Topicality is a stock issue

Stock issues

In the formal speech competition genre known as policy debate, a widely-accepted doctrine or "debate theory" divides the deliberative elements of proving the resolution as affirmative affirmative into four logical issues, called the stock issues...

 in policy debate

Policy debate

Policy debate is a form of speech competition in which teams of two advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government or security discourse...

 which pertains to whether or not the plan affirms the resolution

Resolution (policy debate)

In policy debate, a resolution or topic is a normative statement which the affirmative team affirms and the negative team negates. Resolutions are selected annually by affiliated schools....

 as worded . To contest the topicality of the affirmative

Affirmative (policy debate)

In policy debate, the affirmative is the team which affirms the resolution.The Affirmative side negates the negative.The affirmative team speaks first and last. They give four speeches:*First affirmative constructive...

, the negative

Negative (policy debate)

In policy debate, the Negative is the team which negates the resolution.The negative team speaks second and second to last. They give four speeches:*First negative constructive *Second negative constructive *First negative rebuttal...

 interprets a word or words in the resolution and argues that the affirmative does not meet that definition, that the interpretation is preferable, and that non-topicality should be a voting issue.

Structure of a Violation

A topicality violation, as presented in the 1NC

Structure of policy debate

In all forms of policy debate the order of speeches is as follows:*First Affirmative Constructive *Cross-examination of First Affirmative by Second Negative*First Negative Constructive *Cross-examination of First Negative by First Affirmative...

, is generally as follows:

• Interpretation - Interpretation of a word or words in the resolution, often supported by evidence
  Evidence (policy debate)
  Evidence in policy debate consists mainly of two sentences. The cite contains all relevant citation information . Although every card should contain a complete citation, only the author's name and date of publication are typically spoken aloud in a speech...
  
  . Evidence to support an interpretation can come from virtually any source (dictionary, legal dictionary, academic paper, laws, court rulings, etc.) and emphasis is placed on both the desirability of the interpretation and the quality of the evidence which supports the interpretation.
• Violation - Reason(s) why the plan does not meet the interpretation.
• Standards - Reason(s) why the interpretation is superior.
• Voting Issue - Reason(s) why the judge
  Judge (policy debate)
  A judge refers to the individual responsible for determining the winner and loser of a policy debate as well as assessing the relative merit of the participant speakers...
  
   should vote negative if the plan does not meet the interpretation.

Predictable limits

Limits are a measure of how many cases would be topical under a given interpretation of the topic and whether that cleavage of cases is predictable. Teams will often debate the desirability of having a small or large number of topical cases.

Ground

Ground is a measure of the quantity and quality of argument

Argument

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...

s and literature

Evidence (policy debate)

Evidence in policy debate consists mainly of two sentences. The cite contains all relevant citation information . Although every card should contain a complete citation, only the author's name and date of publication are typically spoken aloud in a speech...

 available to both teams under a certain interpretation

Interpretation (logic)

An interpretation is an assignment of meaning to the symbols of a formal language. Many formal languages used in mathematics, logic, and theoretical computer science are defined in solely syntactic terms, and as such do not have any meaning until they are given some interpretation...

 of the topic. Teams will often debate the desirability of incorporating or excluding certain arguments.

Bright line

Brightline (sometimes called precision) is a measure of how clear the division is between topical and non-topical cases under a certain interpretation.

Grammar

Grammar

Grammar

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...

 is a measure of how grammatically correct an interpretation is. Some teams argue that grammar is key to the predictability of an interpretation.

Education

An Education standard asserts that the negative's interpretation of the resolution focuses the debate down to the most important area(s) for learning. This involves explaining why the topics and discussions preserved by the negative's interpretation are more important to the affirmative case and cases under the counterinterpretation.

Effects (FX) Topicality

Effects topicality alleges that the Affirmative team is not topical in its direct mandate(s) or intent, but only arrives at alleviating the Harms introduced by the Affirmative team typically associated with the topic through a variety of internal links. An example might be a case under a topic about limiting the use or stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction that declares war on North Korea or Iran. The Negative team would argue that such a case would only possibly be topical if it could be proven beyond a doubt not only that Iran or North Korea had weapons of mass destruction but also if such a war did not increase global proliferation pressures or involve the eventual use of weapons of mass destruction or did not lead to looting of such stockpiles, all very tendentious assumptions.

Negative teams will typically argue that such plans drastically abuse the resolution (i.e. allow too wide of a variety of cases to be run). Any case or plan could fall under the topic if enough causal links are allowed, and in running a Topicality attack, the Negative team states topicality should be decided based on a strict reading of the Affirmative plan text (whether or not it takes the stock issue of solvency into account). Affirmative teams will either argue that they are not effectual, that the plan's mandate directly falls under the rubric of the topic (though they may continue to claim remote advantages not typically associated with topical cases), or that effects topicality is acceptable.

Extra Topicality

Extra Topicality is sometimes run in conjunction with FX, sometimes separately. The argument is that the Affirmative plan includes "planks" or components that are not topical. For example, a plan under an energy-conservation topic might both sign the Kyoto Protocol and increase general science funding across the board, obviously including energy conservation. Such a plan might then argue for environmental, economic or military benefits separate from anything having to do with energy conservation. A Negative team would argue that this would be extra-topical because the plan is acting in areas that are outside the boundaries of the resolution (therefore, "extra"-topicality). Either seriously or as an example, sometimes Negatives running against FX and Extra cases will run counterplans that they argue would be the truly topical version of the Affirmative plan: For example, the Negative in the above case could run a counterplan wherein they only sign Kyoto. Negative teams will argue that the whole plan's mandate must be topical, as otherwise every Affirmative could run a different permutation of topical and non-topical components and make the topic literally unlimited. Affirmative teams will either argue that Extra Topicality is legitimate or, much more frequently, that all components of their plan are in fact topical. A plan can arguably be extra-topical, not topical and FX-topical all at once: Its arguably topical plank may both not be topical no matter the causal links and rely on causal links to get to its arguable topicality, as well as having non-topical planks.

The "extra" in "extra-topicality" is used to mean "outside" (i.e. "extraterrestrials") and not to mean "extremely."

Competing Interpretations

Under the competing interpretations framework, if the negative presents a better interpretation than the affirmative's (which the affirmative does not meet), the negative wins. In other words, the affirmative's burden is to meet the best interpretation in the round. The usual affirmative answer is "reasonability", that is, that if the affirmative meets a good definition of the topic, the affirmative wins the debate, even if it isn't the best definition of the topic. In other words, the affirmative's burden is to meet some interpretation in the round that is sufficiently good.

Fairness

Some teams argue that it is unfair for the negative to have to debate a non-topical case and thus the judge should vote against one. This voting issue is sometimes referred to as "competitive equity."

Education

Some Negative teams argue that non-topical cases decrease the educational factor of a round. This is true. However, it should not constitute a real argument in and of itself; simply because the Affirmative team's plan is not the best provides no reason for the judge to vote against the Affirmative team.

Jurisdiction

Some teams argue that the judge only has the jurisdiction to vote for cases which affirm the resolution. This justification has largely fallen out of favor in collegiate debate after the 2001-2002 Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

s topic led to large numbers of kritik

Kritik

In policy debate , a kritik is generally a type of argument that challenges a certain mindset, assumption, or discursive element that exists within the advocacy of the opposing team, often from the perspective of...

s about how it was the issue and mindset of jurisdiction that destroyed Native American culture.

Affirmative answers to Topicality

Affirmatives can deploy a variety of answers to topicality violations in the 2AC

Structure of policy debate

In all forms of policy debate the order of speeches is as follows:*First Affirmative Constructive *Cross-examination of First Affirmative by Second Negative*First Negative Constructive *Cross-examination of First Negative by First Affirmative...

. They can be generally categorized as follows:

• We Meet - The affirmative can argue that their case meets the negative's interpretation of the resolution
• Counter-interpretation - The affirmative can offer a different interpretation of the word or words that the negative defined. The affirmative will usually argue that their interpretation is superior using the same standards outlined above, they can either use the standards that the negative used or present counterstandards.
• Non-voter - The affirmative can argue that the judge shouldn't vote negative even if they don't meet the negative's interpretation. This argument may be phrased as "reasonability", that the judge should accept the affirmative's case if it meets a reasonable interpretation of the resolution.
• Kritik - The affirmative can make kritical arguments as to why topicality is an unnecessary and oppressive burden placed upon the affirmative.
• Reverse Voting Issue (RVI) - The affirmative can claim that the topicality argument offered by the negative is abusive in its own right and justifies an affirmative ballot. Few judges find this argument persuasivehttp://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Brandt,+James http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Hartmann%2C+Jamiehttp://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Han%2C+Jackie http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Milton%2C+Nathanael http://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Waldinger%2C+Patrick