The Tiger Across The Strait: The Eastern Expedition Of Rajendra Chola,1025 CW

APPROXIMATE COMMITTEE SIZE: 25 delegates

In 1025 CE, the Chola Empire stood at the height of its terrestrial glory. Rajendra Chola I, having inherited one of South India's most formidable imperial legacies, had extended Chola prestige across the peninsula and beyond — but the horizon was shifting. Across the Bay of Bengal lay Srivijaya: a wealthy maritime mandala controlling the ports, straits, and commercial arteries that bound India to Southeast Asia and Song China. The Indian Ocean was emerging as a dominant maritime hub, generating massive wealth for those who controlled it, and Srivijaya sat at the center of this network, extracting wealth from every merchant who passed through its waters. With maritime dominance increasingly defining power in the region, the Cholas turned their ambitions seaward, toward Srivijaya and the wealth it commanded.

CRISIS MANAGER: max bell

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Issue 1: Trade and Military control: Control over the Indian Ocean indicates success in future trade opportunities and potential expansion. Delegates must discuss how to gain and maintain control over the emerging ocean, as well as how to protect themselves against attacks. Additionally, delegates must examine the role of merchant rights, commercial patronage, and identification of potential new trade routes in relation to escalating conflict around them.

Issue 2: Role of Southeast Asian alliances: Trade and diplomatic alliances influence the strategic priorities of the Cholas, influencing the prospects of wealth and information intelligence. However, the prospect of conflict breaks alliances and limits information shared. How can delegates maintain and cultivate alliances throughout the region?

Issue 3: Building and maintaining a cultural identity: Trade collaboration blends the ideology, religion, and tradition of individuals across the region. To what extent can the region build a distinct cultural identity despite the increasing conflict and expanding pluralism?

About the Crisis manager

Max Bell (2029) is in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, studying International Politics with a concentration in Foreign Policy and a certificate in Diplomatic Studies! He is from Gaithersburg, MD, so he’s pretty local to the DC area. Max has been a Model UN fanatic since middle school and has already competed and staffed several conferences with Georgetown’s MUN team and GIRA. In addition, Max is the Vice President of the GU Philoso-Tea Society, the only (and best!) undergraduate Philosophy and Tea club on the Georgetown campus! He loves to travel, discover new places in DC, and try new foods. Max is elated to be the CM for the Tiger Across the Strait Committee, and he can’t wait to see all of the arcs, notes, and fun that delegates will bring to this committee.

Hoya Saxa!

Committee Speaker

Elisa Massimino is Executive Director of the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, where she recently served as the Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in
Human Rights, and is a senior fellow in national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress. Before joining the Georgetown faculty, Massimino was a senior fellow with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a practitioner-in-residence at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Previously, Massimino spent 27 years—the last decade as president and CEO—at Human Rights First, one of the nation’s leading human rights advocacy organizations.

Massimino has a distinguished record of human rights advocacy in Washington. She has testified before Congress dozens of times; writes frequently for mainstream publications and specialized journals; appears in major media outlets; and speaks to audiences around the country. During her leadership at Human Rights First, the influential Washington publication The Hill consistently named her one of the most effective public advocates in the country, and Washingtonian Magazine has repeatedly recognized her on their list of the most influential people shaping U.S. policy.

Massimino is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar. She holds a law degree from the University of Michigan, a Master’s in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity University where she was recently recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award.