Model United Nations conferences will not change the world by themselves and certainly EuroMUN 2012 does not claim to be able to either. Recent years have been under the umbrella of slogan calling attention to climate change, youth action and self empowerment. EuroMUN 2012 is being organized under the slogan and theme.
“Peace Progress Prosperity: Forging New Paths in Uncertain Times”
Below, the EuroMUN conference management team wants explain its thinking behind its slogan and what it can mean for the participants.The words “Peace Progress Prosperity” have been used in a number of calls to action all the way back to the 19th century but probably most notably in the 1952 US presidential election by the popular war hero General Dwight D. Eisenhower and then again by the White House as an overarching theme for a summary of the Clinton presidency published in 2001. While these uses have been effective in their own uses, each was limited by the scope that they were employed whether describing a heavily domestic election platform or a summary of a single country’s presidency. EuroMUN hopes that its participants see it in a broader context.
“Peace Progress Prosperity: Forging New Paths in Uncertain Times” describes a movement forward that has shaped the world we live in. Peace, progress, and prosperity are meant to be viewed as steps that can take any part of the world and bring it into the 21st century regardless of their current position though the length of the process is unknown. Primary is peace as a state of conflict, war or unrest will not allow any of the further steps to take hold. Once peace has been achieved, progress can be made through the development of not only infrastructure and government institutions but also through the civil society. The integration of all ethnic, religious and racial minorities and majorities is vital in this stage as without this a regression to conflict becomes more likely. The development of human rights and freedoms is consequently a priority as these can ensure movement forward. While never really ending, the progress stage gives way to prosperity which allows a nation to provide further for its citizens as well as letting these citizens indulge the conveniences of modern life. While they can be viewed as steps, peace, progress and prosperity are non-ending and should be seen as continuous and in danger of collapsing if the threats become overwhelming.
With the collapse of the global economy in 2008 and the violence that has rocked the world in northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and central Asia, the process of “Peace Progress Prosperity” came under threat as the methods for achieving stability and growth also became instruments of its undoing. The methodology of the twentieth century was corrupted and exploited and thereby contributed to the troubles that have plagued the world since then. The second part “Forging New Paths in Uncertain Times” describes what our generation will need to do in order to safeguard against a repetition of what the world is going through now and could in the future if unchecked. New concepts and approaches are required to create what hopefully will be an economically, environmentally, politically and culturally sustainable future.
“Peace Progress Prosperity: Forging New Paths in Uncertain Times” is expressed as each committee represents one of the points dependent on their competence. The theme and topics chosen this year will hopefully spark the engagement of the delegates and lead to a better and brighter future.