Salient 2025

CHAIR APPLICATIONS are via Google Forms: https://forms.gle/ZwEYSkiuDVtyXs6r5

Focus on Neo-Colonialism
In an increasingly multipolar world, with rising powers establishing themselves in the global order and challenging existing hegemonies, the dynamics of power are shifting and States are beginning to reevaluate their roles on the international stage. While some aim to reinforce their positions by revitalising their traditional alliances and strengthening their economies through strategic investments, others seek to expand their sphere of influence and forge new partnerships. Meanwhile, others still, find themselves on the periphery of international decision-making, navigating complex relationships to balance structural inequalities and dependencies with opportunities, in order to assert their agency vis-à-vis key actors.

In this context of waning multilateralism, the return of geopolitics and recourse to hard power, neocolonialism emerges as one of the most overlooked political phenomena on the international agenda.

Operating through indirect mechanisms that maintain global hierarchies and keep certain countries reliant on foreign powers through tools such as exploitative trade agreements, predatory lending practices, corporate dominance over natural resources, political leverage and cultural hegemony, neocolonialism lays at the centre of international politics. Therefore, confronting its legacy is essential for fostering equitable solutions to global problems that prioritise genuine cooperation over exploitation.

Join us at the 2025 edition of the Salient Conference, where we will aim to simulate these dynamics of the contemporary global order in three separate committees, each representing a key bloc in the politics surrounding neocolonialism, and focused on aligning their specific interests, priorities and strategies. On the last day of the conference, the barriers between the committees will dissolve, as all delegates convene in a joint General Assembly session, bring together diverse perspectives on the enduring structures of economic, political and cultural power imbalances, and pave the way towards rewriting a fairer, more sustainable and inclusive tomorrow.