Disarmament and International Security - World Model United Nations

How should claims for territorial sovereignty rights in the
Arctic region be handled? Should priority be given to
the past claims, or should any new claims be accepted?
What should be the status of the Arctic Ocean? Should
it be regarded as international waters in its entirety,
or should any national restrictions be considered
legitimate?
What should be done in regards to military presence in
the Arctic? Should any particular nations be allowed to
station weapons in the Arctic?
What can further actions can the international community
undertake to ensure peace, environmental stability, and
security in the region?
Suggestions for Further Research
As the Arctic is becoming an important focus of attention
in the spheres of international relations, natural resource
economy and most importantly international security, news
on the developments in the region are frequently published
in the world’s many mass media. Therefore, a good way of
making sure you are well informed about the ongoing updates
on the issue is to follow a couple of major international news
services, such as the BBC or the CNN, perhaps by looking
through their websites once in a while. The same applies
to the many printed news sources, such as the Times, The
Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, or the New York Times,
whose online archives can provide information about the
developments from the past 20 years, which is very difficult
to obtain from scholarly publications. The Guardian’s website
even has a special regional section devoted solely to the
Arctic, which can offer the reader a comprehensive overview
of the many issues concerning this area.
“...5 kg of pure U-235
could make a very
powerful atomic
bomb equivalent to
several thousand
tonnes of dynamite.”
Another excellent and reliable source of recent information is
the United Nations Foundation’s e-mail news service: the UN
Wire. Upon subscription (http://www.smartbrief.com/un_
wire/), you will be provided with daily e-mail news briefings
covering the United Nations and the world, including
regional updates, also concerning the Far North. In addition
to this, there are several international bodies, which devote
their activity to monitoring the Arctic Ocean, and often
touch upon issues like the international status and stability
of the region. This includes several non-governmental
organizations, but also some high-level intergovernmental
forums such as the Arctic Council, which publishes its
research online.
When it comes to scholarly texts, the recent nature of the
escalation of interest in the Arctic after a period of relative
indifference – at least from the military perspective – implies
that most publications on the issue were written before the
end of the Cold War. The few most recent books could be
rather hard to access, but there are definitely a couple that
could deepen your research. I would personally recommend
Arctic Politics, The Arctic: Choices for Peace, and Security
and Negotiating the Arctic, because of their specific focus on
the problems that our committee will be touching upon.
t o p I c A r e A B: s A f e g u A r d I n g n u c l e A r
m At e r I A l s
History and Discussion of the Problem
Nuclear Advancements
The branch of science often referred to as nuclear
physics and the corresponding issue of nuclear energy
trace back to the turn of the 20th century, when the first
discoveries in atomic radiation, atomic change, and nuclear
fission were made. Ionizing radiation was discovered by
Wilhelm Rontgen in 1895, and was later investigated and
developed by scientists such as Marie Curie-Sklodowska,
Henri Becquerel, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, Enrico
Fermi, and Albert Einstein, among many others. By 1939, it
was clear that fission not only released a lot of energy but
that it also produced additional neutrons which could cause
fission in other uranium nuclei and possibly a self-sustaining
chain reaction leading to an enormous release of energy. 97
This realization sparked activity in many laboratories,
and the final piece that made the idea of a fission bomb a
plausible project was added in 1939 by Francis Perrin: this
was the concept of the critical mass of uranium required
to produce a self-sustaining release of energy. Scientists in
Harvard WorldMUN 2012
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