Counterplan LectureGDI 2013

Austin Layton

Note: This PowerPoint can be accessed on the PaDS website

What is a Counterplan?

• Definition: Typically defined as an alternative policy option that is forwarded by the negative team to solve a majority of the aff’s advantages, while avoiding it’s disadvantages.

• Short-hand: CP, or Cplan• Example: Your friend (the affirmative) says we should go

to McDonalds because we are hungry. What is a counterplan? What are the advantages is solves? What are the disadvantages that it avoids?

Counterplan Structure (1NC)

• CP Text – just like the 1AC has a plan text, the CP that is introduced in the 1NC needs to have a CP text. So this follows something like “USFG should…”, “The People’s Republic of China should…”, etc.

• CP Competition – we’ll talk about this later• CP Solvency – just like the 1AC has solvency evidence,

you need to have solvency evidence for you CP. This section of the 1NC is dedicated to showing that there is no unique reason to do the 1AC.

• CP Net-benefit – Proof that some DA links to plan, not the CP. Or some advantage that the CP solves, but the plan doesn’t.

Types of Counterplans

International Actor CPs

• Idea: Instead of the USFG doing a particular policy, another country could easily do such a policy. Ex. China can economically engage Cuba.

• Forces the aff to have a “US Key” warrant – what are some in the Cuba aff?

• Net-benefit: US action is bad, so politics or sphere of influence DA, or X Actor Good, Chinese Politics or Soft Power, etc.

Domestic Actor CPs

• Idea: the whole federal government doesn’t have to work together to pass the plan, but one singular domestic actor is sufficient to solve

• Types: Courts, Congress, Agency (DOI, Chamber of Commerce, Etc.)

• Forces the US to have a “whole USFG is key” warrant. What’s an example of that? Clarity/Uniformity

• Net-benefits: Politics

Advantage CPs

• Idea: The plan’s action is not, by itself, the one and only issue critical to solving the advantage. The CP proposes an alternative policy to solve the advantage.

• Types: Cooperate with Mexico on Alternative Energy, Give Democracy to Latin America, Etc. What are some examples as it relates to the Cuba aff? Florida Enviro CP? Venezuela Cutoff CP? China Influence CP?

• Forces the aff to defend why their “Mechanism” is key• Net-benefits: Politics, Mechanism Key

Engage Another Country CPs

• Idea: the economic engagement that the aff gives is good, but doesn’t necessarily have to go to the country that the aff chooses. These types of CPs are used to resolve non-country specific advantages. Ex. Credibility/Influence Advantages

• Forces the aff to have a defense of their specific country. So question: the Cuba aff has an advantage that says Cuba influence is key to overall Latin America influence, what is a CP for that?

• Net-benefits: Country-specific DAs i.e. Cuba/Venezuela/Mexico Engagement Bad

Non-Engagement CPs

• Engagement vs. Containment – huge theoretical debate• Forces the aff to defend engagement as a theory• This centers around the argument that engagement is

bad/unpopular/fails because it’s ineffective at fixing countries and they will just pocket the engagement, but containment is better because it forces the country to change

• The more specific the aff the less applicable the CP is

Example

• http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer%20haass/2000survival.pdf

• “While policy-makers should give greater consideration to the idea of engagement, incentives will be applicable only in a limited set of circumstances. In addition, unlike other foreign-policy tools, engagement is open to charges of appeasement from its critics. Sceptics have also argued that engagement strategies can invite problems of moral hazard, where a cash-strapped regime watching America ‘buy out’ North Korea’s nuclear programme may be inspired to embark on its own endeavour in the hopes of later ‘selling’ it to the US. Moreover, as a strategy which often depends on reciprocal actions between the US and the target country, engagement is likely to involve even higher risks and uncertainties than other foreign-policy strategies.”

Non-Economic Engage CPs

• Idea: there are other types of engagement strategies like political or military engagement

• Forces the aff to defend the specific type of engagement, the more specific the aff the better

Process CP

• Important Definition: Normal Means• Idea: that there is a normal process in which the plan

happens (that usually the 1AC doesn’t explicitly say) and the neg counterplans with an alternative way

• Delay, Consult, Condition, Veto-Cheato, Etc.• Forces the aff to have a “Certainty Key”, “Immediacy

Key”, or “Clarity Key” Warrant• Most judges think this isn’t competitive, but we will talk

about competition a little later because it still does all of the plan

Plan-Inclusive CPs (PICS)

• Does most of the plan EXCEPT one part• Forces the aff to defend 100% of the plan (usually a part

that the aff isn’t ready to defend)• For Cuba aff: CP to authorize Cuban drilling EXCEPT in

one part of the ocean• These CPs are usually the MOST SPECIFIC and the

HARDEST to answer/create

Finding CP Evidence

• 1AC Solvency Advocates• Policy Think Tanks (CATO, Heritage, Hoover, CFR, etc.)• Authors Directly Responding to 1AC authors• Google is always good too

Counterplan Competition

Not That Competition…

Important Definitions (1/2)

• Mutually Exclusive: The idea that the counterplan and plan cannot occur at the same time. Ex: Engagement vs. Containment.

• Net-Beneficial: That the CP is a BETTER solution/policy option than the affirmative. Typically means there is a DA to the plan that the CP avoids Ex. China CP and China DA/Politics DA

• Plan-minus: The CP is less than the plan• Opportunity Cost: “Value of a foregone option when one

action is chosen.” (Economics term). Usually a term used to describe a preference between two options.

Examples

Mutually Exclusive

Definition: A set of proposals that cannot coexist. (One action precludes another)

Example:

A GDI camper needs to be in the lecture hall by 9AM.

A GDI camper wants to sleep in until noon.

Net Beneficial

Definition: A set of proposals that should not coexist. (One action is preferable to both)

Example:

A GDI camper needs to be in the lecture hall by 9AM.

A GDI camper wants to play Robot Unicorn until noon.

Important Definitions (2/2)

• Permutation: The idea that the plan and all or parts of the CP can be combined. Typically used as an aff answer to CPs. Why might this be useful?• Avoids DAs, or Solves CPs advantages (Avoids Plan-Plan)• To show the CP isn’t competitive• Ex. China CP and China DA – China and US working

together preserves China influence

• Permutation Theory • Severance• Intrinsic• See Next Slide

Permutation

• Aff Answer• Permutation: Must include all of the plan and all or parts

of the CP• Why should it include all of the plan?• Why should it include all or part of the CP?• What if it doesn’t do these things?

Other Aff Answers

• STOP• Solvency• Theory• Offense• Permutation

Advanced Strategies

• Necessary vs. Sufficient –• Helps to indict the other teams evidence• A CP is really just case defense – and can be deployed

this way in a debate• Always update your CP to account for aff answers, write

blocks to common aff answers• Change your CP text to fiat around the best aff answers

i.e. funding concerns with the states CP

Necessary

In order to win the GDI Tournament, you need to attend the Georgia Debate Institute.

Sufficient

In order to win the GDI Tournament, you could win every round including the final round.

…you could pay Austin $1,000,000 and he will rig the tournament for you.