#1: Political Economy
MODERATOR: Dave Galluch
Does the economic rise of ascendant nations evoke “organic” and inevitable resistance from status quo powers? Do shifts in the distribution of wealth, as a result of uneven national growth, invariably lead to conflict? How do economic changes alter the division of political influence? This roundtable will explore the effects of Asian economic growth on the global balance of power. The primary objective will be to identify ways in which contemporary economic factors make the rise of Asia more or less likely to cause conflict. Using such information, a future vision of the international system will be discussed, focusing on the West’s role given a continuation of current Asian trends. Specific topics that may be discussed—in light of significant Asian economic growth—are the future of American cooperation with Japan and Australia, the implications of Chinese-Indian economic competition, the significance of bilateral or regional trade agreements, international terrorism, climate change, as well as the consequences of increased economic integration.
#2: Cultural Landscapes
MODERATOR: Erica Leinmiller
Any grand economic, political, or military shifts in power are created and fueled by people; this round table will discuss the trends and institutions that influence their lives. Demographics are changing in different ways in the East, in Europe, and in America; how will these disparities evidence themselves as the next generation matures? Differences in educational systems and national funding for education also determine the next generation’s effectiveness. As countries become more interconnected, cultures change in response to these new influences, including religious and social elements. Recent protests evidence a growing willingness to work for human rights and women’s rights, key elements of soft power, but results have been inconsistent. As global power shifts threaten, this table will examine the people and societies that make them happen.
#3: Fate of the Free-Riders: How will shifts in global power alter international relationships?
MODERATOR: Will McGee
For the past half-century, the western powers have championed freedom of the seas and guaranteed the security of many nations across the globe. This has been done through a series of military, economic, and political alliances and networks. These relationships have allowed foreign countries to focus on internal development, secure in the knowledge that these alliances will prevent any major disruptions to the global system. However, the majority of these relationships emerged to deal with Cold-War era threats, and nations will have to reassess their usefulness in the modern international arena. How will these relationships change as a result of declining Western international power, and what will be the fate of these free-riding nations?
#4: Global Leadership and Power Players
MODERATOR: Eric Washkewicz
If history was a novel, the past century would be highlighted by the decline of the British Empire, the rise and fall of Germany through two world wars, the great standoff known as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the eventual victory of the United States as the century closed. Conversely, the first decade of the 21st century is marked with economic turmoil, international conflict and terrorism, and a resource crisis which has exposed wear in America’s armor of unilateral intervention. Meanwhile, in the East, the People’s Republic of China, industrially and politically charged onto the global stage. Europe, united under a single economic and political union, has come close to collapsing under the weight of members who let go of the rope of fiscal stability. Below these titans of global leadership lie several rising giants including India, the Middle East, and Russia, who all possess a specific role, resource, or capability that can sway “The Big Three’s” decision and policy. In a multilateral and globalized world, is it possible for any one nation to attain the status and prestige that the US held at the end of the 20th century, or will a new global political system be erected to accommodate the desires and needs of the nations that have the ability to both drive and capability to rule collectively? We will analyze the specific internal advantages each nation holds over its competitors in terms of geography, GDP, population, and military size. Some external factors to consider will include current alliances, trade practices, and international intervention.
#5: Killing Softly: The Transition to Soft Power in a Globalized World
MODERATOR: Christian Sandroni
Military superiority no longer equates to political power. Instead, nations are rapidly shifting to soft-power strategies in order to exert influence over, or establish a dominant political relationship with, foreign countries. Perhaps the most obvious – and most often cited – example is the presence of the American fast-food industry abroad; but soft power consists of more than injecting a foreign culture with BigMacs and McFlurries. This roundtable will explore the ways in which different nations – not only the United States – use (or misuse) soft-power to set agendas. We will ask the questions: is Western soft power still as strong as it once was? How large of a role does soft power play in political strategic thinking? Can Eastern soft power eventually eclipse Western soft power? We will discuss the exportation of culture, the development of economic relationships both within and outside of official government channels, and the prognosis for the continuation of Western power within this context.
#6: National Identity
MODERATOR: Emma Quinn
Although often taken for granted in today’s global system, nationalism has been a relatively recent phenomenon in world history. Previously, the concept of a community beyond one’s kin had been primarily present in religious organizations and dynastic systems. With the spread of ideas of the Enlightenment, however, such communities have also come to encompass ethnic or cultural similarities and manufactured norms that to form nations. This roundtable will explore the different ways that a state’s national identity is shaped, whether it is by natural means like geography or a more forced approach. The effectiveness of these different avenues will be examined by looking both at internal stability and how national identity informs foreign policy. Is nationalism on the rise or in decline and what could this answer mean for the future global system?
#7: Political Architecture: The Future Shape of Global Power Structures
MODERATOR: Matt Sanders
It has been clear over the past decade that the United States has struggled to introduce its version of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, places with distinctly different values and cultures than the Western world. Furthermore, it has been evident as well in the struggles of the European Union as it expands that the evolution of the world’s politics has not quite proceeded as anticipated. This does not imply somehow the end of democracy; rather, it implies that democracy in the form understood by the United States and European democracies does not translate well to the developing world. Moreover, it may be that other alternatives to a democracy as understood by the West are viable in other regions of the world. This begs the question: Will Western government models continue to persist across the developing world in the future, or will local and regional governmental models develop out of the specific economic, religious, and cultural needs of their people?
#8: Economic Framework
MODERATOR: Chris Kenney
As the world undergoes a rebalancing of economic power to emerging countries, what are the implications for the international economic order? This roundtable will attempt to quantify the reasons and ways of Western decline and the rise of the “rest” in economic terms, specifically how to improve a country’s competitiveness in the global economy (infrastructure, human capital, FDI). In addition, we will consider the following questions: Will we see the development of a new economic framework in the form of multilateral organizations, treaties, or alliances that exclude the “West”(Europe, US, Japan)? What does the future hold for the IMF, World Bank, and WTO as institutions that further the “Western” economic model? Furthermore, we will explore how protectionist policies, rampant corruption, income inequality, demographics, and high inflation will affect future growth and development in specific countries. We will end our discussion with the examination of possible critical structural flaws in the financial system, the effect a collapse of the Euro would have on world markets, and what safeguards the international community could develop to remove some of the volatility associated with an increasingly globalized economy.
#9: Peripheral Battlegrounds: Where Nations Collide?
MODERATOR: Christian Heller
The rise and fall of competing nations has recurrently been marked by conflict in peripheral battleground regions. While major world powers may be reluctant to engage each other directly, conflict emerges in areas where varying interests are competing for power. These regions, vital for economic, geographic, militaristic, or social considerations, have become targets of interest for nations in both the east and west. Areas such as Africa, South and Central America, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, are all potential peripheral battlegrounds between rising world powers, as well as growing nations such as Turkey and Indonesia as they begin exerting regional influence. In what manner will countries exert their newfound power? What are each nations’ interests in these regions? And most importantly, what conflicts, if any, could amount to armed force?
#10: Narratives of Decline
MODERATOR: Nick Hutchinson
With an empire spanning three continents and containing one quarter of the world’s population, a 2nd century Roman citizen would have been a member of one of the world’s greatest empires. The gods seem to shine on Rome and its future must have seemed infinite. And yet, just centuries later, all this would be gone and the grandeur of the Empire would be only legend. This roundtable will explore the Roman Empire and other great empires with the hopes of gleaning a better understanding of our modern world. Members will look for common themes in how empires rise, decline, and fall and attempt to find correlations between history and nations in the 21st century. Through this historical framework, current indicators of decline and potential outcomes for modern day nations will be identified. Delegates will be challenged to find the possible limitations to this approach and probe the question of whether or not history is repeatable.
#11: Global Grand Strategies
MODERATOR: Nick DeLuca
Breathtaking events in the first 12 years of the second millennium have altered the globe in incredible ways. Today, the United States stands amidst an economic downturn after a decade spent fighting two costly and largely unpopular wars in the Middle East, the European Union is showing signs of cracking from fiscally troubled states, social networking and the internet have revolutionized ways of life, the Arab Spring has resulted in startling political turnover throughout that region, and Eastern nations such as China and India are experiencing incredible growth that leads many to believe they will eclipse the west in a matter of decades. To approach such a changing world, this roundtable seeks to investigate the contemporary and potential grand strategies for nations around the globe. A nation’s “grand strategy” represents the over-arching framework in which that particular nation operates—internally and externally. In formulating a grand strategy, a state must decide between cooperation or competition, spending or investing, aircraft or tanks, and possibly provoking war or preserving peace. This roundtable seeks to delve into the grand-strategic decision-making process, and gain a better understanding of the global community in an era which could someday be known as the fall of the West.
#12: Threats to the West
MODERATOR: Jamie Clem
Events which occurred during our single generation, most important of which include the end of the Cold War, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the uprisings and national reforms of the Arab Spring in 2011, combined to generate and reveal threats to the West that previous generations could not have imagined or predicted. Upon identifying these threats in our analysis of the eclipse of the West, we face three questions: Is it possible to explain the emergence of these threats? Can one offer predictive analysis for dealing with them or charting their future effects? Is it possible, probable, or appropriate to attempt reversals of some or all of these threats? We typically recognize that western nations face traditional opposition from China, Iran, and North Korea. Furthermore, radical Islamism, demonstrated through terrorist attacks worldwide, stands out as perhaps the primary threat from non-state actors against the West. This table will consider known threats as well as new areas and possibilities. Does the West presently face threats from advancing nations or new non-state actors? Will it in the future? What economic threats presently play against western nations, and how do these threats connect with other, non-traditional ones? Does the West face threats only from without, or has it generated any from within? Is American overperformance or international involvement actually creating the very threats to the West that it is trying to counter? Have any threats to the West been overstated? Different from roundtables which chart the rise of “the rest”, this one examines if threats to western nations have reduced their collective prominence and individual capacities, therefore affording them their eclipsed position in the world.
#13: The View from Beijing
MODERATOR: Justin Chock
The old Chinese empire was once known as “the largest, most productive, and most highly developed state in the world.” With its rise to the world’s number two economy, China may stand ready for an eclipse. However, the debate over China’s rise continues and the perspective from this nation will become even more influential in the coming years as more complex and diverse issues arise due to its regained power. This table will seek to understand the discussion of western eclipse from the Chinese perspective to gain new insights on the nation’s past, present, and future. The numerous issues for discussion abound; topics range among Chinese political philosophy, foreign policy, social stability, etc. The perspective that the view from Beijing can bring us will become an essential asset to our understanding of the modern world.
#14: The View from Brussels
MODERATOR: Conn Wiseman
At present the EU is struggling to overcome a multitude of challenges from the Eurozone crisis, recovery efforts in Libya, immigration from North Africa, and other internal and external threats and issues. As the poles of international power shift how will the EU react? Will Europe manage to maintain significance in a world where Asian power is growing exponentially? What role will NATO assume in the coming years when international crises continue to unfold and to what extent will NATO project its power eastward into the Russian sphere of influence? The European continent and its colonies have been at the center of the international lime light during the previous half millennium. Has Europe become irrelevant, and if not, what actions can the EU take to preserve European global interests?