FALL 2001 CPIN SIMULATION

 

CPIN Conference Agenda

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These conference agendas are designed to help you focus your research concerning the issues within your sub-game.  You will note that there is one set of questions listed for each issue area.  These questions serve three purposes:

First, the agendas offer a direction for your research. You must be familiar with your country’s position on the issue areas and the questions posed in the conference agenda.  Your tactics will be more effective if you are also aware of the positions of the countries with which you are negotiating.

Second, these questions serve as a guide to the discussions that take place during the conferences. These conferences are not free-for-all sessions, but structured debates moderated by SIMCON. Issues that are not outlined in the conference agenda are not open for debate.

Lastly, the agendas set the tone for your negotiations over the system prior to the conferences. Since you know what will be discussed in the conference, the weeks prior to the conference should be spent lining up allies and trying to pre-negotiate rough outlines of agreement so the conferences will be productive.

Prior to each conference, a detailed conference agenda will be posted. These agendas might reflect a discussion of proposed treaties addressing pertinent issues. The conference agendas listed below are broad guidelines concerning the points that will be addressed. According to the normal conference format, after the first agenda item is discussed, the conference will move on to the next agenda point, and so on.

Int'l Crime  Economics   Environment   Human Rights    World Health

 

International Crime: Terrorism

Both Economically Developed Countries (EDCs) and Less Developed Countries (LDCs) alike have a difficult time combating terrorism. For decades terrorism was used as a means to draw attention to a particular issue when it otherwise received little attention in the international community. In the post-Cold War era, terrorism has taken on different motives and even methods, making it an even more difficult and complex problem to solve.

Conferences I & II
  1. What can be done to combat terrorism?   What is the best strategy or combination of strategies to reduce terrorist threats, movement of terrorists, and access to weapons?
  2. At a time when terrorism increasingly defies political boundaries, are joint international efforts a more effective approach to addressing terrorism than individual state efforts?
  3. What are some of the factors that motivate terrorism? Can these factors be eliminated or controlled?
  4. Money laundering is one means that finances terrorism. How can money laundering be eliminated? Would an international effort increase the likelihood of success against money launderers?
  5. With increased reliance on computers and the Internet, should countries work together to find ways to combat cyber-terrorism, or would sharing electronic security secrets compromise state security?
  6. What is the best strategy or combination of strategies to control cyber-terrorists acts of hacking, viruses, and e-bombs?

 

International Economics: Intellectual Property Rights

Globalization has had a significant effect on international economics:  the demand for information, pharmaceuticals, technology, and even products of culture, such as music and movies, has increased dramatically.  With this demand, however, comes piracy of these ideas and products.  While this piracy is prone to happen in the domestic market of the originating country, it is even more prone to happen abroad.  Products ranging from textbooks to CDs, computer software to medicine, movies to team logos are reproduced without compensating the inventors, designers, or companies that originally developed and own the rights to these products.  

An unfortunate consequence of patenting, copyrighting, or trademarking products is that the authors and inventors must be appropriately compensated for their work.  For instance, it would be illegal under the set international conventions for a newly developing entertainment company to copy and market CDs or movies instead of importing them from the proper owner of these goods.  However, this type of piracy occurs on a regular basis, pushing many EDCs, including the United States and the UK, to seek retribution for these crimes.    LDCs, on the other hand, claim that adhering to these international conventions is to their detriment, greatly reducing their chances to develop.

Conferences I & II

  1. What are the issues involved with IPR?  
  2. In the pursuit of IPR, how do the issues differ for EDCs and LDCs?  Should EDCs be more lenient in terms of educational materials or technical software that might help LDCs towards development?  If the terms were changed to favor LDCs, for instance if LDCs were exempt from the patents, etc, that protect inventors’ rights, would EDC entrepreneurs lose their incentives for product development and betterment?
  3. Many international conventions have been passed regarding intellectual property rights, though in many cases, even when countries sign on to the treaties, they are not implemented or enforced. Where does the responsibility lie in enforcing these international treaties?
  4. Is it up to the individual nations whose intellectual property rights are being abused?
  5. Is the international community responsible for enforcement, given that these are international conventions?
  6. How might international law such as this be enforced, considering that there is no international police force?

 

Global Environment:
Genetically Modified Organisms

Biotechnology is changing the face of agriculture and the foods we eat daily.  However, like many other issues, those regarding Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not cut and dried.  Indeed, there are many facets and implications to consider.  

Conferences I & II

  1. What are the issues surrounding the use of GMOs?  What is the motivation behind using GMOs?  What concerns and risks are involved with using them?  Are there any ethical ramifications for tampering with nature?
  2. How do the issues differ for EDCs and LDCs?  Are GMOs just an easy out for EDC aid to LDCs, a band-aid solution to a more complex problem?  
  3. Who benefits from the development of GMOs?  
  4. Should the international community set standards and govern the development and/or use of GMOs?  What body would decide this?
  5. What implications might result if the international community tried to monitor and control the development and marketing of GMOs?  What might occur if the international community does not monitor the use and development of GMOs?  Would rules regarding this technological development hinder 'progress'?  

 

Human Rights:
Cloning

Despite coming together to create and ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over fifty years ago, how human rights is defined and what includes human rights remains controversial within the international community.  Introducing something as futuristic and complex as cloning only intensifies the debate.

Conferences I & II

  1. What are the debates about the implications of human cloning?  What are the benefits and disadvantages of human cloning?
  2. Should the international community set standards and/or govern human cloning, as France and Germany are pushing the UN to do?  
  3. Some countries have moved to pass legislation to ban human cloning in most forms.  However, how possible would it be to guarantee that humans are not being cloned?  What sort of enforcement measures are there for countries or the international community, if it decides to collectively ban human cloning, to monitor and govern this activity?  If the international community as a whole does not support legislation to ban human cloning, is it likely that some individual countries might collectively work to enforce their own (potential) laws?
  4. How is cloning an issue that affects all countries, regardless of whether they possess the knowledge and technology to clone a human being or not?  
  5. How possible is it that cloning might become a national or international security issue?

 

World Health: Organ Trafficking
In many countries, the sale or purchase of bodily organs is illegal. Yet, there is a thriving underground market for these commodities.  Many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, have laws prohibiting the sale or purchase of organs.  In some countries, like Japan, organ transplants go against cultural norms.  In other countries, such as India, Thailand, and China, organ sales are big business.  As a world health issue, both the supply and demand for bodily organs must be considered.  

 

Conferences I & II

  1. Is organ trafficking an LDC matter only, or are EDCs equally responsible for trying to eliminate the illegal sale of organs and tissue? Should countries be individually responsible for dealing with this matter at their discretion, or should there be an international convention specifically addressing organ trafficking of any kind?
  2. What alternatives are there to an underground international market? How useful would education and awareness programs about organ donation be for helping to reduce illegal organ procurement?  
  3. What can the international community do to encourage people not to sell their organs when it might be their only means to feed themselves or their families?
  4. Is this an issue that governments should address? How might such illegal transfers of organs or humans unwillingly designated to be donors be stopped?  Would a policy making organ donation mandatory resolve the issue?
  5. At what level should this issue be addressed? Is this strictly a national issue, or is it of international concern?
  6. To what degree can and should the world health agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO)---an agency that does set guiding principles on organ donations and transplants---be responsible for intervening in the matter of organ trafficking, given that the illegal organ trade threatens world health because of its potential to increase spread of disease?

 

Last updated 09/06/2001 kaw