CMUN

IV. Introduction With the revolutions of 1989 leading to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and an optimistic outlook for reform within the Soviet Union, America went into the 1990s as the undisputed global superpower and leader of the global order. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, however, would test the world’s commitment to upholding the norms of said order. This background guide aims to provide delegates with the context surrounding the Middle East, the relative growth of American power, and what the international order looked like to assist them in deciding the norms and rules of a post-Cold War world. This committee will take place right after the Iraq invasion and occupation of Kuwait on August 4, 1990, and your responsibility will be to deal with the fallout of this event in whatever way you see t. A. A Brief History Pan-Arabism as an idea had existed since the 19th century under Ottoman rule, and the British also promised the Arabs a unied state after the Ottoman dissolution until they decided to sign the Sykes-Picot agreement with the French instead. A formalized pan-Arab ideology, however, would be formed in the 1930s by Syrian intellectuals, culminating in the establishment of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party on April 7, 1947 (Devlin). The rise of Abdel Gamer Nasser in Egypt would mark the rst time Arab nationalism would become state policy, and mark the most successful attempt at Arab unication with Egypt and Syria uniting to become the United Arab Republic from 1958 until 1951. Other attempts at Arab unication by actors such as Gadda’s Libya or the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan never got as far or ended up dissolving much quicker than the UAR (T.R.L.). Nasserist ocers overthrew the Hashemite monarchy in 1958, and Abd al-Karim Qasim would rule the country until the next coup in 1963 by Ba’athist pan-Arabists. The Qasim regime would claim Kuwait in 1961 after the British withdrew from the protectorate for a variety of reasons, including the fact that Kuwait had historically been a part of the Ottoman province of Basra, and motivated by pan-Arab ambitions. Most of Iraq’s territorial claims in neighboring countries would be based upon agreements with the Entente powers that promised land upon the division of the Ottoman Empire (ABIDI, A.H.H.). There would be several more coups from 1963 until 1968, when the Ba’ath party launched a nal coup and consolidated their power. Saddam would rise up the ranks to become President of Iraq in 1979 and purge his opponents (Britannica). 8 CMUNC XXII: DISEC (1990) Shortly after taking power, Saddam would initiate a war with Iran for a few key reasons. Tensions had been developing for numerous years due to an ideological rivalry between the secular Arab nationalist Iraq and the pan-Islamist Shia Iran. Tensions over a border dispute regarding who ought to control the Shatt al-Arab river dating back to the 19th century would also be a signicant factor. The war would be extremely costly to both sides and would result in a return to the status quo ante bellum. B. Kuwait Saddam had borrowed billions of dollars to fund his war against Iran, but Iraq’s oil-dependent economy struggled to pay o its debt. Thus, Iraq began to pressure Kuwait to lower its oil production. Saudi Arabia, fearing a conict, convinced Kuwait to do so. But Venezuela increased its production and caused oil prices to fall again. Iraq would issue an ultimatum. Iraq also accused Kuwait of slant drilling into Iraqi oil elds, and claimed that the Kuwaiti Emir was highly unpopular amongst the populace, saying that they would be granting Kuwaitis greater economic and political freedom (Humphreys).