***NED

US Action Key

Captures US signal and they’ll say yes – they take earmarked funding from international donors.

Axworthy et al ‘5

Thomas S. Axworthy, David Donova, Leslie Campbell. Institute For Research on Public Policy. May 2005. http://www.irpp.org/wp/archive/wp2005-02d.pdf

National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Overview

AND

labour, and private sector development in Iraq.

NED sends a signal of US involvement

Giraldi ‘11

Philip Giraldi, former CIA counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer who served for 18 years, executive director of the Council for National Interest. 3/3/2011. “Uncle NED Comes Calling.” http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2011/03/02/uncle-ned-comes-calling/)

Neoconservative Ken Timmerman has identified the core NED

AND

not say, nor does the NED site.

The CP solves U.S. signal – perceived as most important visible signal of U.S. commitment.

Melia ‘5

Thomas, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Walsh School of Foreign Service Georgetown University, “The Democracy Bureaucracy: The Infrastructure of American Democracy Promotion” A discussion paper  prepared for the Princeton Project on National Security Working Group on Global Institutions and Foreign Policy Infrastructure, September, http://www.princeton.edu/~ppns/papers/democracy_bureaucracy.pdf

Arguably the most important and visible facet of

AND

initiatives to promote political democracy around the world.

***Solvency

2NC Doesn’t Solve Stability

Even if reforms are implemented it will not solve continued protests.

Gengler 12/8

Justin Gengler is a Gulf politics scholar who carried out the first-ever mass political survey of Bahraini citizens, PhD in Political Science University of Michigan. “Gulf apart - Bahrain faces political and sectarian divide”. Jane’s Intelligence Review. December 8, 2011.

The prospects for qualitative improvements in Bahrain's underlying

AND

international image to force the government to negotiate.

2NC Government Reformers Fail

Pro-reform members of the government will fail to displace hard-liners – the conservatives maintain major influence and are backed by the Saudis – and the PM controls the security sector – any reforms would be cosmetic and would not solve – that's Gengler and Carlstrom

And, opposition from Conservatives, ordinary Sunnis, and Saudis to constitutional changes cannot be overcome.

Gengler 12/8

Justin Gengler is a Gulf politics scholar who carried out the first-ever mass political survey of Bahraini citizens, PhD in Political Science University of Michigan. “Gulf apart - Bahrain faces political and sectarian divide”. Jane’s Intelligence Review. December 8, 2011.

In this scenario, the regime would agree

AND

, this opposition is unlikely to be overcome.

2NC Sunnis Reject

And, They are a major roadblock to any deal between the government and the formal opposition.

Gengler 2/20

Justin Gengler is a Gulf politics scholar who carried out the first-ever mass political survey of Bahraini citizens, PhD in Political Science University of Michigan. “The Anti-National Dialogue”. February 20, 2012. http://bahrainipolitics.blogspot.com/2012/02/anti-national-dialogue.html

As obvious and basic as this question is

AND

was not such a great bargain after all.

***Fleet

Heg Decline

The Heg debate is OVER- U.S. decline is not only inevitable, it has arrived. The U.S. must accept China’s ascendancy.

Christopher Layne 2012 (is Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University; ISQ* peer reviewed: ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2010: International Relations: 10 / 73; Political Science: 18 / 139 Impact Factor: 1.523) “This Time It's Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana” International Studies Quarterly, 1-11

The Cold War's end stifled the burgeoning late

AND

preoccupation during the next ten to fifteen years.

U.S. Unipolarity has already ended

Christopher Layne 2012 (is Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University; ISQ* peer reviewed: ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2010: International Relations: 10 / 73; Political Science: 18 / 139 Impact Factor: 1.523) “This Time It's Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana” International Studies Quarterly, 1-11

Before the Great Recession's foreshow in the fall

AND

the US hegemony on which it was based.

***Econ

Stability Alt Cause

ISRAEL OR US ATTACK ON IRAN WILL DRAW IN ENTIRE REGION, INCLUDING BAHRAIN

DIETZ, 3-26-12 David, America must not buy into Israel’s Warmongering” PolicyMic, http://www.policymic.com/articles/5286/war-with-iran-a-mistake-america-must-not-buy-into-israel-s-warmongering)

Even Iran's theocratic leadership has been challenged in

AND

. We've known that since 1984 when Senator Alan

2nc Will Strike

Top US officials concur

Star Ledger 3-6

“Military response to Iran threat would increase danger,” http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2012/03/military_response_to_iran_thre.html

The idea that the United States or Israel

AND

the aid or consent of the United States.

It’s inevitable and within a year

Blomfield 3-3

Adrian, “Israel delivers ultimatum to Barack Obama on Iran's nuclear plans,” The Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9121433/Israel-delivers-ultimatum-to-Barack-Obama-on-Irans-nuclear-plans.html

The real urgency comes from the fact that

AND

than four million have already been doled out.

Momentum

Perry 3-28

Mark, “Israel’s Secret Staging Ground,” Foreign Policy, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/28/israel_s_secret_staging_ground?page=full

In 2009, the deputy chief of mission

AND

as with the Azeris, the sources said.

Diversification

Your evidence concludes the banking sector is resilient in the Middle East

Islamic Globe 11—Bahrain on the brink, Monday, 28 February 2011

http://www.theislamicglobe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63:bahrain-on-the-brink-&catid=9:article&Itemid=53

The self-imposed silence from the Islamic

AND

finance centres, such as Qatar or Kuwait.”

Diversification is unnecessary – Chinese investment – your author

MFR 11

MENA Fund Review, bi-monthly print and online publication covering Middle East and North african asset management industries, August 4th, "The Emerging New Order", 2011, http://www.menafundreview.com/the-emerging-new-order/

China and India are the most important drivers

AND

of the GCC as primarily a logistics hub.”

GCC diversification fails – no gas supplies and no clear plan

MFR 11

MENA Fund Review, bi-monthly print and online publication covering Middle East and North african asset management industries, August 4th, "The Emerging New Order", 2011, http://www.menafundreview.com/the-emerging-new-order/

The risk to this strategy of moving into

AND

adding to the financial burden of the Gulf.”

1NR

Russia

Russian expansion and aggression is unlikely.

Laqueur ’10 – Director of the Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History

Waliter, Director of the Wiener Library Institute of Contemporary History, in London, and Chair of the International Research Council at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Moscow's Modernization Dilemma: Is Russia Charting a New Foreign Policy?, Nov/Dec Foreign Affairs, Proquest

How far will the current foreign policy go

AND

Western capital and Western technological know-how.

Russia’s at its weakest point in history- can’t power project

Belkovsky ‘9

Stanislav Belkovsky, founder and director of the National Strategy Institute, a Moscow-based NGO and thinktank. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/03/russia-barack-obama-medvedev-putin]

How to handle Russia/July 3

Over the past 90 years, Russia has

AND

Pushkin's phrase, through senseless and ruthless riots.

2NC Econ Mod.

Cyber attack will crush the economy—experts

Spence 11

Katie, staff writer for Motley Fool, one of the leading finance websites, Cyber Attacks Capable of Crashing the U.S. Economy? http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/14/cyber-attacks-capable-of-crashing-the-us-economy.aspx

Recent reports of the computers used to pilot 

AND

laughing matter. So what can be done?

Cyber attack would be devastating to the US economy

Bloomberg 1/30

Cybersecurity Disaster Seen in U.S. Survey Citing Spending Gaps http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-31/cybersecurity-disaster-seen-in-u-s-survey-citing-spending-gaps.html

Companies including utilities, banks and phone carriers

AND

up one day and the lights won’t work.”

Cyber-security key to safeguard against attacks which destroys the economy

Rash 2/18

(Wayne, “Cybersecurity Act Gives Feds Power to Protect Infrastructure”, CMR)

The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 would give the

AND

said they may introduce their own cybersecurity bill.

Economic might key to hegemony

Mead in ‘4

Walter Russell, senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, America’s Sticky Power, Foreign Policy, EBSCO

The United States' global economic might is therefore

AND

S. foreign policy in 2004 and beyond.

AT Tunisia

Needs to go through congress still – plan faster, proves the link

AFP 3/29--Associated Free Press, US to provide $100 million to Tunisia, 2012, www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEu6OAJ6GKNrPCUlfHQ2AreDbt1w?docId=CNG.986cfcc24d5cff1f983c8f37ea3af555.61

WASHINGTON — The United States said Thursday it

AND

voiced alarm over Islamism in the Arab world.

Oil thumpers

Oil subsidies The call was just election posturing

Hughes 3/29

Obama seeks end to oil subsidies; Congress says no, http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/obama-seeks-end-oil-subsidies-congress-says-no/454111

President Obama used the bully pulpit of the

AND

prices averaging about $4 a gallon nationwide.

Obama is winning the energy issues

National Journal Daily 3/6

Insiders: Obama Winning Energy-Messaging War, Factiva

Who is winning the messaging war on energy

AND

the President has little power to adjust them.”

At: Bottom of the Docket

1.     Congress doesn’t have a docket—New legislation can go right to the top of the agenda—otherwise they could never act in an emergency

Kraljik 11

Dave, Voteacracy Understanding Congress Part 3 of 7: How are laws are made 

http://www.votetocracy.com/blog/detail/understanding-congress-part-3-of-7:-how-are-laws-are-made.html

The business of the Senate (bills and

AND

time shall be suspended, but not displaced.

2NC Will Pass

Will pass but will be close

Reuters 3/27

U.S. House Republicans push info-sharing cyber bill, Factiva

With members of both parties jockeying for position

AND

prompt electric utilities to ward off hacking intrusions.

Will pass

IP Network Policy Report 3/26

REP. TERRY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PROSPECTS FOR 'STREAMLINED' CYBERSECURITY BILL, Factiva

House Republicans hope to pass cybersecurity legislation this

AND

because we're too vulnerable now to potential attack."

TOA Will pass—momentum –comes to the floor in April

IP Network Policy Report 3/12

ACTION ON CYBER BILLS SHIFTING TO HOUSE, Factiva

Following introduction of wider-ranging cybersecurity bills

AND

bills could be "overwhelming" to legislators.

Now key Will pass soon—compromise is coming between Lieberman and McCain

Warren’s Washington Internet Daily 3/21

Senate Cybersecurity Floor Debate to Begin in April, Lieberman Says, Factiva

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-

AND

from enemy attack and theft." -- Bryce Baschuk

2NC AT: Dickinson

Political capital theory is true – newest data proves that presidents have significant legislative influence

-conventional wisdom underestimates political capital theory

Beckman 10 – Professor of Political Science

Matthew N. Beckman, Professor of Political Science @ UC-Irvine, 2010, “Pushing the Agenda: Presidential Leadership in U.S. Lawmaking, 1953-2004,” pg. 2-3

Developing presidential coalition building as a generalizable class

AND

, and, to date, greatly underestimated.

AT Plan’s an XO

Executive action causes massive Republican backlash.

Clark 9/4

Lesley Clark, Reporter for McClatchy Newspapers. McClatchy. September 4, 2011. “Obama can't create many jobs without Congress' help, analysts say”.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/04/3120221/obama-cant-create-many-jobs-without.html.

But Republicans in Congress are dead set against

AND

uphill climb, if not a slammed door.

The controversy of the program determines whether or not the counterplan draws criticism- still links to politics

Cox and Rodriguez ‘9

Adam Cox and Cristina Rodriguez, Assistant Professor of Law at NYU Law, Professor of Law at NYU Law, “The President and Immigration Law,” 2009, Yale Law Journal

One might suspect that the Bracero program came

AND

INS  opened the border for a weekend.72

Executive orders create a lightning rod on the whitehouse—cp links to politics

Cooper 97

Phillip, Prof of Public Administration @ Portland State, Nov 97, “Power tools for an effective and

responsible presidency” Administration and Society, Vol. 29, p. Proquest

Interestingly enough, the effort to avoid opposition

AND

with OIRA provides a dramatic case in point.

PC Key

Obama pushing Congress to compromise now- used Wednesday simulation to stress cooperation, and urgency

Montalbano 3-8

Elizabeth, Information Week, Feds Simulate Crippling Cybersecurity Attack On NYC Electricity,

U.S. senators Wednesday participated in

AND

growing and increasingly sophisticated threat," she said.

Dickinson is wrong - Even if pundits exaggerate the president’s influence, it still is salient

Beckman 10 – Professor of Political Science

Matthew N. Beckman, Professor of Political Science @ UC-Irvine, 2010, “Pushing the Agenda: Presidential Leadership in U.S. Lawmaking, 1953-2004,” pg. 17

Even though Washington correspondents surely overestimate a sitting

AND

to help build winning coalitions on Capitol Hill.

1nc

Parametrics

Interpretation—the aff should have to have a written advocacy statement that defends a parametricization of their method

Violation—the aff only discusses issues with the current methods of debate and democracy assistance without proposing an alternative solution or defense of an alternative system of knowledge.  Even if you think they abstractly do, they need to defend a particular context where that method should be applied.

Vote neg-

1.) Aff conditionality- absent defense of a specific advocacy the aff can shift their interpretation of their argument in every speech to dodge method criticisms, counter-methods and impact turns to their understanding of scholarship and debate- a moving target affirmative makes all of their truth claims falsifiable, which replicates the form of hegemonic knowledge production they criticize

2.) Neg ground- no robust defense of an abstract method- all the best responses are in the context of particularized discussion- even if the aff is correct about the way that democracy scholarship works and how debate is ultimately rigged, how should we change it and what does that mean for the strategy we implement? Those are questions the negative can contest- lack of clear point of contestation makes it impossible to be negative and undermines in-depth clash- it also means their aff isn’t subjected to rigorous scrutiny to determine if it is ultimately desirable.

The aff will always win that the principles of their advocacy are good in the abstract – we can only debate the merits of their framework if they defend the specific consequences of political implementation

Ignatieff 4—Prof of Human Rights @ Harvard

Michael, Lesser Evils p. 20-1

As for moral perfectionism, this would be

AND

one right might lead us to betray another.

Rez

Our interpretation—the affirmative should have to defend that a topical action by the United States federal government is normatively desirable – the affirmative violates

Resolved means to enact by law

Words and Phrases 64 

Permanent Edition

Definition of the word “resolve,” given by Webster is “to express an opinion or determination by resolution or vote; as ‘it was resolved by the legislature;” It is of similar force to the word “enact,” which is defined by Bouvier as meaning “to establish by law”.

The United States federal government refers to the actual government

Black’s Law Dictionary 90

6^th Ed., p. 695

In the United States, government consists of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches in addition to administrative agencies.  In a broader sense, includes the federal government and all its agencies and bureaus, state and county governments, and city and township governments.

Should means to provide a recommend course of action

Words and Phrases ‘6

“Should.” Def. C.A.1. Words and Phrases Dictionary. Volume 39. 2006

Term “should” in statute indicates recommended course of action, but does not itself imply obligation associated with “shall.”

B) Violation—the aff does not defend the United States federal government action

Vote neg—

First, Forced switch side debate is a superior pedagogical methodology for teaching portable life skills for advocacy

Harrigan 08

Contemporary Argumentation and Debate, Vol. 29 (2008) 37 AGAINST DOGMATISM: A CONTINUED DEFENSE OF SWITCH SIDE DEBATE Casey Harrigan, University of Georgia

Third, there is an important question of

AND

their goals (Dybvig and Iverson, 2000).

Key to solving dogma——failure to engage in rigorous scrutiny of the plan causes dogmatism-- Effective deliberation is crucial to the activation of personal agency ---this activation of agency is vital to preventing mass violence and genocide and overcoming politically debilitating self-obsession

Roberts-Miller 3

Patricia Roberts-Miller 3 is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Texas "Fighting Without Hatred:Hannah Ar endt ' s Agonistic Rhetoric" JAC 22.2 2003

Totalitarianism and the Competitive Space of Agonism Arendt

AND

enacting it have fallen captive. (87)

Second, Effective deliberation requires a forum of discussion that facilitates political agonism and the capacity to substantively engage the topic at hand---in short, a forum of switch side debate is the most intellectually effective---this is crucial to affecting productive change in all facets of life---the process in this instance is more important than the substance of their advocacy

Gutmann and Thompson 86

(Amy Gutmann 96 is the president of Penn and former prof @ Princeton, AND Dennis Thompson is Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy at Harvard University, Democracy and Disagreement, pp 1)

Deliberative democracy involves reasoning about politics, and

AND

of deliberative democracy we begin to develop here.

Third process impact:– this is the only academic forum where we get education based on clash and competition. If we aren’t able to prepare in advance for affirmatives the round becomes a 2 hour conference presentation about whatever books & articles they are reading, This education o/w any content specific education because

 a) you can get content specific education in any other forum

b) without clash-based education we are likely to come to the wrong conclusions about the content of the aff—This rejection of structured clash makes debate into an echo chamber. This impoverishes their project even if it is right

Talisse 5—Professor of Philosophy @Vandy

Robert, Philosophy & Social Criticism, Deliberativist responses to activist challenges, 31(4) p. 429-431

The argument thus far might appear to turn

AND

the activist denies this, he is unreasonable.

1NC

Claims of singularity and unknowability stymie change and prevent a transition from capitalism  - A teleological approach is vital for a concentrated and motivated movement towards democratic socialism

Corfe 2k – Political Scientist, Founder of Socialist Business Values Association

Robert, “Reinventing Democratic Socialism,” Google Book

It was long ago argued by Aristotle that

AND

constructive principles where there is division and conflict.

THE DETERMINISM OF CAPITAL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INSTRUMENTALIZATION OF ALL LIFE—ALLOWS OPPRESSION TO HAPPEN

dyer-witherford 99

[Nick, Prof at U. of Western Ontario, Cyber Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High Technology Capitalism ]

For capitalism, the use of machines as

AND

of mastery has backfired is all too obvious.

The Alternative is to

Vote Negative to validate and adopt the method of structural/historical criticism that is the 1NC.

METHOD IS THE FOREMOST POLITICAL QUESTION BECAUSE ONE MUST UNDERSTAND THE EXISTING SOCIAL TOTALITY BEFORE ONE CAN ACT

tumino 2001

[Stephen, Prof English at Pitt, ““What is Orthodox Marxism and Why it Matters Now More than Ever”, Red Critique, p. online]

Any effective political theory will have to do

AND

knowledge work") that masquerades as social theory.

1NC

Text: The United States’ State Department should make political party support available for political parties in Egypt regardless of their use of force.

And, the only violent party has and will be Mubarak’s party, which means that the US’s previous policy of supporting “stability” over recognizing the legitimacy of an Islamic party was hypocritical

Esposito 10/25

John Esposito, University Professor as well as Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, October 25, 2011, http://www.policymic.com/group/showCompetition/id/2150, “America & the Arab Spring: A New Way Forward”

But what about the danger of an Islamist

AND

intimidate and harass all secular and Islamist opposition.

Egyptians will reject US aid- they don’t want our involvement in political groups- there are not dangerous radicals hiding in among the “good Muslims”- that is a strawman constructed by the US.

Fenton 10/30

Tom Fenton, Global Post, “Egyptians Optimistic for the Future,” October 30, 2011, http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/opinion/columnists/111027/egyptians-optimistic-future

And here is something Washington should note:

AND

model for the rest of the Arab world.

How the United States relate to the Egypt and the Middle East creates epistemic communities and shapes the chances for policy success and failure- the CP is a pre-requisite to successful policymaking

Said ‘3

(Edward, Prof. of Comparative Literature and English @ Columbia, Orientalism, “Preface (2003)”, pgs. xiv-xxiii)

I should say again that I have no

AND

long and often interrupted road to human freedom.

Case

“Colonialism” has become the PC catchphrase silencing specific historical accounts and entrenching highly particularized assumptions—Using this lens only perpetuates the Eurocentrism that they attempt to deconstruct

Landow 2002 [George P. Landow, Professor of English and Art History, Brown University, “The Metaphorical Use of Colonialism and Related Terms” June 2, http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/post/poldiscourse/colony2.html]

As the Oxford English Dictionary makes clear,

AND

and experiences of American and European feminist assumptions.

Predictions good on balance for Mid East political forecasting

Chadwick ‘11

Bruce P. Chadwick, PhD, CFA, is principal at Chadwick Global Research and Consulting, an independent consulting firm specializing in macro strategy, including quantitative, emerging market, and SRI research. July 6, 2011. http://post.nyssa.org/nyssa-news/2011/07/summer-perspectives-on-the-arab-spring.html

When Worldview covered Egypt in autumn 2009,

AND

to macro opportunities and more adaptive risk management.

2NC

Violation

2NC Framing

Clash of Pedagogies—The core question in the debate is what team offers a better pedagogical vision for what competitive policy debate should look like.  Debate is a pedagogical activity.  It is an educational tool that focuses more on teaching how to think rather than what to think about.  The most important epistemological goal of education is the portable skills it develops—not the content of particular truth claims

Siegel 03

Harvey Siegel Professor of Philosophy at University of Miami, He has held visiting professorships at Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Groningen Truth, Thinking, Testimony and Trust: Alvin Goldman on Epistemology and Education web2.uwindsor.ca/faculty/arts/philosophy/ILat25/edited_siegel.doc

(a)      Given the elusiveness of truth and the difficulty

(b)     AND

(c)      her character. I turn to this next.

The aff’s long term impact is impossible to determine without reference to the future- the aff is meaningless unless it describes a direction that future policy should take

Magee ‘9

Magee a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco writes in 2009 (Rhonda V., “Slavery as Immigration?”, 9/22, ttp://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=rhonda_magee, retrieved August 17, 2010)

The long-term impact of such a

AND

foundations, its broken heart and transgressed soul.

Effective deliberative discourse is the lynchpin to solving all existential social and political problems---a switch-side debate format that sets appropriate limits on argument to foster a targeted discussion is most effective---our K turns the whole case

Christian O. Lundberg 10 Professor of Communications @ University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, “Tradition of Debate in North Carolina” in Navigating Opportunity: Policy Debate in the 21st Century By Allan D. Louden, p311

The second major problem with the critique that identifies a naivety in articulating debate and democracy is that it presumes that the primary pedagogical outcome of debate is speech capacities. But the democratic capacities built by debate are not limited to speech—as indicated earlier, debate builds capacity for critical thinking, analysis of public claims, informed decision making, and better public judgment. If the picture of modem political life that underwrites this critique of debate is a pessimistic view of increasingly labyrinthine and bureaucratic administrative politics, rapid scientific and technological change outpacing the capacities of the citizenry to comprehend them, and ever-expanding insular special-interest- and money-driven politics, it is a puzzling solution, at best, to argue that these conditions warrant giving up on debate. If democracy is open to rearticulation, it is open to rearticulation precisely because as the challenges of modern political life proliferate, the citizenry's capacities can change, which is one of the primary reasons that theorists of democracy such as Ocwey in The Public awl Its Problems place such a high premium on education (Dewey 1988,63, 154). Debate provides an indispensible form of education in the modem articulation of democracy because it builds precisely the skills that allow the citizenry to research and be informed about policy decisions that impact them, to son rhroueh and evaluate the evidence for and relative merits of arguments for and against a policy in an increasingly infonnation-rich environment, and to prioritize their time and political energies toward policies that matter the most to them.

The merits of debate as a tool for building democratic capacity-building take on a special significance in the context of information literacy. John Larkin (2005, HO) argues that one of the primary failings of modern colleges and universities is that they have not changed curriculum to match with the challenges of a new information environment. This is a problem for the course of academic study in our current context, but perhaps more important, argues Larkin, for the future of a citizenry that will need to make evaluative choices against an increasingly complex and multimediatcd information environment (ibid-). Larkin's study tested the benefits of debate participation on information-literacy skills and concluded that in-class debate participants reported significantly higher self-efficacy ratings of their ability to navigate academic search databases and to effectively search and use other Web resources:

To analyze the self-report ratings of the instructional and control group students, we first conducted a multivariate analysis of variance on all of the ratings, looking jointly at the effect of instmction/no instruction and debate topic . . . that it did not matter which topic students had been assigned . . . students in the Instnictional [debate) group were significantly more confident in their ability to access information and less likely to feel that they needed help to do so----These findings clearly indicate greater self-efficacy for online searching among students who participated in (debate).... These results constitute strong support for the effectiveness of the project on students' self-efficacy for online searching in the academic databases. There was an unintended effect, however: After doing ... the project, instructional group students also felt more confident than the other students in their ability to get good information from Yahoo and Google. It may be that the library research experience increased self-efficacy for any searching, not just in academic databases. (Larkin 2005, 144)

Larkin's study substantiates Thomas Worthcn and Gaylcn Pack's (1992, 3) claim that debate in the college classroom plays a critical role in fostering the kind of problem-solving skills demanded by the increasingly rich media and information environment of modernity. Though their essay was written in 1992 on the cusp of the eventual explosion of the Internet as a medium, Worthcn and Pack's framing of the issue was prescient: the primary question facing today's student has changed from how to best research a topic to the crucial question of learning how to best evaluate which arguments to cite and rely upon from an easily accessible and veritable cornucopia of materials.

There are, without a doubt, a

AND

to democracy [in an] increasingly complex world

Second is Substance

Abandoning pragmatic politics leads to fascism

Lewis 92

Martin Lewis, Assistant Professor at George Washington, 1992 Green Delusions p. 258

A majority of those born between 1960 and

AND

of immorality, and constitutional refinements become inconvenient niceties

No one will view their method as legit, they’ll be laughed out of the room

Isaac ‘2—Professor of Political Science at Indiana-Bloomington

Jeffery C., Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and Public Life, PhD from Yale  Dissent Magazine, Vol. 49, Iss. 2, “Ends, Means, and Politics,” p. Proquest.

As a result, the most important political

AND

promotes arrogance. And it undermines political effectiveness.

AT Can’t Know Anything

Even if meaning is fluid, SHARED and CONTINGENT meaning can fix reference – voting neg ESTABLISHES meaning for the resolution

Knopps ‘7

Knops, Sociology – University of Birmingham, ‘7

(Andrew, “Debate: Agonism as Deliberation – On Mouffe's Theory of Democracy,” Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 15, Iss. 1, March)

As Pitkin explains, Wittgenstein's version of language

AND

do use these words in similar ways.²²

Cross apply the English evidence- proves that debate doesn’t turn us into a bunch of Neocons, English tells us how Neal Katyal served as the lead plaintiff in Hamdan, which challenged post 9/11 enemy combat definitions- his ability to do this is LARGELY contributed to debate norms such as compettion and clash

English et al 7

Eric English, Stephen Llano, Gordon R. Mitchell, Catherine E. Morrison, John Rief & Carly Woods, all former debate coaches, “Debate as a Weapon of Mass Destruction” http://www.pitt.edu/~gordonm/JPubs/EnglishDAWG.pdf

It is our position, however, that

AND

as a ‘‘weapon of mass destruction.’’

1NR

CP

people will scapegoat those seen as “dangerous” without any basis in reality. Only a plan that changes the substance of current policy can resolve error replication and build coalitions

Miliband 2009 – David, Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010 (Our Shared Future: Building Coalitions and Winning Consent, Oxford Center For Islamic Studies, Mansion House, May 21st, 2009, http://davidmiliband.net/speech/our-shared-future-building-coalitions-and-winning-consent/, MCL)

Building Coalitions Over the last decade the focus

AND

those who preach that we are the enemy.

Case

We can predict the Arab Spring and reactions to the Middle Easts—and should—the result is letting authoritarianism win

Abrams 1/23-- senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations

Elliott, “A Forward Strategy of Freedom” [http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/23/a_forward_strategy_of_freedom?page=0,0]

There is a sour mood nowadays about the

AND

the good guys win, and win sooner.

1NR

And, classist oppressions spurred both the impetus and the flashpoint for the MENA revolutions

Alizadeh ’11 - editor of the Iranian Marxist newspaper and website Mobarezeye Tabagathi

One Year Since Bouazizi’s Death — One Year of Arab Revolution  Written by Hamid Alizadeh  Friday, 16 December 2011, http://www.marxist.com/arab-revolution-first-anniversary.htm

Tomorrow, Saturday, 1  Tomorrow, Saturday

AND

a spark was needed to set it ablaze.

And, the US imperialist system is driven by a motivation to accumulate and control capital

Foster ’01 – Prof @ U of Oregon

John Bellamy Foster, Professor, University of Oregon, “Imperialism and Empire,” 2001. Available from the World Wide Web at: http://werple.net.au/~andy/blackwood/bellamy-foster.htm, accessed 4/10/05.

At the core of Mészáros’ argument is the

AND

are concerned (pp. 37-38)

TRY READING AN ADD-ON WE DON’T ACCESS.  CAPITALISM MAKES EXTINCTION INEVITABLE THROUGH WAR, ECO-COLLAPSE, DISEASE, NUCLEAR CONFLICTS AND GENOCIDES

Kovel 02 –Prof @ Bard

KOVEL (Alger Hiss Prof. At Bard) 2002

[Joel, The Enemy of Nature,  Zed Books, p. 22-24]

The scenario of ecological collapse holds, in

AND

while accelerated breakdown takes place behind its walls.