Argentina's 1st Alfonsin Cabinet
End of the Junta, New Democratic Rule
Greetings, delegates! Welcome to 1984 in Argentina, where a promising but fragile peace has taken hold after a decade of brutal repression at the hands of the military junta. As cabinet ministers for President Raúl Alfonsín, it is your job to steer the country from threats both foreign and domestic; equally as important, you must not squander the political legitimacy you have just earned at the ballot box. Although the junta years may be past, the citizens of the nation fear political instability that might condemn Argentina to more bloodshed. They demand justice for their disappeared loved ones. They yearn for more economic opportunities. It is the job of this body to ensure that Argentina’s first popularly elected post-junta administration will promote stability, institutionalize democracy, and leave the horrors of the junta firmly in the past. I am tremendously excited to welcome you all to Boston this February, where we will hash out these exciting issues together.
Director's Letter
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to HNMUN 2022! My name is Samson Mostashari, and I am pleased to serve as your Director for this committee. The early years of the modern Argentine republic constituted a pivotal moment in history; I hope you will appreciate all the uncertainty, possibility and excitement of that revolutionary moment, rehash the events of 1984 in new and exciting ways over the course of this long weekend, and come away with a stronger historical grounding in these debates that are as relevant today as they were almost 40 years ago. I look forward to guiding you through this conference.
I am a junior at Harvard College, and I hail from Bethesda, Maryland. Originally from Brooklyn, I relocated with my family to the Washington area when I was young. I have always enjoyed a strong interest in politics and international relations; I cannot definitively trace it to my residence in the nation’s capital, but my presence near D.C. certainly didn’t hurt. My high school had a small Model U.N. program that grew rapidly during my four years there; I remember conferences at Penn and Georgetown as a real highlight of my high school career. Model U.N. requires a special mix of policy chops, social skills and cooperation. Buried under all those self-important speeches and stuffy W.B.A. attire is a collaborative yet competitive spirit that I love.
In college, I’m majoring in Social Studies—an interdisciplinary major that focuses on social theory and political philosophy. I’m in the early stages of planning out a senior thesis. I have not settled on a topic yet, but I’m particularly interested in institutional reconstruction: the ways that nations build norms and rules of governing after moments of national trauma (you can see where this committee fits in!). I serve as Head Delegate of Harvard’s intercollegiate MUN travel team and sing in a jazz a cappella group called the Harvard Din & Tonics. (Yes, jazz can be sung a cappella. And it even sounds good, sometimes.)
The cabinet of Raúl Alfonsín is perfectly suited to a crisis committee. It convened during a time of immense political uncertainty when the stakes couldn’t be higher. During this committee, I will expect you to respond creatively to fast-paced crisis events and to cooperate with others while doing so. But I also hope you will come prepared with strategies to consolidate your government’s democratic legitimacy, construct stable institutions after the arbitrary rule of the Proceso, and see the Argentine republic from a fledgling democracy to a mature one. This committee is an exercise in structural imagination, and I wish you the best as you think big and reinvent Argentina.
If you have any questions at all about this committee or anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Warmly,
Samson Mostashari, Director
Argentina’s First Alfonsín Cabinet, 1984
Harvard National Model United Nations 2022
Crisis Director's Letter
Dear Delegates,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to Argentina’s First Alfonsín Cabinet, 1984, at Harvard National Model United Nations 2022!
My name is Ruhi Nayak, and I will be serving as your Director. I am currently a junior at Harvard College concentrating in Government with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. I grew up in the Metro-Detroit area of Michigan and I am incredibly thankful to have grown up in such a diverse environment surrounded by people of so many different cultures, races, ethnicities, and ideas. Growing up around varying attitudes towards almost every topic imaginable is what initially made me fall in love with Model United Nations in high school. In addition to HMUN, I serve as the Under-Secretary General of the Specialized Agencies for HMUN, our high school conference, and I am a member of our competitive travel team, ICMUN. Outside of Model UN, I choreograph dances for Ghungroo, which is Harvard’s South Asian American cultural show, am Associate World Editor of the Harvard Political Review, and am co-director of a tutoring program for recently immigrated teens from the greater-Boston area. If you’re ever looking for me on campus, chances are you’ll find me in some coffee shop because caffeine is a girl’s best friend.
I am extremely excited to bring you to a committee of such historical importance. This committee covers a turning point in history— as cabinet ministers for President Raúl Alfonsín, it is your job to steer the country from threats both foreign and domestic; equally as important, you must not squander the political legitimacy you have just earned at the ballot box. Although the junta years may be past, the citizens of the nation fear political instability that might condemn Argentina to more bloodshed. They demand justice for their disappeared loved ones. More broadly, I think this committee is critical to navigating political turmoil and enacting decision making that evades the atrocities committed in reality.
The committee’s Director, Samson Mostashari, and I hope to bring you a dynamic, challenging committee that widens your perspective while sharpening your Model UN abilities. As you navigate social and political barriers in reshaping the landscape of Argentina, keep in mind the goals of your character and the ultimate goal which you are pursuing.
Samson and I hope that you leave our committee with a new understanding of the politics of gender and skills applicable outside of Model UN. We look forward to meeting you in February!
Sincerely,
Ruhi Nayak
Argentina’s First Alfonsín Cabinet, 1984
Harvard National Model United Nations 2022