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-1- GVPT 388S - WINTER 2010 MODEL UNITED NATIONS & ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES JAVIERIA ALARCON 1104 Centreville, 5-9304 [email protected] TONY MARCUM 1104 Centreville, 5-9304 [email protected] Website: https://elms.umd.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp INTRODUCTION Congratulations on joining the International Studies (IS) Model United Nations (UN) and Model Organization of American States (OAS) Program for the 2009-2010 year! Participating in the IS Model Programs gives students an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of international relations through experiential learning. We have designed this course to prepare students for participation in these two conferences in two ways. First, we will examine the primary functions of these two organizations and their diplomatic role with respect to issues and topics that each addresses as well as the policies of our country assignments. With each organization, we will have several committee assignments. In these committees, we shall assume that role of “diplomats,” representing the policies or our countries to others from around the world in an attempt to negotiate and create solutions for a wide variety of global problems. These include – but certainly are not limited to – human rights, protection of the environment, economic development, disarmament, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the complexities surrounding war and peace. Second, the program will also examine the history, activities, and laws of our two assigned countries as we learn their foreign policies for a particular topic and development appropriate plans of action for committees. Each student will represent their respective country at one of the two conferences on a committee assigned to our delegation. Delegates attending the Harvard National Model United Nations Conference in Boston, MA will represent the Slovak Republic (and a Non-Governmental Organization not yet determined). Delegates attending the Washington Model Organization of American States will represent Plurinational State of Bolivia. As diplomats of our countries, we must know the answers to a number of important questions. What has our state agreed to or advocated previously to address this particular topic? What actions/policies/programs does our state currently employ to remedy these issues? What aspects of these problems are important for addressing at the conference, and what solutions do we believe can be useful for these areas? In particular, our two country assignments – the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the Slovak Republic – will address a number of issues that directly relate to diversity, such as: Model United Nations • Rights of Refugees • Ending World Hunger • Women and Violence-2- • The Feminization of Poverty • Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America • Anti-Sodomy Laws and Social Integration • Domestic Workers Model Organization of American States • Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of Women and Children through the Creation of a Sub-Commission • Reinforcement of Co-Responsibility and Cooperation Efforts in Migration Matters • A Proposed Solution for the Discontinuation of Systemic Violence Against Women • Facilitating and Regularizing the Movement of Migrant Workers in the Hemisphere • Inter-American Proposal for a Hemispheric Study of Indigenous Communities The IS Model UN and Model OAS Programs requires teamwork among the delegates both in training and during the conferences. Through the course, we have incorporated several components that will foster teamwork through peer review of materials and encourage the sharing of information among delegates when similar topics/issues arise in their research/position papers/committees. Specifically, this course offers all delegates the opportunity to sharpen their position papers for the conference through team collaboration and feedback. We want to stress that communication is of the utmost importance for all of us given that this is an online course. Please read (and reread) the syllabus carefully to understand all of the policies, assignments, and due dates for the course. If, at any time, you have questions, please contact us. To access the course online, please visit (https://elms.umd.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp). If you cannot logon to the website, please contact us immediately. COURSE OBJECTIVES For this course, we have three learning objectives for us to accomplish. 1. We want to increase our familiarity and understanding of the relevant materials for our committee assignment and its proposed topics. 2. In further our understanding of these materials about a committee, we also want to develop the policy positions of our countries/NGO that we will defend at the conferences. 3. During the Winter term we will work on strengthening our writing skills through a number of assignments to improve on our position papers. GENERAL POLICIES 1. We will try to meet any extraordinary needs of any student. Such needs arise out of either preexisting or new conditions. Such conditions may include persona, social, physical, emotional or other impairments. To be properly considered students must present an Accommodation Form. A copy of the Accommodation Form should be on file in the disability support service (DSS) Office, 0126 Shoemaker Bldg. (301) 314-7282, [email protected] 2. The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland-3- for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. All assignments must have this sentence on the front page: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination." It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For information on the code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor council, please visit:


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UMD GVPT 388S - Syllabus

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