Hi Delegates! I'm Jessie!

Hi Delegates! I'm Jessie Mao and a senior at Cal majoring in Political Science and minoring in History. I'm from the beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand. I'll be on the vice-chairs for SPD(ope) and the best committee ever!

In my spare time, I like to bake, cook, travel, explore the bay area and pet corgis. I've been doing MUN for about 6 years now, coming up into my 7th here at BMUN. I'm so excited to see you all in March for SPECPOL and BMUN! Introduce yourself below and let us get to know you better!

Me posing like a tourist on my first trip to London last year!

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The World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis

The World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis After years of fighting, the countries of North and South Yemen unified to become a single country in 1990. However, even after years of unification, conflict between the different regions still exists today and has led to the current civil war in Yemen. The main power struggle in the country is between the Yemeni government and the Houthi army (an Iranian backed rebel group). Due to political unrest during the Arab Spring, former President Saleh resigned from his position and allowed Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to take power. However, Hadi eventually fled to Saudi Arabia, where he held presidential power from afar. The fighting is still happening today, and through all this turmoil, the innocent citizens of Yemen have suffered for years on end, facing economic, social, and public health crises. Recently, there has been a new public health threat in Yemen--the spread of diphtheria. This is a bacterial disease that causes mucous membran...

Themes in Our Topics

Hey Delegates! As you’re reading through the background guide and starting to conduct your own research, I wanted to take a moment to talk about the broad overarching themes in our topics. These ideas are present throughout the background guide, but it’s helpful to take a step back and consider the situation as a whole. Political Stability in the Middle East The goal of this topic is to examine how political issues function as the root of various regional symptoms of instability (e.g. economic stagnation, violence and terrorism, human rights violations). Too often, these individual problems are considered and treated in isolation because of their huge scale. However, all continue to exist due to a common underlying cause: the lack of strong, stable, and fair political institutions. This topic seeks to build those institutions and deploy strategies for curing the symptoms, if possible. Coordinating a divided international community to help a fractious regional community...

Updates on Tunisia and Syria

Protests in Tunisia After igniting the Arab Spring seven years ago, Tunisia has stood out as an example of democracy and stability in the tumultuous environment of the Middle East. Although people often regard Tunisia as an Arab Spring success story, there have recently been protests spreading throughout the country that question its stability and economic well-being. Seven years have passed since the start of the Arab Spring, yet many Tunisians still live in poor conditions, awaiting new policies to shift the economic tide of their country. Starting on January 7th, Tunisian citizens began gathering on the streets to protest the corruption and instability of their government, pushing for more welfare and better living conditions. Although the Tunisian government has promised better economic standings through reallocation of their funds, some citizens still do not trust their political leaders and are protesting in an interesting way--dressing up as clowns. By doing this, the pr...

SPECPOL

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