ESTAMOS JUNTOS: THE SPANISH JUNTAS OF 1808 Hawaiʻi Pacific Model United Nations 2019 Aloha and welcome to PacMUN 2019! Our names are Jackie Osaki and Matt Linker and we are excited to return as Secretary General for PacMUN 2019. Throughout our involvement with PacMUN over the past three years, we have seen this conference grow and flourish. We are happy to say that trend continues this year as we host the largest and most dynamic PacMUN so far, with a variety of General Assembly, Specialized, Crisis, and Joint Crisis committees that tackle some of the most complex and urgent issues that have faced our world. My name is Jackie and I’m a recent graduate of Stanford University with a BS with Honors in Biology and a BA in Comparative Literature. I currently work for a management and technology consulting firm that specializes in media and entertainment. Throughout my Stanford career, I participated in Model UN as a delegate, vice-captain, and eventually team captain in my last two years. I love being able to bring realism and current issues to Model UN for students to begin thinking about how we can solve the most pressing issues facing society today. My name is Matt and I’m a 2019 Stanford graduate in Computer Science, and now work in equity derivatives trading and structuring at a major financial services firm. I first participated in MUN early in my own high school career, before rediscovering it my sophomore year at Stanford, eventually serving as vice-captain, captain, and on the board of our MUN team’s parent organization, the Society for International Affairs at Stanford. To me, MUN represents a window into the true complexity of world affairs, and an excellent learning opportunity to understand why some challenges are more difficult to resolve than others. While we are excited to bring what we believe to be the best PacMUN yet into fruition, we are most excited to see relationships continue to build this year. We strive to embody all of our core values, but it is truly special to see laulima, or collaboration, in action. We urge all delegates to keep laulima in mind to work together to innovate solutions and make new friends in the process. We hope this guide helps you jump start your research for this year’s PacMUN and we look forward to seeing you in November! Sincerely, Jackie Osaki and Matt Linker 2 ¡Hola! I’m Emily, and I’m delighted to be serving as your chair for this year’s PacMUN! This is my second (and likely my last) PacMUN, so I’m looking forward to making this a memorable weekend, filled with rich debate, strategic thinking, and Spanish revolutionary spirit. In normal life, I am a senior studying International Relations at Stanford University. As part of my studies, I had the opportunity to spend a quarter in Santiago, Chile. It was on this study abroad that I began to uncover the fascinating history of Latin American independence movements – and the messes in Europe that enabled them. They call Spain in 1808 an “imperial crisis”, and it truly was a crisis. The ongoing series of European wars, coupled with Spanish citizens’ adverse reaction to Napoleon, reshaped the world. With the benefit of hindsight, we can delineate the series of events that took Europe from the age of empires to its present, but in the time-of, no one knew how the world would turn out. I’m excited that in this committee, we will get to experience the complexity of these issues for ourselves – where else will you be responsible for creating a new world order? While I know this is a Crisis, I want to emphasize that this is first-and-foremost a committee. We are all here representing the Central Junta, and it is on us to determine what is best for Spain. To determine an optimal approach, we need to have an intellectual and honest exchange of ideas. This requires sincere debate, treating each other with respect, and having an open mind. Although I love creative crisis arcs, please bear in mind the focus of our committee and please note that actions taken together as the Junta can go much farther than any individual crisis note can. I also want to stress that some topics that will be raised in this committee are directly responsible for inequities in society today and have to be given the respect and sensitivity they warrant. I do hope to have a light atmosphere, but this will only be possible if we 3 remain respectful and appropriate (and with Mustafa as our CD, I’m sure our crisis will be awesome!). I would also like to emphasize that I am here to help you. Before and during PACMUN, please do not hesitate to reach me at [email protected] with any questions or concerns. So, who’s ready to (potentially) rewrite history? See you soon! Emily 4 Welcome! My name’s Mustafa, and I’m so excited to serve as your Crisis Director for this year at PacMUN! I’m a sophomore studying Symbolic Systems (it’s a really cool major, ask me about it!) at Stanford University. I’m also looking at a potential minor in Public Policy. Having grown up across four different countries, I adore the versatility of experience offered when different backgrounds and cultures come together. I got into Model United Nations during high school in my hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, and I’ve avidly been participating in Model UN for 5 years now. I’ve been active as a member of the Stanford Model UN Travel Team, and am currently serving as Under-Secretary-General for Crisis Committees at SMUNC '19. I’ve also had the pleasure of working directly with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees over the last year, synthesizing my interests in technology and international policy by developing an outreach algorithm for them to reach out to potential partners in their quest for refugee rights. It’ll be my first time in Hawaiʻi, and I’m really excited to make the most of it. I want to see spirited debate, a genuine passion to enact policy for the benefit of the topic at stake (in this case, for the betterment of Spain!), and most of all, the sheer courage to grow not just as delegates, but as people, over the course of these couple of days. As Crisis Director, I eagerly await your creativity and invention, your innovation and imagination, and all that there is in between, as you navigate the complexities that are, as ever, present in matters of policy. The onus is on you to take the charge, and to represent yourselves with the best you’ve got as you rise to the challenge. With Emily at the helm, I am confident that this is looking to be an excellent crisis committee, where we can all learn something from one another at the end of the day. 5 I only ask that you maintain a strong degree of respect, decency, and appreciation for each other as you enter this committee. Without these bare essentials, we cannot expect diplomacy to ever shine in the face of crisis. Finally, I’m always available should you have any questions over the next couple of days; hit me up at [email protected] with your concerns! I look forward to entertaining you. Godspeed, Mustafa 6 About the Committee It is 1808, and Spain is in disarray. On May 5, Napoleon, Emperor of France, forced Spanish King Ferdinand VII to abdicate his throne in favor of Napoleon’s brother, Joseph. Napoleon aimed to conquer Spain to secure access to its ports, which he needed in order to complete his Continental System and thus position France as a true economic rival to Great Britain. However, to Napoleon’s surprise and fury, the Spanish people did not take to their new leader as much as he assumed they would. The Spanish people instead banded together to fight the French, leading to the Peninsular War. They also organized autonomous governments to challenge Joseph while biding time until Ferdinand’s re-installation. These governments, known as Juntas, originally popped up in each of Spain’s regions, but by 1809, they had coalesced into the Junta Central, based in Seville. This committee is meant to represent a session of this Junta Central. Delegates will represent historically accurate members of the Junta as they together face the same questions and challenges that these rebels did approximately 200 years ago; after all, Napoleon’s tirade did not only completely change Spain, but it also challenged established political practices and norms across Europe and the world more generally. This is a historical crisis committee, meaning that through the delegates’ directives, discussions, and crisis notes (written through the two-notebook system), the history formed in the committee may be quite different than that known today. That said, the aim is for this committee to be realistic, which starts by modeling the circumstances of the juntas as best as possible. This is a high-level committee, and delegates have the opportunity to nation build and flex their designs for the society they want to build. As your Chair, I look forward to guiding the committee through my role as Junta President Conde de Altamira (a representative from 7 Madrid); however, it is the delegates’ actions, wishes, and decisions that are going to determine how the committee progresses. So, join me in Sunny Seville as we discuss the future of our country and the situation that this Emperor has thrown us in! 8 Spain in 1808: A Background Spain pre-1700 Even before they started colonizing, Spain was used to war.