-sponsor of the paper, Manuel Muino, clarified that, “Any lower taxation in regions will be coupled with lower minimum wage,”. However, this does not fully address the concern of large companies taking advantage of this law. Despite continued debate over the aforementioned issues, concessions were certainly made by the liberals. The two most significant were exemption of the church from the proposed tax and the complete removal of a proposed stimulus package.

Nearing the end of the session it was announced to the committee that a mob, incited by Manuel Muino in an attempt to force through the paper, had descended upon Madrid. Committee session four came to its conclusion with conservative delegates scrambling to address the deficiencies of the proposed paper, while the liberal delegates threatened to allow the mob into the building. The conservative bloc maintained their focus on material change throughout the crisis acknowledging that, “Whoever lets the mob in will undoubtedly be prosecuted and must live with the repercussions of their actions,” (Jaume Aiguader). One question remains to be seen: will law truly rule the day or will violence at the hands of the opposing factions lead to bloodshed?

Fish, Guerillas, and English, Oh My!

By: Piper Davenport

Beginning in 1919, one year following the end of the Great War, the Irish Republican Army declared war on Great Britain seeking its independence and sparking the Anglo-Irish War. The Irish Revolutionary Dáil works as a small collective to support the war efforts in the face of food shortages and impending British attacks. What is most striking about these individuals is their single minded motivation to gain independence which allows them to pass multiple different directives simultaneously. Their plans are enhanced through mutual collaboration and open minded debate. When disagreement arises it is handled with efficiency, a cornerstone of their conversations as though they fear that disaster is imminent.

To solve the issue of food shortages the committee unanimously passed a directive entitled: Fishy Business. This directive allocated £33,300,000 to build 333 new fisheries, each being allotted 500 acres. The Ministry of Fisheries set aside 150,000,000 pounds of fish per year to be bought and consumed by the Irish people and left the remaining 6/7 to be used for trade. The following year, 1920, Sean Etchinham proposed, and again passed unanimously, a follow up directive which moved the profits of the new fisheries to other branches of government as needed to support the war effort. This directive renames the Ministry of Fisheries to include “Food Trade”; the last clause also empowers Etchingham to control the new body. There was relatively little debate on the passing of either directive though another delegate made a friendly amendment which denationalized the fisheries after the war, thus stimulating the new economy and ending the government monopoly over fishing.

Another directive passed concurrently with Fishy Business +, the second iteration of the aforementioned directive, was the Directive for Local Government. A short directive that passed unanimously, Local Government empowered town leaders to decide certain aspects of the domestic economy, subsequently relieving the IRA of a significant portion of its workload.

 A busy year for the revolution, 1920, the committee was made aware of a failed assasination attempt on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Recognising their delicate position with Northern Ireland the Dáil decided it was pertinent that they release a press statement clarifying that though they can understand the passions of their citizens the attack was in no way condoned by the Irish government. In the statement penned by Laurnece Ginnell the Dáil made their position clear, both on the British and violence of the assassins clear, stating that, “We are above the petty squabbles of the British-- the politicking, the obscenity, and the complete incompetence of their parliamentary process-- as well as their prolificacy of their political terror regime,” (Press Release #3). 

The looming threat of an attack of the British Navy, notably one of the strongest in the world, colored much of the debate of committee sessions. The conclusion arrived at by the delegates can be summarized by George Plunketts ironic rhyme that “‘We are never going to win this war outright, we just need to wear down their resources so that they are unable to justify the cost of the fight’”. To follow through on this plan the delegates resolved to invest in a Navy composed of majority small fast ships to protect the fisheries, and quickly move people around the island, as well as some coastal batteries. Both will be used for solely defensive maneuvers as the Irish forces move their characteristic guerrilla warfare onto the open water. In addition to naval maneuvers there was expressed interest, and debate over, investing in either submarines or land artillery which has been a proven success. The war is quickly changing and in their typical fashion the Dáil must work with efficiency to outlast the British forces.

Pillars of Responsibility

By: Piper Davenport

In recent years technology has progressed at an accelerated pace, and with it so, too, has the demand for certain finite materials. This competition has led to the creation of conflict minerals which are natural resources whose extraction and trade lead to frequent and egregious human rights violations. The minerals most commonly classified under this umbrella are lithium, cobalt, and 3TG (tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold). The WTO has taken up the task of dealing with the crisis of conflict minerals by establishing increasingly responsible supply chains. 

Through lively debate during the first committee session, delegates have established their concern with the consistency of human rights violations borne out of conflict minerals. To combat this issue, two Working Papers are in draft stages, both of which focus on the importance of global cooperation and finding ways to transform companies' inherent drive for economic gains. 

The largest bloc, composed of approximately 20 delegates, is aptly named Resolve Responsibly. Their collaborative efforts have yielded a comprehensive paper of three pages that covers everything from mineral certification processes to the expansion of Peacekeeper influence. Most significantly of all of their proposals is the creation of an International Mining Authority (IMC) and a Global Mineral Ledger (GML). Under the advisement of the IMC, the GML would serve as a collaborative document for nations to track ethically and sustainably sourced materials. Should companies or nations seek to purchase materials not included in the ledger they would be informed of the necessity to, in the words of the delegation of Spain, “Do their due diligence to the national community.” To enforce said measures, the GML will release statements including companies’ sourcing techniques and their negative effects on the public to increase consumer accountability. Additionally, nations will be advised to maintain domestic accountability through increased taxes on companies that are out of compliance. 

The QuadPillar Plan includes many of the same aspects though it differs on a few significant details. Recognizing the limitations of both purview and enforcement capabilities inherent to general assemblies this paper stresses the independence of nations once working under the recommendations that it provides. Additionally, it suggests national maximums of mineral extraction based on their previous economic dependency on said minerals to further sustainability and more easily identify areas of unethical extraction practices. In the Resolve Responsibly bloc there has been mild debate on the true motivations of corporations, however the prevailing perspective, as the delegate of Italy has stated, is that “Profits are primarily their [companies] only motive. To counteract this we require stringent regulations.” Though while the QuadPillar plan recognizes these motivations to be accurate, they highlight the negative effects that stringent regulations might have on the citizenry of the affected countries.