[eDebate] SOUTH AMERICA

[Andrew Michael-Don Casey]

So, in light of the fairly consistent remark made to me by framework 
debaters that I ought involve myself in the topic process before I 
bitch about the topic, I offer the following:
I say we debate about South America. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy the 
intelligence topic (or how rapidly boring it would become….), South 
America is a very timely very action-packed topic that could cover a 
good range of issues while meeting the enjoyment needs of both the 
policy schools and the K crowd. I know there will be some concerns such 
as we just had a foreign policy topic, but this is a dramatically 
different topic than the ME was (culturally and politically). Also, I 
did a quick look through of all the topics in the past and ZERO were 
even close to this part of the world (the nfl did one in 1987-1988). I 
don’t think there has been close to a focus in our history of a topic 
that studied government structure in latin America. My issue with that 
is that the region is volatile, expanding, has a rich history, and is 
just important to talk about.
There is a lot of relevant advantage case area – narco, trade, 
environment, pollution, human trafficking, corruption, border disputes
There would be tons of disad ground – trade, economy, China, Japan ( 
well a lot of international actors have stakes in the region), politics 
(US politics obviously… but also there are some legislative elections 
in a few of the countries that could be talked about).
Good K ground – depending on the wording this could actually be good K 
aff ground (as compared to other described K ground for next topic(s) 
where the K ground is “you get to go negative”) and very good neg K 
lit. 
There are a couple of countries in particular that could be focused on.
Brazil has a lot of development: “As Brazil's domestic economy has 
grown and diversified, the country has become increasingly involved in 
international politics and economics. The United States…is  primary 
markets for Brazilian exports and sources of foreign lending and 
investment. Brazil has also bolstered its commitment to 
nonproliferation through ratification of the nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty (NPT), signing a fullscale nuclear safeguard agreement with the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), acceeding to the Treaty of 
Tlatelolco, and becoming a member of the Missile Technology Control 
Regime (MTCR) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.Its got border disputes 
and even some Illicit drugs.” (wikipedia).It is economically growing. 
Brazil may become among the four most dominant economies by the year 
2050.  Brazil is the world's largest producer of ethanol. 

Colombia. Dude. Colombia could be sweet for anyone. History of 
corruption, narco, terror, child soldiers. You name it, Colombia has it.

Venezuela – two words: Hugo Chavez.

Peru – trade issues everywhere. Increasing GDP with increasing debt.

Argentina has a lot of discussion – "The United States has a positive 
bilateral relationship with Argentina based on many common strategic 
interests, including non-proliferation, counternarcotics, 
counterterrorism, the fight against human trafficking, and issues of 
regional stability, as well as the strength of commercial ties. 
Argentina is a participant in the Three-Plus-One regional mechanism 
(Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and the U.S.), which focuses on 
coordination of counter-terrorism policies in the tri-border region." 
(wikipedia)


Obviously these are just some ideas. Mike Davis has been writing the 
topic paper for this one and is asking for any help possible. Right now 
he wants the area to focus on economic integration/cooperation in the 
region. Im not sure if im married to that idea yet, but it is a good 
place to start. Right now I think we just need some ideas and a little 
base research done. If you want to contribute send off an email to 
mikedavis13 at aol.com or to me acasey3 at ucok.edu . do this preferably 
before the 11th. 

-A Casey
UCO debate



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