International Relations debate motions

Hybrid warfare refers to state actions designed to undermine another state without declaring open war (such as cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, and damage to infrastructure).

Kishore Mahbubani and Bilahari Kausikan are two prominent Singaporean foreign policy thinkers. Kishore argues small states must always be conscious of their limitations, exercising caution and restraint in public positions so as not to unnecessarily antagonise great powers. Bilahari advocates for small states to stand firm on sovereignity and international law, fiercely safeguarding national interests regardless of how great powers may feel.

The Cambodia–Thailand maritime dispute centres on an Overlapping Claims Area (OCA) in the Gulf of Thailand. In 2001, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU-44) to provide a framework for resolving the boundary and jointly developing the energy resources. However, in May 2026, Thailand's government unilaterally terminated MOU-44. On June 2, 2026, Prime Minister Hun Manet formally notified both Thailand and the UN Secretary-General that Cambodia was invoking compulsory conciliation under UNCLOS Annex V, Section 2. This mechanism creates a conciliation commission to hear both sides, examine the facts and legal arguments, and issue recommendations.

Campaign promises are commitments politicians make to voters about what they plan to do once elected.

In March 2025, the European Union intensified its antitrust actions against major U.S. tech giants (eg. Apple, Meta, etc.) for alleged violations of the Digital Markets Act. The DMA prohibits self-preferencing and requires interoperability. The companies face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue (20% for repeated violations) along with multiple lawsuits.

Para fines de este debate existen 2 concepciones sobre el derecho. La **concepción principialista** entiende el derecho como un conjunto de normas que son válidas porque respetan directrices éticas universales como la igualdad o la dignidad. Donde esta concepción, se asume que las juezas interpretan los textos legales de una forma lógica, sin dejarse guiar por su opinión personal. Por ejemplo, se entiende que la eutanasia es un derecho porque coincide con el principio de libertad personal y vida digna. La **concepción contextual** entiende el derecho como el conjunto de decisiones judiciales que son válidas por la única razón de que han sido adoptadas por una jueza. Desde esta concepción se asume que las juezas deciden sus fallos guiadas por sus valores e ideologías. Por ejemplo, se entiende que la eutanasia es un derecho, en algunos Estados, porque juezas liberales tomaron esa decisión.

La denuncia como resistencia es una estrategia política que se centra en visibilizar la discriminación e injusticias que viven las personas LGBTIAQ+, exigiendo una transformación social desde la indignación, el coraje y la memoria de sufrimiento colectivo. Algunos ejemplos son marchas con consignas como "Nos están matando" o documentales como "Paris Is Burning", que denuncian la transfobia sistémica en los medios y la sociedad. El placer como resistencia centra la estrategia política en valorar el goce y el bienestar de las personas LGBTIAQ+ reivindicando que vivir con plenitud es un acto profundamente revolucionario. En lugar de poner el foco en las injusticias, lucha por imaginar futuros desde la alegría, el amor y el cuidado mutuo como motores de cambio. Algunos ejemplos son fiestas queer con espacios para la exploración sexual segura o series como "Heartstopper", que muestran relaciones queer positivas y felices.

Un unicornio tecnológico es una startup privada de base tecnológica cuya valoración actual es de al menos 1.000 millones de dólares. Algunos ejemplos de unicornios tecnológicos son SpaceX, Canva, ByteDnace y OpenAI. Un prestamista directo (direct lender) es una entidad financiera no bancaria que proporciona financiamiento a empresas de manera directa, sin intermediar con bancos comerciales. Suele tener procesos ágiles y condiciones personalizadas, a cambio de un mayor costo de financiación. Algunos ejemplos de prestamistas directos son Ares Management, Blackstone Credit y Oaktree Capital. Una empresa de capital de inversión gestiona fondos privados e invierte capital propio (equity) en otras empresas para hacerlas crecer. Suelen tomar parte del control de las empresas en que invierten adquiriendo participaciones accionariales. Algunos ejemplos de empresas de capital de inversión son KKR, The Carlyle Group y Advent International.

Japan–Israel security and R&D cooperation has been developing for the past few decades and was strengthened by a 2015 visit from then‑PM Shinzo Abe, after which economic ties between the two countries grew substantially. Since October 7, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has sparked significant public concern in Japan. According to 2025 survey data, Japan currently ranks among the countries with the highest levels of negative public sentiment toward Israel, with around three-quarters of adults holding unfavourable views of Israel and little or no confidence in Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The two major forces fighting the civil war in Sudan are the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by the de facto leader Al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by army general Hemedti. Both leaders have significant foreign support in terms of money and arms. Countries like Egypt, Eritrea, Ukraine and Iran support the SAF while the RSF has ties with UAE, Russia, etc.

The Eastern enlargement refers to the 2004 ascension of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia into the European Union

The EU Artificial Intelligence Act is legislation that regulates AI Systems on a 'risk-based approach'. Under this Act, the higher the risk to society, the stricter the rules (for example, increased document keeping, greater obligations on users and distributors, increased human intervention and oversight or, in extreme cases, banning the use of the system). This legislation does not apply to military and defence systems.

The Modern Monetary Theory suggests that governments with their own currency can spend more freely, using deficits to boost the economy and societal welfare, the only constraint to spending being inflation. Fiscal conservatism prioritizes balanced budgets, low debt, and limited spending to protect long- term stability.

Science diplomacy describes how scientific exchanges and the cross-border collaboration of scientists or scientific organizations which can solve real world problems and be integrated into the corporate world.

The EU Artifical Intelligence Act is legislation that regulates AI Systems on a 'risk-based approach'. Under this Act, the higher the risk to society, the stricter the rules (for example, increased document keeping, greater obligations on users and distributors, increased human intervention and oversight or, in extreme cases, banning the use of the system). This legislation does not apply to military and defence systems.

Legislative power in the EU is divided between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers. The Commission may propose bills, while both the Parliament and the Council of Ministers must pass them for them to become law.

In 1969, a plebiscite was held to determine whether West Papua would be an independant nation or a province of Indonesia. While the UN was supposed to provide oversight under the New York Agreement to ensure a fair vote, the actual vote featured a little over 1000 Indonesian selected delegates, who voted unanimously to be a province of Indonesia. The result was recognised by the international community and West Papua became a province of Indonesia. Since then, Indonesia has been fighting a low level insurgency in West Papua. On December 1st 2018, the West Papua National Liberation Army killed 19 Indonesian civilians and a soldier in the Nduga massacre prompting resprisals. Since the violence escalated, between 60,000 and 100,000 people have been internally displaced. UN Special rapporteurs have confirmed allegations of extrajudicial killings (including of young children), enforced disappearance, torture, inhumane treatment and the forced displacement of at least 5,000 indigenous Papuans by security forces between April and November 2021.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are Sahelian states in Western Africa that experienced military coups in 2021, 2022,and 2023 respectively. Nigeria leads the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which placed sanctions on all three nations with a longstanding policy of sanctioning any ECOWAS states that overthrow democratically elected governments. After the coup in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso declared they would militarily support Niger if Niger was attacked. In January 2024, all three countries gave notices to leave ECOWAS which take a effect a year after their submission. The Sahelian countries mostly export gold (~$15 bil combined), with some cotton (~$600 mil combined), sesame seeds (~500 mil combined), and Niger exports radioactive ores (~300 mil). All three countries depend on imports for food, weapons, industrial goods, and chemicals.

A UN protectorate is a state who has ceded autonomy over defense and other law violations to the United Nations. Previous examples include Kosovo and East Timor.

Permanent diplomatic missions (embassies, consulates) are established with the consent of both countries. For the purpose of this debate, such missions are considered sovereign from the host country. The missions can offer diplomatic asylum or temporary refuge even when lawfulness is questionable.

International communities includes governments of developed nations (e.g. USA, Russia, etc) or international organisations (e.g. the World Bank).

The European Union (EU) adopted the 'Dublin Regulation' for handling irregular immigrants (e.g., immigrants entering a country through an informal process, including but not limited to asylum seekers). It stipulates that the countries where the immigrants arrive should handle the logistics, such as examining asylum claims and providing temporary shelters. This led to certain countries proximate to regions with a high population outflux bearing a disproportionately high burden, including Greece, Italy, and Malta (also known as 'front-line countries'). To remedy this, the EU is discussing the 'Mandatory Solidarity' mechanism, which relocates irregular immigrants from front-line countries to other EU countries and imposes financial penalties should countries reject the entry of immigrants. This measure is still being negotiated in the European Parliament and is yet to be ratified.

The conflict in Sudan is one between the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah and the para militia group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Hemedti. Together, they overthrew Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's dictator of 30 years and then organised another military coup against the post-Bashir civillian government they installed. They currently have a power-sharing agreement but they are disputing about the integration of RSF into the military, and how succession and rankings would work in the new system. This has led to growing tensions, militarization and thus conflict between both parties in cities like Khartoum and Darfour.

Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union sets out the conditions that member states must uphold in order to members of the EU - namely "the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights" etc. However, over the past decade anti-democratic tendencies have been identified in the young Central and Eastern European member states. Erosions of democracy have progressed furthest in Hungary and Poland: In Hungary, the concentration of power under Prime Minister Victor Orbán has steadily increased since 2010, and in 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian Parliament approved a bill to make the state of emergency indefinite and grant the ability for Prime Minister Orbán to rule by decree. Poland has also seen continuous erosions such as measures that undermine the independence of the judiciary, allow the ruling party to dominate the media, and silence criticism from civil society. Threats to media freedom were seen in Czech Republic and Slovakia in 2018 and Croatia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania faced problems in the fields of corruption and threats to the independence of the judiciary

Since 1999, various bodies such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States have placed sanctions on the Taliban and Afghanistan more broadly. They fall generally into two categories: economic sanctions, like the suspension of developmental aid and the widespread freezing of government assets, and non-economic sanctions like arms embargos and travel bans.

The recent refugee crisis in Myanmar has been caused by the violent persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority group by the Myanmar military. The Rohingya have been subjected to various forms of oppression and abuse, including torture, murder, and forced displacement. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Thailand, seeking safety and shelter. The crisis has caused widespread international concern and has prompted a humanitarian response from various organizations and governments around the world.

A political union refers to tighter political integration amongst countries. This often looks like increased interventionism, shared supervisory governmental bodies, some legislative authority e.g The European Convention of Human Rights which is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe.

Globally significant Environmental spaces refer to areas around the world which provide important ecosystem services. For instance, in addition to its biodiversity, the Amazon Rainforest helps to stabilise the global climate by absorbing sizable amounts of CO2 and releasing oxygen. Simillarly the Himalayan Mountain range is an important source of fresh water for many surrounding regions. The Great barrier reef is the most extensive coral reef on Earth, with a unique marine ecosystem. These are just some examples

In 2004, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia joined the European Union (EU), followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and Croatia in 2013. For the purposes of this debate, the above countries are 'the Eastern bloc'. Serbia, Bosnia, and Northern Macedonia, along with other countries, are not currently part of the EU, but are aspiring to join the EU.

Pegasus is spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group, which can be covertly installed on individual mobile devices. Its capabilities include: reading messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking, and accessing the target device's microphone and camera. NSO claims to sell the software exclusively to government branches such as police forces and intelligence agencies, and has known customers from at least 14 EU countries.

En "Un mundo feliz" la sociedad está dividida en castas desde su nacimiento y las personas son condicionadas para aceptar su rol. Las ciudades en las que viven cuentan con un alto grado de progreso tecnológico y grandes comodidades. Cualquier necesidad personal física o emocional que no solucione el sistema, es saciada con una potente droga, el soma. Prácticamente todo está controlado por el Estado. La investigación que conduzca a mayor avance tecnológico está prohibida para no causar inestabilidad social. A veces, miembros de la casta Alfa++ (la élite) toman conciencia de su individualidad (el soma ya no les hace efecto y perciben que no cumplen con sus deseos invididuales) y les entra un afán de autorrealización. Son considerados herejes. Es el caso de Mustafá Mond, un Alfa++ a quien se le da a elegir dos opciones. La primera, el exilio a una isla con las comodidades de la civilización y con otros seres conscientes de su individualidad, donde podrá investigar, pero alejado del resto de la sociedad. La segunda, un puesto de ayudante de Interventor Mundial, con vistas a ser un gobernante con poder, pero que tendrá que mantener el sistema tal y como está.

A benevolent dictatorship is a government in which an authoritarian leader exercises absolute political power over the state but is perceived to do so with regard for benefit of the population as a whole, standing in contrast to the decidedly malevolent stereotype of a dictator who focuses on their supporters and self-interests.

Around 40% of ISIS's foreign recruits want to quit. An organization in Turkey has been working to bring them back after thorough vetting. However, countries like Germany refuse to take these people back, citing the reasons of backlash, security, and how they no longer identify these people as citizens of their state. This leads to the ostracisation of ISIS recruits who are willing to start over, leaving them with no place to permanently relocate to.

Ecocide refers to the mass destruction/damage to ecosystems or harm to the health of species caused by the human activity. For Ex- Oil Spills, deep sea mining, Land and water contamination

Citizenship By Investment programs allow individuals to obtain residence or citizenship of a country in return for making qualifying investments. Countries have different minimal requirements for investment.

Decolonization of education refers to the process of rethinking, reframing, and reconstructing the curricula and research that preserve the colonial lens by challenging the institutional hierarchy and monopoly of western knowledge and frameworks. Internationalization of the curriculum prepares universities for the requirements and challenges associated with the globalization of societies, economies, and labor markets.

Until 2021, a part of French foreign policy was active involvement in previous French protectorates, such as Mali and Burkina Faso. The publicly announced goals of this policy were to help foster political stability inside the affected countries, as well as cooperation between these countries and France. In 2021, France announced the decision to start withdrawing from the region and putting an end to its military operations there.

There have been rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) recently, including the application of algorithms to facial recognition, criminal justice, and national security, as well as automation. Computer scientists think these advances are likely to continue, including possibly the development of artificial general intelligence (an AI system which can do most tasks humans can) in this century. Since 2017, there have been strong indicators that China wants to be a dominant player in AI, as an extension of their history of advancement in science and technology. While the US is currently the leader in advancements in AI, China is on the trajectory to catching up in the future – they currently publish the most number of AI research papers in the world, and recently surpassed the US in the number of times their papers were cited. They are also setting up a number of elite technological institutes. In addition, China, with a weak regulatory environment on privacy, is able to collect a diverse set of data among its billion plus population.

Context-1: In the past, the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had explicitly articulated a sense of pan-Tamil, trans-national consciousness, which would allow Sri Lankan Tamilians to lay claim to a culture which was seemingly being hegemonised by their Indian and other non-Sri Lankan counterparts. The symbols used to represent their struggle were explicitly derived from a semi-mythologised "golden age" of Tamil civilisation (Sangam era) and significant attempts were made at emphasising a notion of transnational solidarity. After the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the leaders of the Tamil political alliances of Sri Lanka have actively limited their demands for an independent nation state. Instead, alliances like the TNA (Tamil National Alliance) and TNPF (Tamil National People's Front) have rallied with the intention of securing greater levels of autonomy by supporting a federal structure that accommodates their demand for "regional self-rule"". The leaders of the political alliances have also limited their expression of trans-national solidarity, fearing that doing so would further legitimise the claims of the majoritarian Sinhala nationalists, who sought to characterise them as outsiders without a legitimate claim in Sri Lanka. Instead, they have decided to assert their distinctiveness as a community with a historic Tamil presence and heritage within Sri Lanka itself. Context-2: On several occasions, the Sri Lankan government has arrested various members of the political alliances for actively memorialising historic Sri Lankan Tamil activists like Lt. Col. Thileepan. The government has also limited any attempts at commemorating the Tamilians who had lost their lives at the hands of the Sri Lankan government during their struggle with the LTTE. Such acts of repression by the Sri Lankan government have significantly hampered the ability of Tamil leaders and activists at emphasising their distinctive sense of self as a community within the nation. While many believe that the claim to a trans-national, pan-Tamil identity allows for a greater visibility of the Sri Lankan Tamil cause by encouraging international expressions of solidarity, others believe that this approach would allow several non-Sri Lankan Tamils to misunderstand, dilute and appropriate their struggle within the Nation. As of today, Palermo City, Italy has recognised the "genocide of Eelam Tamils perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state" and a few months ago, the British foreign secretary had expressed his desire to secure a level of funding that would allow a thorough investigation of the war crimes in Sri Lanka.

The VCK is a Tamil Nadu-based anti- aste party. Founded by a group of disaffected alits in 1982, it began as a loosely organised group of local activists inspired by the Dalit Panthers of India and the Black Panthers.The DMK, the mainstream opposition party in the state was born from the Non Brahmin and Dravidian Movements in the state. The party is based on an anti-Brahminism, Tamil nationalist, and socialist ideology. The Dravidian movement has been criticized for the negligience of Dalit issues, persisting Dalit-OBC violence, and the overrepresentation of landed OBCs. History has shown time and again in arrowing ways that an anti-majority stance is not necessarily a pro-minority stance. The ADMK is the ruling party in the two-party state. The DMK and VCK competed in alliance along with the CPI and Congress against the BJP-ADMK alliance in the 2021 Tamil Nadu state parliamentary elections. The DMK alliance is predicted to win with a significant majority in a state broadly disaffected with the BJP.

Warabel" describes the phenomenon of balancing individual pursuits (e.g. spending time with family and socializing with friends) and work even at the expense of increased salaries and career opportunities

"Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution reads: ""Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognised."" In 2017, then-Prime Minister Abe Shinzo proposed an amendment to Article 9. The proposed amendment would keep the existing clauses as is and add a third clause that would unambiguously legitimise the constitutionality of the (existing) Japan Self-Defense Force. Abe resigned in 2020 citing poor health. Article 9 is yet to be amended."

The United Nations Security Council is a group of fifteen member countries which are tasked with ensuring international peace and security. The five permanent member states (USA, UK, France, Russia, China) have the ability to prevent a motion from being passed (veto) regardless of the level of support from other countries.

Gulf States refer to Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Tigray is Ethiopia's northernmost region. Bordering Eritrea, it is home to most of the country's estimated 7 million ethnic Tigrayans. In November 2020, the regional government, controlled by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, launched a full-scale siege of a key Ethiopian military base. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a federal offensive against the region, setting off a conflict which has killed thousands of people - many of whom allegedly died as a result of indiscriminate shelling of cities in Tigray by Ethiopian forces, and has seen nearly 60,000 people fleeing to Sudan.

Benjamin Netanyahu was ousted from office by a coalition of rivals earlier this year, ending his 12-year run in power. Israel's new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, was sworn in after a vote of confidence with the narrow margin of 60 votes to 59. Bennett, the far right leader of Yamina party, will be prime minister until September 2023 as part of a power-sharing deal. He will then hand power over to Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, for a further two years. The administration is a mix of politicians from the left (Labor), the centre (Lapid), hardline Jewish religious nationalists, and a small Arab Islamist party

The CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) is a free trade agreement signed in 2018 between 11 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The treaty was originally envisioned by the US as an economic bloc to counterbalance China's growing power but the US pulled out in 2017. The CPTPP aims to create an integrated economic area by eliminating/reducing tariffs, liberalizing trade, opening each other's markets to foreign investment, etc. It has strict conditions for joining such as high liberalization requirements in service trade, high standards for intellectual property protections, high labor and environmental standards. Recently, both China and Taiwan have filed an application to join the CPTPP

Recently the AUKUS pact was announced between the US, the UK and Australia which will see the US and UK send strategic and technical teams to Australia to help the country procure nuclear-powered submarines. It also meant that the Australian government cancelled a multi-billion contract for non-nuclear submarines with a French manufacturer.

On August 30th, China announced its "anti-addiction system". New rules proclaimed that, in order to "effectively protect the physical and mental health of minors", children under 18 would only be allowed to play online games between 8pm and 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. This system requires gamers to use their real names, and a government-issued identity number, to play online, and kicks them from the game when their allotted time has expired.

The English Rule requires that the loser in a lawsuit pays the winner's legal fees. In the United States, the winner pays their own attorney fees in almost every state and federal court.

World A has a strict moral code where people are taught that violence is bad no matter who uses it. World B has a normalised system of belief that violence is sometimes acceptable depending on the user and cause.

'South-to-South Cooperation' refers to international treaties and agreements (e.g., economic or security arrangements) between developing countries.

The Islamist Taliban took power in Kabul on Aug. 15, and effectively took control of the rest of Afghanistan, after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Ahmad Massoud, head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), an Afghan opposition group, announced that he welcomed proposals from religious scholars tied to the Taliban for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting

Bonds are issued by individual states, which negotiate and pay the debt themselves. ""Coronabonds"", on the other hand, are debt bonds issued by the European Central Bank in which all EU Member States are jointly responsible for paying off the debt, in different proportions. The European Union issued ""Coronabonds"" to finance the relief to COVID-19.

According to the narrative of the ""Evil West"", the West has a self-proclaimed sense of civilizing superiority achieved by its scientific, cultural and religious self-glorification. In academia, the concept of the ""Evil West"" is used to portray racist and imperial practices as unparalleled evil committed against the rest of the world, and these practices are considered unique causes of global inequalities.

The Houthi movement is a rebellion movement against the Yemen army and government. The rebellion has roots in corruption, religion and economic deprivation. The movement effectively controls the North of Yemen and is alleged to get support from Iran and potentially North Korea. The Yemen government is backed by Saudi-Arabia and the US. Trump placed the Houthi movement on the US terrorist list which made it illegal for organisations to deal with the Houthi movement.

Foreign tie ups in university education look like allowing dual certificate programs ( eg. Indian Institute of Hotel Management allows a degree from the London culinary school in addition to its own), foreign exchange programs with universities etc. Foreign branches of universities involve established universities opening up new branches in other countries. eg-> NYU opening up a branch in Abu Dhabi, Monash opening up a branch in Malaysia, etc.

Vaccine diplomacy is the use of vaccines to improve a country's diplomatic relationship and influence of other countries through forcing political and economic concessions (forcing unreasonable trade deals, one-sided treaties). Attempts by countries like China to use vaccine diplomacy as leverage has been widely criticised by international bodies like the UN.

Since February of this year, the military junta has seized control over Myanmar. Countries like the US have imposed targeted sanctions on military officials and military-controlled companies. However, some neighboring countries still trade with military-controlled enterprises.

The United States trade embargo against Cuba prevents American businesses, and businesses with commercial activities in the United States, from conducting trade with the Cuban government and Cuban businesses. This embargo includes almost all exports, with the exception of food and humanitarian supplies. Recently, anti-government protests have been taking place in Cuba due to an ongoing economic crisis caused in part by the trade embargo.

Environmental personhood is a legal concept which designates certain environmental entities the status of a legal person. This assigns to these entities, the rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities and legal liability of a legal personality. (Who are the trustees, their powers, and the actions that can be taken)

Multi-Speed Europe is a scenario where existing Member States in the European Union integrate at different paces, where certain Member States opt in doing more in specific policy areas, while others opt out. This would not apply retroactively, so existing policies would remain unified, but new policies would be differentially adopted. These may cover policies such as defence, internal security, taxation or social matters.

In 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed all diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatari planes and ships from using their airspace and sea routes, as well as blocking off Qatar's only land border with Saudi Arabia. In response Qatar significantly scaled up their trade relationship with Iran, establishing a significant increase in trade of food and other consumer goods that were previously almost exclusively provided by the blockading Gulf states. The blockade ended in 2020, but Qatar still maintains close diplomatic relations with Iran.

Cohabitation designates the institutional coexistence of a Head of State (President) and a Head of Government (Prime Minister, the parliamentary majority) who are politically antagonistic. It occurs primarily at the national level, but could have a local or regional scope.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an economic union currently consisting of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. It involves the free movement of capital, labor, goods and services, provides for common regulations across a range of industries and there are plans for creating a common currency

The Nicaraguan government has engaged in sweeping arrests of opposition leaders and the Organisation of American States is currently considering revoking its membership. The Vatican embassy has been engaged over the past year in trying to influence the governance of Ortega to promote political stability, as President Ortega and his wife are devout Catholics.

You are a young, educated, middle-class resident of a country that is resource rich and authoritarian. You lead a significant pro-democracy protest movement in the country, and have been been approached by a local CIA handler who has expressed the desire of the agency to help topple the authoritarian regime. It is unclear what the motivations of the CIA are.

Presently, China is utilizing a variety of measures to push for the Yuan to become a global reserve currency. A reserve currency is a foreign currency that is held in significant quantities by central banks or other monetary authorities as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The reserve currency can be used in international transactions, international investments and all aspects of the global economy. These measures by China include: including conducting bilateral trade and investment in Yuan rather than USD, creating alternative banking systems, making it easier to conduct interantional transactions outside of USD, and gradually alleviating capital controls (regulations that restrict or prohibit the movement of capital across national borders).

Qatar has faced criticism for its treatment of migrant workers, many of whom are involved in the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.

Wolf-Warrior diplomacy is a Chinese diplomatic philosophy focused on a combative public presence, both in terms of rebutting criticism of China and criticising the actions of other nations. One of the most famous examples was Foreign Ministry of China spokesman Zhao Lijian criticising Australia by sharing an image on Twitter by Chinese cartoonist Wuhe Qilin. The image depicted an Australian soldier holding a bloodstained knife to a child's throat. The image references Australian warcrimes in Afghanistan, as detailed in the Brereton Report, and its sharing garnered significant global controversy.

Supporting the emigration of people who want to leave occupied territory would involve organising flights, money, and safety precautions for individuals who want to leave Palestine, for example.

Honduras's president has engaged in drug and human trafficking, financial laundering, embezzlement, and corruption. The Supreme Court of Honduras has convicted and sentenced close appointed officials and advisors with corruption and is currently pursuing corruption charges against the president's close family. The USA has substantial business and trade ties with Honduras. 7 US Senators introduced a bill to sanction Honduras.

Memory laws enshrine state-approved interpretations of crucial historical events and promote certain narratives about the past. Countries that have implemented memory laws include Germany (laws prohibiting Holocaust Denial), France (laws promoting the glorification of national achievements), Ukraine (laws preventing the promotion of communism and enshrinment of the OUN-UPA as national heroes) and Turkey (prohibited the criticism of Ataturk)

In the 1990s, two liberal South Korean presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, attempted to engage the North with the so-called "Sunshine Policy". The idea was that the South would provide help to Pyongyang with no strings attached, which would in turn alleviate North Korean national security concerns and eventually lead to denuclearisation. The Moonshine Policy is current president Moon Jae-In's attempt to revive this policy since 2017

A unipolar world is a world with only one great power (e.g. the US in the 1990's); a bipolar world is a world with two great powers (e.g. the US and USSR during the Cold War

The "One China" Policy was recognized by the US in 1979, when it cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and acknowledged China's position that there is only one Chinese government. However, it is distinct from the One China principle, whereby China insists Taiwan is an inalienable part of one China to be reunified one day. U.S. has unofficial ties with Taiwan, governed by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which outlines the U.S. commitment to help Taiwan maintain its military defense.

Constructive Engagement is a policy of having political and business relationships with a country while at the same time supporting political and social change within that country.

Lustration is a policy which involves the systematic removal and political exclusion, often without trial, of officials at all levels of the political system associated with former regimes and their political parties, e.g. officials associated with the communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This process is normally conducted by the new more democratic establishment.

The principle of universal jurisdiction allows the national authorities of any state to investigate and prosecute people for serious international crimes even if they were committed in another country In. Universal jurisdiction is based on the notion that some crimes – such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and in this case environmental damage– are of such exceptional gravity that they affect the fundamental interests of the international community as a whole.

Yoshihide Suga is the new Prime Minister of Japan. He was elected in 2020 after the resignation of long term PM and party leader Shinzo Abe. Suga has promised to cooperate with the US to quench tensions between China and other actors in the region (notably, Taiwan). However, some preeminent members of his party have argued that Japan needs to take a tougher stance.

In space exploration, first-contact refers to the first time humanity encounters extraterrestrial beings. Optimists believe that first-contact is an inevitable event, whereas those who are pessimistic believe that chances to meet another race are slim to nil.

In December 2018, the Chief Finance Officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Vancouver on grounds of bank fraud by misleading HSBC regarding Huawei's transactions in Iran, which is under US sanctions. After her arrest, two Canadian diplomats, Michael Kovrig and Michael Sparov, were also detained in China, on grounds of spying. Critics argued that this was in retaliation to Ms. Meng's detention. Currently, the U.S. is preparing to try Ms. Meng through extradition. Last April 21, a Canadian judge adjourned this proceeding until late August. Some Canadian diplomats are lobbying for Trudeau to defy the U.S. and release Ms. Meng in hopes of regaining their own diplomats, to which Trudeau objected.

Wolf Warrior Diplomacy is a diplomatic strategy used by China that is characterized by being assertive, confrontational, and combative especially in maritime and territorial disputes.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is a 25-year cooperation agreement between Iran and China that covers a variety of economic activities wherein China is to invest on Iran's industries and economy in exchange for a steady and heavily-discounted supply of oil from Iran and the revival of the One Belt One Road project in Iran.

Advocates for an autonomous region in the Cordillera claim that to protect the sanctity of culture and indigenous environmental systems of the region, an autonomous region must be established. However, given that the plebiscite for an autonomous status has failed multiple times, it has cast a shadow of doubt on the necessity and the willingness of the Cordilleran people to transition to an autonomous state.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British English teacher who worked extensively with charities. She was detained and eventually sentenced in Iran for "attempting to topple the Iranian regime," She has just been sentenced to another year in Iranian custody. Zaghari-Ratcliffe is just one of many political prisoners in Iran

You are a prominent and a multi-awarded Beijing-born filmmaker in Hollywood. The media in mainland China has dubbed you a "Pride of China" but recent human rights issues have tempted you to speak against the Chinese Government. You believe that speaking about the issue would rally Western support particularly in Hollywood. But a public condemnation would possibly result to a boycott of your future projects and backlash to you and your family

A Human Rights approach in US foreign politics is similar to Obama Era Politics where negotiations were focused on foreign nations adopting human rights (i.e. calling on authoritarian regimes to adopt basic human rights). An Economic approach in US foreign politics is similar to Trump Era policies where negotiations were focused on economic benefit (i.e. removing Huawei ban to renegotiate the trade war)

A group of former parliamentarians from the overthrown National League for Democracy government has announced that it has gathered 180,000 pieces of evidence of rights abuses by the country's military junta. They hope eventually to press criminal cases against high-ranking generals under international law.

The VCK is a Tamil Nadu-based anti-caste party. Founded by a group of disaffected Dalits in 1982, it began as a loosely organized group of local activists inspired by the Dalit Panthers of India and the Black Panthers. The DMK, the mainstream opposition party in the state was born from the Non-Brahmin and Dravidian Movements in the state. The party is based on an anti-Brahminism, Tamil nationalist, and socialist ideology. The Dravidian movement has been criticized for the negligence of Dalit issues, persisting Dalit-OBC violence, and the overrepresentation of landed OBCs. The ADMK is the ruling party in the two-party state. The DMK and VCK competed in alliance along with the CPI and Congress against the BJP-ADMK alliance in the 2021 TN state parliamentary elections. The DMK alliance is predicted to win with a significant majority in a state broadly disaffected by the BJP.

Strategic ambiguity is the use of communication strategies that are inconsistent over time or omit important contextual cues that results in multiple interpretations from other parties. Since the 1970s, the US uses this policy in Taiwan where even as it refused to recognize Taiwan, it continued selling arms to its government and implicitly warned Beijing not to invade.

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from the coast of the state in question.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a free trade agreement among Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It superceded the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) following the withdrawal of the United States in 2017 under the Trump administration. South Korea, the Phillipines, Colombia and Thailand have indicated an interest in joining the agreement while the United Kingdom formally applied to join the CPTPP in February. There remains a possibility of the US rejoininig the agreement under the Biden administration.

(Part 1) The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition that consists primarily of European countries and some others. Each participating country selects an artist(s) and submits an original song to be performed live on TV to millions of viewers. Participating countries vote (50% national jury, 50% public vote) to decide the winner (they cannot vote for themselves). The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the biggest, most important cultural and social events for many European countries and people. It is taken as seriously as the Olympics in some cases. (Part 2) The hosts of the Worlds Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) go through a competitive bid process. Candidates submit 'bid books' outlining their strengths e.g. their venue, accommodation, accessibility, budgeting, fees etc. The debating community reviews the bids through Q&As, discussions etc. Bids are voted upon by representatives from every country that attends WUDC. (Part 3) The current hosting rules for the Eurovision Song Contest is that the winner of the previous year gets to host the contest the following year. For example, Israel won in 2018 and as such hosted the competition in Tel Aviv in 2019.

You are travelling on a spaceship powered by the ""Improbability Drive"" - a one of a kind engine that uses the improbability of your entire vessel, and its occupants, dissapearing and reappearing at the exact location you program it to travel to. While escaping some aliens who want to read you their poetry you stumble across The Ruler of the Universe. He appears to be an old man, living in a wooden shack on a small moon, accompanied only by his pet cat which he calls ""The Lord"". He spends his days messing around with mundane objects around his shack, or talking nonsense to his cat. After talking for a while you discover that he is quite mad, and unconvinced that anything even exists. Nonetheless his actions directly affects the events of the universe, shaping the lives of life-forms on trillions and trillions of planets. You try and explain this to him in order to convince him to rule more consciously, but he doesn't seem to understand, or believes you are a figment of his imagination, or perhaps simply does not care. It's very hard to tell. It's a very confusing meeting in general. After some investigation you discover he is being kept alive in perpetuity by an improbability field similair to the one powering your ship, and that if you bring him aboard and send him away from the moon, he will become mortal and lose any influence over The Universe. Whomever is left on the moon will take over his position.

Vaccine diplomacy is a concept whereby nations provide necessary medial supplies such as masks or vaccines to other nations and, in exchange for these "donations," gets access to the nation in many ways. For example: In September, Zimbabwe gave concessions to Chinese companies to mine for coal in its Hwange National Park, one of Africa's most precious wildlife reserves after China had sent many medical donations and trial versions of their vaccine to many African countries.