Topic: Legitimacy of Government during Popular Uprising
Country: Serbia
Delegate Name: Graham Agee
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Serbia position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Over the past year the legitimacy of governments has become a major world issue. More specifically, the question centers around the Arab Spring uprisings. Starting with a mass media outcry using social networking, the people of Egypt rose to the streets demanding change in their government. Eventually, after many months of protests, not all of which were peaceful, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power. A transitional government was put into place by the military. In Libya, the people took to the streets with violence, taking Coronel Kaddafi’s forces on with homemade weapons in February of 2011. After a long war and support from NATO, the rebels prevailed and formed a transition government. Colonel Kaddafi was killed 23 August 2011. Since then, several other protests have been started in countries such as Syria.
The Republic of Serbia has had a history of breakups and divisions of nations. Since 1918, Serbia belonged to a larger nation of Yugoslavia. In 1992, following the breakup of the United Soviet Socialist Republic, Yugoslavia dissolved into various nations consisting of Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The nation continued to fall apart until the president of the time, Milosevic, conceded defeat. With the help of the United Nations, Serbia was restructured and stabilized as a legitimate government. Serbia does not recognize the rouge succession of Kosovo, which remains a part of Serbia under the terms of UNSCR 1244.
The Republic of Serbia requests that the other nations of the world take three primary steps in determining the legitimacy of a government. First, decide on a specific outline for when a government becomes illegitimate. Reasons should include genocide of their own people. Second, when does a rebel uprising become a legitimate government? When the support of the people favors the new government, then they should represent the people. Third, those committing the crimes of the former government should be brought to justice under the supervision of the International Criminal Court, or ICC.
