The November/December resolution is pretty vague this year, as “Great Power Competition” doesn’t really have a clear definition. However, most debaters are going to agree that it is whatever the US needs to do in order to reach/maintain global hegemon status. Whether that is directly competing with China and Russia or competing indirectly through different proxy states. With this in mind, let’s get straight into the best contentions for the US Great Power Competition topic.

Affirmative Arguments

1) BRI/Africa

One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about Chinese strategy is probably the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) where China goes into poor, developing countries and loans money for building projects. In order to find more information about the BRI the old 2019 resolution is a great place to look. When running this argument on the aff side it is going to be largely agreed upon that the BRI is bad because it causes debt-traps which are situations where countries cannot pay off debt and then have to give up control of infrastructure. A great example of this sort of situation is in Sri Lanka where control of the Hambantota port was forcefully given up by China. There are also a lot of other South Asian countries and African countries where the same situation has played out.

So, why is the US important when it comes to the BRI? Basically, the US is unique in fighting the BRI’s influence. There are a lot of good examples of this that teams will use. First of all, the US has established the Build Back Better World Initiative at the G7 summit. Another great example is the US BUILD Act which created the US International Development Finance Corporation in order to generate investments toward low-income nations worldwide.

2) Chinese Deterrence

This argument can go 2 different ways, but the main argument is that the US prevents China from taking escalatory actions. Firstly, teams will argue that China is committing illegal activities in the South China Sea and has violated different Southeast Asian countries territorial claims. The US is essential in this region because they carry out defense operations that prevent China from gaining full control of the sea and potentially harming the welfare of the sea and nations that occupy it as a whole.

Secondly, a lot of teams say that China wants control of Taiwan and could block semiconductor distribution if they did. The argument is the same in the South China Sea in the sense that teams claim that the US provides deterrence through defense operations. However, teams may also argue that if an invasion does come the US will be able to defend Taiwan and prevent the blocking of semiconductor exports.

3) Ukrainian Aid

Russia invaded Ukraine early this year as a way to establish control, however the conflict is ongoing as more Ukranians die every day. This is where the US comes in to send billions of dollars in aid of weaponry and humanitarian supplies. Teams will say that this is why Ukraine has not given up to Russia yet and that this is why Russia is losing.

Another claim teams are sure to make is that US sanctions on Russia are detrimental to the Russian economy and that is a good thing. The validity of this statement is actually increasing as the war goes on because Russia is losing as its economy gets weaker and weaker. It’s up to you where to take this argument, but it could be that ultimately Russia is going to lower its war efforts.

4) Innovation

Innovation is a common argument for a lot of different topics. The definition is already pretty clear as it is the action of producing new products and ideas. Teams will say that the US is uniquely competitive in innovation due to competition with Russia and China. The route more teams will take here is that China is advancing and the US needs to catch up. From space to renewable energy to AI to cybersecurity there are a lot of ways to further this argument. Innovation is also highly beneficial to the economy, so this is also a stock GPC makes the economy do good argument.

Negative Arguments

1) Middle East

The US interferes a lot with Middle Eastern policy. There are many specific examples such as Afghanistan where the US overthrew the Taliban, but 20 years later the Taliban has just ended up back in power. Also, in Syria the US has fueled a proxy conflict which has led to millions of deaths. US policy in the Middle East has been highly interactive in a lot of different negative ways such as fueling the human rights violations of authoritarian regimes and increasing terrorism through instability. This argument is a US intervention bad type of contention.

2) Ukraine War

The main goal of this argument is to get straight to the point of what caused the Russia-Ukraine war. Teams will say that Ukraine trying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a US-led alliance, is what started the war. Basically, Russia uniquely felt the need to assert control of Ukraine because of Western interference. Ultimately, this is another US intervention bad contention.

A lot of teams link this argument to nuclear war because US aid is actually contributing towards more Russian defeats which make Putin more likely to take nuclear action. Obviously, nuclear war is really bad so the US is directly causing the probability of the use of such lethal weapons to increase.

3) Focusing on Domestic Programs

For this argument the title is pretty self-explanatory. Since the Great Power Competition seems to prioritize foreign policy, it removes focus from domestic problems such as racism or poverty. Teams will use statistics on how racism or poverty has increased in the era of Great Power Competition and will link that to the US ignoring these problems. Overall, teams will be claiming that the US needs to shift focus from foreign competition to domestic improvement that betters the lives of everyday American citizens.

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