2010+Generics

In the first week of the institute, students will participate in inter-lab groups researching major areas of the topic. The description of the generic groups as well as information on their meetings and assignments will be posted here.

Redeployment/PMC Shift – Berthiaume The topic pulls troops out - where will they go? This generic will write disadvantages to the likely places of redeployment. We will also write a Private Military Contractor shift DA, arguing that the US military forces will be replaced with PMCs, which are worse.

Allied Proliferation & International Compensation Disadvantages – Harkins/Serrano This generic will write country-specific allied proliferation and international compensation disadvantages. It will also cover counterplans associated with these disadvantages, such as condition counterplans, as well as proliferation impact work.

Gender Kritik – Kernoff This group will produce a criticism of international relations scholarship from a feminist perspective. We will research how affirmative advantages, such as hegemony and terrorism, uphold a masculine view of the world that contributes to violence. Some arguments produced by this group can also help support a critical feminist affirmative.

Heg – Lamballe The heg DA will focus on applying strategic international theory to the topic with a strong defense of forward deployment and American predominance. Research will focus on turning the case internally and externally while also providing theoretical backing for conservative foreign policy.

@East Asian Domestic Politics – Mulholand A reduction of the US military presence in East Asia would undoubtedly alter the political landscape within South Korea and/or Japan. This group will construct arguments suggesting that such an alteration could hold disastrous consequences for regional and global stability.

Politics – Olney This generic will be pretty much what you'd expect. We'll write at least one Obama good DA, and will try to write an Obama bad DA. We'll also work on midterms in both directions. A big portion of the work will be link and internal link work for the topic.

CMR-Domestic Compensation – Olsen Think the politics DA, but for smart and creative people. The overall focus of the DA will be how affirmatives affect the military (as a whole), specific military officials, and defense lobbyists. A big focus of the DA will be how Obama and congress will compensate constituencies that are involved in the plan. This will be a money generic for the year.

Topicality - The Be-All End-All – Quinn The keys to success on next year's topic rest in the quivering hands of those of you brave enough to take part in this linguistic adventure. Whether you're a rule-maker or rule-breaker, nobody can avoid T. It's simultaneously the passageway to new, squirrelly parts of the topic and the electric fence that shocks you back into the bounds of relevancy. Together on this journey, we will attempt a comprehensive file of definitions and violations that students at DDI will talk about for ages. Planning to dance around the key issues or obsess over silly minutiae? Tell me this then. Are combat troops topical? If you dare join me, I believe that you can help me answer this and many other questions, just like I believe that Ben Affleck will soon rescue us from an earth-shattering asteroid.

Near East Domestic Politics – Varsha Ramakrishnan This generic explores the impact that withdrawing from Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq and/or Turkey would have in each of their domestic political scenes. The impacts will be bidirectional allowing these arguments to be used as either advantages or disads.

Security K – Turner We'll research arguments that criticize mainstream approaches to international relations/security politics. This set of critical arguments deal with the heart of important aff advantage areas (failed state discourses, softpower, primacy/offshore-balancing, middle east stability, terrorism, and others).