Commentaries/Rebuttals

Commentaries on Regime section

by Thomas Engle, IPC Chief Diplomat.

[The Indigenous Peoples Council of Zemia has reviewed the regime structure of the representative democracy Dacca and finds that the regime is lacking in its ability to properly support some ideals that are supposedly championed by its neoconservative ideology. The use of districts represented by a law maker within the House of Captains or House of Mariners allows for the dominate cultural of the nation state to flood the respective houses with representatives who only represent those peoples of the dominate cultural.[1] The loss of proper representation within your government structure by those groups who have not either assimilated to the dominate cultures ideals or have created a large enough population pool does not allow those peoples to be represented within the government. The representatives elected by the dominate culture could actively work against the minority cultural groups and nations within their districts essentially depriving those peoples of any way to have a voice in the government process once a representative has been selected. The trustees within your representative government are in a position to act in favor of one major group at the expense of all others while pressuring all other groups to compile with the majority or not be represented in the government.[2] The loss of representation by minority cultural groups and nations within your nation state greatly impacts their ability to express individualism and self determination within their cultural group unless it closely aligns with the majority group ideals. One may argue that pressuring nations within your state to conform to the majority cultural ideal will increase stability some have found that the lack of proper representation by cultural groups within a state has been a major factor in violent acts and terrorism thus destabilizing the government.[3]

[1] U.S population keeps growing, but House of Representatives is same size as Taft era. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/31/u-s-population-keeps-growing-but-house-of-representatives-is-same-size-as-in-taft-era/

[2] Democracy, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Pg 5.1 https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democracy/#EthiRepr

[3] Memorializing the Victims of Terrorism. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/victim/rr09_6/p3.html

Rebuttals to Regime Commentaries

by [author of Regime section]

Commentaries of Ideology section

by Caden Waterstradt, IPC UN Ambassador

[The Indigenous Peoples Council of Zemia have thoroughly assessed the ideological foundations of the Republic of Dacca and have found conflictions within their mechanisms of democracy. Under the clause in which states that the Republic of Dacca will not be "constrained by supranational agreements and institutions” as has Dacca's 'democratic mentor' the United States. As a democracy the Republic of Dacca is expected to adhere to any democratic institutions such as the UN and/or any other legitimately recognized international agreements. Failure to do so would result in non-compliance of international law. Furthermore, non-compliance with international law would raise international council concerns of illiberalism occurring within the ideological foundations of the Republic of Dacca.[1] By rejecting supranational agreements and international institutions the very fundamentals of democracy and the values of liberalism are being infringed upon. Additionally, by opposing liberal principles and declining to “rely on non-government organizations such as the United Nations for authority, approval, or support in spreading freedom” the Republic of Dacca shows signs of democratic backsliding through its conflicting assessment of democratic institutions that foster peace and cohesion among the nations of Zemia. As democratic backsliding begins to occur within a state it first begins with the devolution in thinking about the opposition, from being a group that is essentially loyal but different, to one that is an enemy, that's traitorous, that's opposed to the interests of the nation. [2] These institutions collectively drive the nations of Zemia to cooperatively spread freedom and increase welfare of all peoples together. Dacca’s rejection of these institutions is a threat to the international order of Zemia. These institutions want to work with the Republic of Dacca not against it to make life better for all peoples of Zemia. Cooperation with international institutions is cooperation with all nations where together peace and tranquility can be achieved.]

[1]Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Illiberalism definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illiberalism

[2]Why is democratic backsliding on the rise? (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://igcc.ucsd.edu/news-events/news/why-is-democratic-backsliding-on-the-rise.html

Commentary of Ideology Section

by Emily Garcia, Ukugan Central Tribal Leader

There are several concerns Kurgan has with Dacca's foreign policy ideology. It is from my understanding that Dacca wants to promote democracy across all of Zemia. Kurgan finds this to be very concerning because it impedes on other nations' sovereignty and threatens countries' people and right to life. The very definition of sovereignty states that each country has supreme or ultimate rule over that country (Council on Foreign Relations, 2017). Illustrating that each country is free to decide which government system it chooses to rule with and which system is best for its people. Therefore, it is very troubling to hear that in its ideology Dacca states, "we will use all arms of national power (Diplomacy, Information, Military, and Economics) to stifle communist, Marxist, and totalitarian regimes while supporting democracies and evolving nations reaching for democracy." This remark is not taken lightly by Kurgan and its citizens as it is an implicit threat of violence towards our country and other countries that do not uphold democratic beliefs. It is also a violation of our soveirgnty to threaten actions against us because we adhere to a different ideological stance. The Kurgan people are very proud to belong to a country that is run by an oligarchy and this statement is very offensive. However, Kurgan would like to invite representatives from Dacca to come and experience the Kurgan way of life to gain a better understanding of how our system is the best one for our people and country.

The country of Kurgan implores the Daccan government to learn from the lessons of the United States' failed neoconservative foreign policy. For example, the post-9/11 wars have killed 929,000, cost the U.S. over $8 trillion, and there have been 38 million war refugees and displaced persons (Costs of War, 2022). Meaning that countless of innocent people have been killed or have had their lives negatively impacted by the US's neoconservative oriented foreign policy. The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021 illustrates that the policies are ineffective in the long-term and do not actually promote democracy (Bokat-Lindell, 2021). Thus, proving that interventionist foreign policy produces inadequate results at a very high cost. Kurgan implores Dacca to re-consider its foreign policy stance in hopes of preventing these atrocities from occurring within Zemia. Furthermore, we urge Dacca to be open-minded to other forms of government and to promise to only spread their democratic beliefs through diplomatic means rather than through war.

Overall, Kurgan admires Dacca's democratic zeal; however, we request that Dacca seek to understand other governmental structures and to only promote democratic ideals through peaceful methods. Then and only then, will Kurgan believe that Dacca recognizes and respects each country's sovereignty and strives to maintain peace across Zemia.

Bokat-lindell, S. (2021, July 20). Is the United States done being the world's cop? The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/opinion/biden-afghanistan-intervention.html

The Costs of War. (2022). Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/

Council on Foreign Relations. (2017). What is sovereignty? Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://world101.cfr.org/how-world-works-and-sometimes-doesnt/building-blocks/what-sovereignty

Rebuttals to Ideology Commentaries

by [Cody Doyle]

Ambassador Waterstradt,

I fear I miscommunicated the intentions of the Republic of Dacca. While I understand your interpretation of our ideological standpoint on “supranational agreements and institutions” such as the United Nations. Much of your disagreement stems from the words “constrained by” and how you construe we are planning to ignore international law or UN Resolutions, but this is far from the truth. In the context of our ideology, we say we will not be constrained by these organizations regarding our willingness to spread democracy; I highly doubt the UN would see this as a non-compliance to international law. While we do not standby for the approval of the UN to assist in the growth of democracy, we will still abide by all UN Resolutions and International Law and hope fellow UN nations assist as they can. Although, while you critique the ideology of Dacca who is trying to spread democracy, you use fallacious arguments to support your position. Dacca refusing to be constrained by the slow-moving systems of the UN is nowhere near threatening to international order or peace. According to the Council of Foreign Relations’ Global Conflict Tracker, there are 27 ongoing conflicts across the world ranging from instability to civil wars; these are threatening to international law and global peace (CFR, 2022). It seems to us that the UN has much more to deal with than the Republic of Dacca attempting to build more democratic and peaceful nations and I hope the Indigenous People’s Council will stand with Dacca as we move forward.

Respectfully,

Dacca Chief Leader

Cody Doyle

Council of Foreign Relations. March 28, 2022. “Global Conflict Tracker”. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/?category=us

Tribal Leader Garcia,

I appreciate your takes on the Republic of Dacca’s foreign policy and offer to provide Daccan leadership with a cultural and governmental experience within Kurgan. While we will gladly take you up on your offer and will conduct the travels with an open mind, we would like to use the opportunity to discuss diplomatically as you requested, the spread of democracy throughout Zemia. You are correct that we will use the arms of national power to stifle communist, Marxist, and totalitarian regimes but I believe you and the Kurgan people should not take this as an implicit threat of violence. While we are open about our military strength as a capability, we do not wish to use it in force when diplomacy is an option. You speak strongly of the rights of a sovereign state which the country of Dacca agrees with, but there is a key difference between sovereignty belonging to the oligarchs of an authoritarian state and the people of a democratic one (Cornell). As well, a main difference between totalitarianism and authoritarianism (the overarch of an oligarchy as seen in Kurgan’s ideological statement) is that authoritarian regimes give some powers back to the people; in the eyes of Dacca, this is a powerful first step towards democracy.

You make a large comparison of Dacca’s neoconservative democratic ideals to the post-9/11 global war on terror which are not entirely comparable. While the Bush administration was neoconservative, those wars were started due to an attack on a sovereign nation which based off your initial statements would mean a lot to the people of Kurgan as well. The United States’ main mission in the global war on terror was not to build a democracy, but to counter terrorism and insurgency in which over a dozen other countries assisted. It is nearly impossible to build a democratic state while simultaneously fighting terror and insurgent networks. Although, a great example of a United States supported democratic state is Tunisia which is the only country which obtained and maintained democracy after the Arab Spring in the end of 2010 (Grewal, 2021). We could discuss some of these intricacies during our visit. We will arrive with an open mind to your feelings of government as long as you will hear our side as well.

Respectfully

Cody Doyle

Dacca Chief Leader

Cornell Law School. “Sovereignty”. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/sovereignty

Sharan Grewal. Brookings. “Ten years in, Tunisian democracy remains work in progress”. January 22, 2021. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/22/ten-years-in-tunisian-democracy-remains-a-work-in-progress/

Commentaries on Ideology Policy

by Marisa Leal

Greetings Dacca!

After reading through your ideology policy, Donethal has a few concerns. uyTo start, Donethal is a Theocracy, we as a nation give our full devotion to our God and let him guide us with full trust. Therefore, unlike your democracy where you give your people full power, we let our Supreme being guide us in the right direction and make all of our decisions. Don't you think allowing your citizens to vote on everything within their elected representatives will cause some sort of civil outbursts or riots when the decisions go the opposite way of what one group or minority wanted?

Another concern that I would like to note is that your ideology states that although you do ensure that citizens are taken care of domestically, you are more focused on internation operations and foreign policy. You do not want to go into war but do pour a lot of time, effort, and money into your military just incase war were to arise. You also state that you use international operations to promote and spread demomcracy. As a theocracy, we might feel very threatened by that. We are firm on our system of governnent, and also want to avoid war, and would also use military action to support our system. I do feel as if your idea on military is somewhat back and forth, another nation's sytem of government should be left as is without another nation trying to push their ideologies.

We also do have one more concern, your statement, "We do not rely on non-government organizations such as the United Nations for authority, approval, or support in spreading freedom, but we will maintain association to support the ideals of like nations" as we do our part in the UN and follow the guidelines and support to do what is best for all nations of Zemia to avoid war or any type of repercussion.

Commentaries on Energy Policy

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by [enter name of person writing 2nd commentary]

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Commentaries on Immigration Policy

by [enter name of person writing 1st commentary]

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