As was done for the Catholic Forensic League (CFL) national tournament, Extemp Central provides you with this topic area analysis for the International Extemp portion of next week’s NFL national tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
In the first of our four-part series, we explore three of the thirteen topic areas at the 2010 NFL National Tournament in International Extemp.
Topic Area #4: China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Koreas
Topic Area #5: Energy and the Environment
Topic Area #6: Europe
Keep reading to explore these areas in further depth.
Topic Area #4: China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Koreas
A shorter way to write this topic area is East Asia, which is the geographic characterization that includes all of these nations. Of the five nations involved in this topic area, more questions will probably come from China. China’s leadership sees the global recession as an indictment of Western economic policies and sees that it’s blending of capitalism and authoritarian government is the best way to handle the nation’s affairs. China sees itself as a rising world power but economists fear that the nation’s economy is overheating with some even speculating that it will crash next year. If such a scenario transpired, the chances of social conflict in China would be high because of the vast number of people that would be unemployed and the lack of a strong social safety net for those unemployed workers in China. Such a scenario would also be bad for the U.S. economy because of China’s willingness to lend and fund America’s spending binges. Economics aside, China is using its political clout to dominate the affairs of the region. It is trying to establish an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Taiwan that would promote closer economic ties. Nationalist forces in Taiwan fear that this agreement would help China put Taiwan back into its orbit and crush attempts by Taiwan to become an independent nation. Also, China continues to protect North Korea from strong international sanctions, which has become a hot issue because of North Korea’s alleged sinking of a South Korean warship earlier in the year. North Korea has warned of restarting the Korean War of the 1950s in case further sanctions are imposed upon the regime, but its threats are enhancing the political prospects of conservative politicians in South Korea. Due to the fact that the United States has over 20,000 troops in South Korea, the prospect of a renewed war while America is tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan would be a nightmare for the Obama administration. Japan has also seen a dispute over America’s military bases in Okinawa provoke political upheaval and Yukio Hatoyama is no longer the prime minister. A few days ago Naoto Kan, the finance minister in the Hatoyama cabinet, assumed the role of prime minister and is expected to make large cuts to Japan’s budget that economists say is holding back the country’s economic recovery. Hatoyama’s resignation was done so that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which overthrew the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) decades long grip on power last year, could do well in July’s upper house elections. There are very few questions that could emerge in this round that do not have some regional implication, so extempers would be wise to connect the dots and show regional and foreign policy impacts in their speeches.
Issues that you might hit in this round include:
- The implications for China’s growing military and economic power
- The impact of the ECFA on Taiwanese politics and the likelihood of its passage
- If China is a currency manipulator
- If the Chinese economy is overheating
- How the Japanese economy can be turned around and become a robust engine of growth again
- If Naoto Kan will last longer in his post than Yukio Hatoyama was able to
- How the Japanese government can get the U.S. out of Okinawa
- The likelihood of North Korea resuming the Korean War
- If China should continue to shield North Korea from international pressure
Topic Area #5: Energy and the Environment
This topic area is similar to one in United States extemp except that this one, for obvious reasons, will be about the international community’s energy and environmental concerns. For the energy part of this topic extempers should be aware of two things: oil exploration around the world and natural gas delivery. For oil exploration, extempers should follow trends and signals from the Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Currently, OPEC is signaling that it will likely keep production at current levels but these things could change because of the volatile climate in the Middle East and the global economy. Furthermore, aside from OPEC nations like Brazil are expanding their oil exploration offshore and other nations, like China, are using pariah states like Myanmar and Sudan for their oil and natural resource needs. This has given protection to these nations in the international community because of China’s role on the United Nations Security Council. Due to the fact that China suppresses political dissent, it does little to encourage democratic growth in these nations and its policies are not impacted as much by special interest groups who would desire a more environmentally conscious energy policy. As far as natural gas goes, extempers should keep in mind the primary role of Russia in the European energy market and their desires to circumvent eastern European nations with new pipelines. Russia’s use of natural gas as a weapon can be seen in its recent disputes with Ukraine’s prior government, Georgia, and Belarus. Also, Turkey is trying to become a global natural gas hub to increase its profile. For the environment part of this question, extempers should be aware of the global campaign against carbon emissions. This season had a lot of controversy over UN climate data and potential manipulations were a boon to global warming skeptics around the world. Just like domestic extempers, international extempers should be aware that if they are advocating for an alternative energy source in this round, which is a possibility because of China’s protectionist policies on alternative energy technology, be aware of the economic cost of developing those resources and their impact on the global economy. Also, since this is an international round you need to be aware of how changing energy relationships will impact nation’s profiles and their political, economic, and foreign policy climates. Can you imagine what would happen if demand suddenly fell for Middle East oil? What if someone in the international community developed a way to run cars on an affordable energy source other than gasoline? There would be major geopolitical repercussions from these events and those are the things you need to spell out in your speech.
Issues you might hit in this round include:
- Assessing the damage done to climate change efforts by reports of incorrect and fabricated data earlier in the year
- How the international community can best combat global warming
- Russia’s use of natural gas as a weapon against its neighbors
- China’s foreign policy of putting natural resource acquisitions ahead of human rights concerns
- The international ban on whaling and whether it should be overturned
- The protection of the Amazon rainforest
- Concerns about the sustainability of the world’s ecosystems from overhunting, overfishing, and illegal logging
- How the international community can held nation’s impacted by climate change
- How the international community should deal with nuclear waste sites
Topic Area #6: Europe
Almost all of the press about Europe right now is about economic issues, so you can bet on this round having a lot of questions with an economic bent. The Greek bailout has created animosity within the European Union (EU) and has put strains upon the euro, the EU’s common currency. Please remember that not all EU members use the euro (notably Great Britain) and the common currency has not been popular in recent years in nations like Italy, who blame the euro for their declining economic competitiveness. Economic analysts are predicting that Greece’s economic problems and those in Portugal, Spain, and Ireland will cause the European Union to change the way that it manages its affairs. Some are predicting the complete collapse of the common currency and others are predicting that the euro will survive after the EU kicks ailing nations out of the club. Anger at the Greece bailout threatens to undermine Angela Merkel’s young coalition government in Germany and anger at governments is bound to spread as many European states engage in spending cuts because of the global recession and Greece’s financial problems. I recommended in the CFL topic area analysis that you need to study the Greek bailout carefully. Hopefully if you are an International extemper you have been paying attention to the developments in Greece carefully, but if you haven’t then you need to do so before the tournament because almost every speech will have to mention Greece’s problems in some way shape or form. When explaining Greece’s problems you will need to use a myriad of economic terminology to explain what brought about the government’s collapse. Such terminology such as naked short selling can be difficult for the average judge to understand unless you guide them through it. Therefore, on the plane or car ride to Kansas City I would recommend trying to memorize definitions and go over ways to explain this economic terminology so that you will be prepared to talk about it. Remember, not all prep has to occur within the prep room. Also, political upheaval in Greece has some commentators putting the odds of the current government falling to a revolution or coup at 25%, which are alarmingly high. One thing to also remember in this round is that this is primarily a Western Europe round because of the Russia and the former Soviet bloc topic area. Any nations that were not part of the Soviet Union during the Cold War are available for questions here. I’d recommend that extempers go to the European Union’s website and print off some information on how the EU operates, what programs it is currently implementing, and note the balance of power in the organization. Also, the German magazine Der Spiegel is often an underutilized source among International extempers so cut a few articles before you go to Kansas City. It sounds impressive when it’s cited in rounds. Finally, be aware of the old question “Should Turkey be admitted to the EU?” It’s a mainstay at NFL and there’s no reason for this year to be any different.
Issues you might hit in this round include:
- Great Britain’s recent election and how long its coalition government will survive
- How spending cuts in Britain will impact David Cameron’s political career
- The Greek bailout and its impact on the EU and other politicians in Europe
- Actions against Islamic practices like the construction of minarets in Switzerland and the burqa
- The future of the euro
- The future of the European Union
- If the EU should admit Turkey and/or Russia as members
- How Nicolas Sarkozy can deal with low approval ratings and if his pension reform package will pass