Letter from the Director. Gotham city council

Transcription

1 Letter from the Director Gotham city council II

2 Position Paper Guidelines Position Paper Guidelines What s it all about? The purpose of a position paper is to display your understanding of the committee topics as well as your position s stances on different issues. Writing a position paper will assist you in your research and preparation for the conference. The position paper will be comprised of three to four sections, depending on the number of topics your committee covers. Section One: Background Information Introduce your country or position by providing basic information and background. This section should start out broad, followed by any general information that is relevant to the committee. This only needs to be done once not for every topic. Remaining Sections: Topics Write one section for each topic. The header of each section should be the topic name as it is titled in your Background Guide. These sections should be roughly half a page to one page (double spaced) in length and should include: 1. Background information on the topic 2. Your position/country s stance on the issue at hand 3. Statistics and other relevant information with respect to your position 4. Policies or actions your position/nation has supported 5. Proposed solutions to each of your topics 6. Responses to the Questions to Consider provided throughout the Background Guide

3 Position Paper Guidelines Formatting A position paper should be formatted like a formal essay: use 12 pt. Times New Roman font, black ink, and 1 margins. All information that is not common knowledge should be cited using your most comfortable format (ex. MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). The header of your paper should include the following pieces of information: 1. Your Full Name 2. Full School Name 3. Committee (World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, etc.) 4. Country/Position

4 Letter from the Director Delegates, Welcome to Gotham City Council at WMIDMUN! My name is Andrew Luchs and I will be your director for the weekend. Before the topics though, a bit about me: I am from Williamsburg and a freshman majoring in International Relations. On campus I play Ultimate Frisbee for one of the many teams we have at the college, participate in intramural soccer, and am a member of the International Relations Club. In my free time you can find me throwing a frisbee with friends in the Sunken Gardens, playing FIFA with my hallmates, and eating at the Cheese Shop (I would highly recommend a visit while you all are in Williamsburg - the house dressing is amazing). I have participated in Model UN since middle school, and in fact attended WMIDMUN myself. I credit it with teaching me research skills, making me more comfortable with public speaking, and above all many of my friendships throughout school. I can also say that this experience truly will be what you make of it - I encourage you all to really take advantage of this opportunity. Don t be nervous, put yourself out there, and make yourself heard over our weekend of debate! First of all, I commend you for taking on a crisis committee! Expect to be a part of fast-paced debate guided by delegates through your directives, and through crisis updates created by our crisis staff. While this format is significantly different from general assemblies and other kinds of committees, please remember that position papers are mandatory. One page should be dedicated to each topic, meaning two pages total. Instead of focusing on background information, papers should focus on your own personal solutions and ideas relating to these topics. Creativity is encouraged, though your suggestions should be well-researched and plausible as well. Please feel free to me with any questions or concerns you may have! I look forward to meeting and working with you all in February. Excitedly, Andrew Luchs Gotham City Council Director asluchs@ .wm.edu

5 Letter from the Crisis Director Hello Delegates, Welcome to WMIDMUN and the Gotham City Council! My name is Jack Morris, and I ll be your crisis director. Before we get into everything, a bit about me: I m from Richmond, and I m a junior studying math and computer science. Here at William & Mary, you can often find me staffing Model UN conferences, playing intramural soccer, broadcasting tunes from our campus radio station, salsa dancing, and playing music with friends. I have been involved with Model United Nations since I was in middle school, and this is my third WMIDMUN! Last year, I served on the Secretariat for WMHSMUN, the College s high school conference, as the Director of Technology. Model UN taught me how to research broad topics, it gave me confidence in crowded spaces, but most importantly, it taught me that no topic is inaccessible. Over the conference weekend, you will be confronting the complex topics of corruption and organized crime. This is no small feat, and I applaud you for taking this on. I m thrilled to crisis direct this committee for you having grown up watching Batman: The Animated Series and Batman movies with my family, and I hope you are all as excited as I am! As a crisis committee, the Gotham City Council will play out much differently than any General Assembly committee you may have taken part in before. You will be working with crisis throughout each of the three committee sessions. This means two things. First, you will use a notepad system to communicate your secret, out-of-room plans with the crisis staff. All these under-the-table dealings must somehow relate to your position and role in the committee. Second, there will be occasional crisis updates from our crisis staff that will break up the normal flow of debate to bring news from outside the City Council chambers. These updates will force the Council to address new issues and perils facing Gotham City. In addition to be structurally different, the Gotham City Council and most other crisis committees will be much more fast-paced than a General Assembly. Despite this, it is important to be involved both in the room, by speaking and debating, and out of the room, with your crisis notes. If this is your first crisis committee, have no fear! We will answer all your questions before the start of committee. If you are extra curious about the inner mechanics of crisis, don t hesitate to shoot me an . I remember being new to Model UN and new to crisis, and the hardest part is the very beginning. Once this is out of the way, it s easy! So, I challenge each of you to

6 Letter from the Crisis Director do two things: 1) Speak during the first committee session, even if just to introduce yourself and your preliminary thoughts, and 2) Send a crisis note to our crisis staff during the first committee session, even if just to introduce yourself and your ideas. I assure you that the rest of the weekend will be much more fun once you do these first two things! I am looking forward to working with each and every one of you, and I ll see you in February! Jack Morris Gotham City Council Crisis Director jfmorris@ .wm.edu

7 Gotham City Council Background Welcome to the Gotham City Council! The Council is a collection of the city s most important public servants, educators, and business people (among others). The GCC deals with issues facing the entire city of Gotham, and has been given the issues of Organized Crime and Corruption for the weekend. The Council will run like a standard crisis committee, with delegates writing crisis notes and directives to shift debate and crisis updates coming in periodically. Pertinent Facts Throughout the last few months, organized crime under mob bosses like the Joker has spread to unacceptable levels. Although police have been able to apprehend minor criminals, the mob bosses orchestrating the organized crime have eluded law enforcement. Bringing them to justice is of the utmost importance, as without them the crime systems collapse. This issue has also led to the issue of controlling vigilantes. As crime has proliferated, people have become increasingly unsatisfied with law enforcement and attempt to take justice into their own hands. The main perpetrator of this issue is the Batman, though other minor cases have also occurred. Finding a way to control or stop such people that deem themselves judge, jury, and executioner is important for establishing the integrity of public law enforcement. The organized crime has also led to the emergence of corruption within our own government and potentially within the GCC itself. Rooting out such subversion to establish a transparent and functioning government must occur in order to gain back the trust of the public, and to more efficiently deal with the issues put before us. The Goals The goals of this committee are twofold. One objective is to stop corruption throughout the city of Gotham and within the city council itself. The other is to stop the organized crime that has proliferated

8 Gotham City Council throughout the city. This includes creating a means of stopping or controlling vigilantes that have taken justice into their own hands. organizations. 1 Such organizations include the Russian Mafia, Chinese Triad, and several American gangs among others. Although many such organizations have been eradicated, Gotham is still gripped by Topic I: Organized Crime and Controlling Vigilantes What is Expected Without citizens, there is no city. The Gotham City Council was created for many reasons, but above all, without protecting the citizens there is nothing to govern and no purpose for the committee. Protecting all citizens is paramount and as such the deep-running systems of organized crime in Gotham must be stopped. Your task is to uproot and destroy the organized crime that has manipulated and threatened the general public. Time is of the essence as the mob is actively trying to covertly (and in some cases blatantly) control the city. the ever-present hand of the mob. In its current state, crime families and gangs still hold considerable economic and political control throughout the city. Gangs like the Jade Leopards and The Deacons continue to evade law enforcement while committing petty crimes and generally creating unsafe streets. Meanwhile, crime families like the Riley and Sabatino families control gangs, plant their own operatives within the government, and attempt to gain sway over the workings of the city behind a mask of offering protection and stability to the public (among other things). Gotham law enforcement has had some success in apprehending lesser criminals, The Current State of Crime Over several decades, Gotham City has played host to a multitude of global crime mainly those committing crimes like small shop hold-ups and car-jackings. Many of these arrests have occurred in the East End,

9 Gotham City Council a hotspot for illicit activity in Gotham. While such arrests are productive and do show some progress on behalf of law enforcement, it is also recognizable that these criminals are easily replaced and make up a minor part of the workings of large crime organizations. In order to truly root out crime in Gotham, the leaders of the organizations and their close subordinates must be apprehended. The system without its brain will fail to function, making those individuals linchpins for the majority of crime in Gotham. Authorities also believe that the capture of leaders may lead to files or information that could help in sweeping up the more minor parts of the systems. surge. Some have decided to take action and deal with the crime themselves. The most infamous of these crime fighters goes by the name Batman, though there have also been several other instances of civilians attempting to hit back at the systems of crime. People attempting to take the jobs of judge, jury, and executioner into their own hands may be well-intentioned, yet such actions endanger the public and must be controlled. Given the range of this problem, from disadvantaged people looking to avenge petty crimes to full blown pseudo- superheroes, a range of solutions may be necessary to keep these volatile and unchecked forces off the streets of Gotham. Vigilantes Although there has been moderate success in stopping crime as lesser criminals have been arrested, the public is largely displeased with the current situation. Forced to pay protection fees and facing generally unsafe streets, people have become increasingly vocal against the

10 Gotham City Council Considering that the issue is a collateral issue of the organized crime, solving that issue may lead to some success in this one. government are not above the law simply because of their positions. While idealistic, a government completely free of corruption is what the GCC must strive for in order to Questions to Consider 1. How can the masterminds of the organized crime systems be more efficiently identified and caught in order to bring the systems down? 2. How can it be ensured that law enforcement is moving as efficiently as possible in their investigations? 3. How can vigilantes be controlled so best serve the people. It is also important that whatever solutions are created mitigate the chances that there will be another rise in crime. Gotham City has an unfortunate history in that it has nearly consistently been riddled with crime of different sorts over time. Creating a strong solution that will ensure Gotham s safety for the years and decades to come as well as stopping more immediate threats is the end goal. as not to pose a danger to themselves and others? The Current State of Corruption The most corrupt section of the government Topic II: Corruption What is Expected As previously mentioned, the government of Gotham and especially the Gotham City Council exist to serve the people efficiently. A large part of this includes using taxpayer money properly and abiding by the same laws that the people abide by. People in at the present moment is the lower levels that interact with the public on a daily basis. These people include police officers and debt collectors, among others. These people are of course most susceptible to corruption as they are often poorly paid and have the most exposure to the gangs and organizations that are paying people off.

11 Gotham City Council This is not to say, however, that higherlevel public servants are not susceptible to elected, positions because it provides a direct pipeline to the government for corruption as well. As lower level public servants are recruited into the service of criminals, the officials that controlled them quickly lose control. They are then faced with a choice to either lose their jobs (as the jobs they have been tasked with fail to get done when subordinates no longer serve them) or to join the system of corruption. Most choose the latter as it offers them more pay and the added benefit of keeping criminal organizations. their jobs. This system then continues until it reaches the upper-most levels of government. In other cases, criminal organizations occasionally try to corrupt the people at the very top of the government in order to gain quick and sweeping control. It is possible that people in the Gotham City Council itself may be targeted by such tactics. A third tactic that crime organizations use is to simply place their own operatives into positions of power in the government. This tactic is used in targeting higher level, often The predecessor to the current police commissioner, Gillian B. Loeb who resigned upon discovery of his corruption. 2 Such people may be present in the Gotham City Council, which is of course a target because of the weight it holds on the overall function of the city. Put in the wrong hands, this body would allow crime organizations to do whatever they wish. By buying off voters and through general low-level corruption, such openings become much more viable than they would be without previous corruption.

12 Gotham City Council The Future State of Corruption At its worst, the city has been completely controlled by the hands of criminals. Such periods of complete control by outside forces has occurred and led to extremely dark times for the public. If the gradually increasing corruption we see today continues on its current path, it is the future we will come to face. Moving quickly to solve this issue is extremely important, as the longer the problem persists, the more difficult it will be to solve. Questions to Consider 1. How can lower-level corruption be stopped, as it presents a doorway to corruption at higher levels? 2. How can higher level corruption be rooted out so as to make Gotham s government efficient again? 3. What systems can be put in place to ensure such corruption doesn t grip Gotham again?

13 References References For map of Gotham: