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Extemp Central’s analysis of the 2015 National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament International and United States Extemp topic areas is now available. This analysis, which runs eighty-six pages, is written by Logan Scisco (Extemp Central; 2003 NFL USX Final Round Winner). The analysis highlights the big concepts in each topic area, discusses strategies for the tournament, and provides sample practice questions for each topic area.
Those who have a season subscription on the website can access the NSDA topic area analysis by going to the premium content page and clicking on the necessary link. If you are not a premium subscriber, you can obtain the analysis for $20 via SpeechGeek Market or you can purchase a 2014-2015 premium subscription via SpeechGeek Market, which will give you access to the topic area analysis and all of this season’s briefs and strategy articles for an additional $5.
Not sure whether you want to buy? A sample from each brief is included below.
International Extemp Analysis by Logan Scisco (Sample)
Topic Area #1: Africa
Issues
In last year’s topic area analysis, I made the statement that Africa is “a story of potential and chaos” and that theme still resonates for this year’s NSDA National Tournament. The African continent has the world’s youngest population, is witnessing continued population growth relative to other parts of the world, and is rich in raw materials. It is also in close proximity to other main arteries of the global economy, notably Western Europe, India, and the Middle East. However, the borders left by European colonialists, the inability of post-colonial leaders to construct viable states, and pressures of population growth have undermined the continent’s ability to become an economic juggernaut. After all, there is not an African nation that sits as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and one finds that African nations are largely ignored by the international media until a humanitarian crisis strikes. This is very unfortunate, as the continent should be commanding much more attention for international investors. Yet until African leaders can quell domestic problems the continent will continue to be seen as one of untapped potential.
An immediate point to make about this year’s topic area is that it simply reads as “Africa” just like last year. This means that every single African country is fair game for a question, although some areas will likely attract more questions than others (e.g. Nigeria, South Africa, and Somalia). The African continent is really a tale of two halves as North African countries that exist above the Sahara Desert have sizable Arab populations and Islam is the predominant faith. Experienced extempers will note that several of these North Africa countries such as Tunisia and Libya were sites of the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011. Sub-Saharan Africa, located below the Sahara Desert, includes most of Africa’s countries and these states tend to be smaller, yet arguably somewhat more economically prosperous than their Northern neighbors. Sub-Saharan states tend to have more peoples of African descent and they follow Christian or animist religious beliefs. Clashes between Northern and Sub-Saharan African countries over sectarian issues are common and the growth of Islamic extremism in North Africa could make this a more pressing issue in the future. Religious tensions fueled the Sudanese civil war of 1983-2005, are the basis for Nigeria’s conflict with Boko Haram, and are also prevalent in Somali militant campaigns against Kenya. The ability of the Islamic State to create a beachhead in Libya has also caused sectarian conflict with Egypt and Ethiopia (as well as the Libyan government that has failed to exercise any degree of sizable authority since the death of long-time dictator Colonel Moammar Gaddafi in 2011). There are also still lingering sectarian problems in Tunisia, where Islamic militants killed foreign tourists at the country’s Bardo Museum in March. Even though Tunisia is a secular state, disaffected young men are joining the Islamic State in nearby Libya, creating a significant security problem for the country. Extempers should also recognize that Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria have been forced to cooperate to quell Boko Haram’s violence. The good news is that they are making substantial progress as Boko Haram’s hold on Northeastern Nigeria is weakening. And of course, not all religious violence in Africa is committed by Islamists. Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a radical Christian fundamentalist group, has terrorized Uganda for nearly three decades now and has utilized child soldiers, abused women, and committed substantial atrocities, prompting the United States and the African Union (AU) to try to root out the group. And one cannot forget that religious tensions are also creating a hostile environment for homosexuals in Africa. The continent refused to embrace anti-homophobia day and leaders in Gambia, South Africa, and Kenya and countless other states have said that there is “no room” for gay Africans in their countries. The struggle in Africa over gay rights is part of a global culture war that goes beyond Africa and involves other countries such as Russia and Iran.
In addition to religious conflict, the African continent is the site of conflicts over political rights and raw materials. A civil war has plagued South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, since December 2013. In South Sudan, Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups are fighting for political control. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 100,000 have been displaced, prompting the United Nations to warn of a growing humanitarian crisis. Raw materials have fueled conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Belgium left the country in 1960, with most violence taking place in the country’s eastern half. Violence in the DRC was the site of what was termed Africa’s First World War in the 1990s when Angola, Chad, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Rwanda contested parts of the Congo’s territory. Somalia’s government is still trying to expand its authority, trying to quell the al-Shabab terrorist group that gives its neighbors such as Kenya significant problems. The international community has attempted to strength Somalia’s government, which has shown increasingly authoritarian tendencies in recent months such as shutting down radio stations and arresting journalists. Somali-based piracy is not the threat that it was in 2010-2011, partly due to efforts by the Indian Navy to thwart attacks on international commerce, but a lack of government control and economic development are at the root of many of the nation’s problems. The Sudanese government is also still at war with separatist militants in the Darfur region, who argue that the Arab-dominated Sudanese government is oppressing the non-Arab population of the Darfur region. It is notable that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir currently stands under indictment for crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his government’s activities in this region. On the bright side, Nigeria did have a successful presidential election on March 28 and voters ousted President Goodluck Jonathan, who surprised international observers by quickly conceding. Analysts hope that this will strengthen Nigerian democracy and serve as an eventual model for other African states.
Another theme across the African continent are political struggles against long-time leaders. Burundi garnered recent headlines when a coup was attempted against President Pierre Nkurunziza, who has been trying to seek a third term in office. Unrest has grown because under Burundi’s constitution a president cannot be elected for more than two terms, but the nation’s constitutional court is going to allow Nkurunziza to run again because he won his first term in office via appointment by parliament. Term limits are also a tricky issue in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as President Joseph Kabila might seek to amend the country’s constitution to seek a third term in 2016. This is already provoking violent protests as people fear a dictatorship and a violation of the country’s democratic principles. Rwanda also has a looming problem as President Paul Kagame, who has also served two terms, is seeking support for a constitutional amendment that would let him run for a third term as well. Like the Congo, Rwanda is also seeing protests against the idea, which has resulted in some suspicious deaths of pro-democracy advocates. A poster child for long-time political rule is Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe has ruled with an iron fist since December 1987. Mugabe is currently ninety-one years old and his rule has been marked by political repression, hyperinflation, a disastrous land seizure scheme against whites, and a callous attitude toward the urban poor. Late last year, Mugabe’s wife Grace (referred to as “Dis Grace” because of the many scandals that surround her) began to assume more political power within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, taking control of the Women’s League. She won her feud against Vice President Joice Mujuru, who was once designated as Mugabe’s successor, and her growing role on the ZANU-PF Politburo means that she could be in line to succeed her husband. There is also a question of whether the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa is best-suited to run the country. The ANC has governed South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 and its hold on power has been solidified because of South African reluctance to vote for the white-dominated Democratic Alliance (DA) Party. The DA has recently chosen a black South African, Mmusi Maimane, to lead it and broaden its appeal.
Arguably the most notable African issue of the 2014-2015 season was Ebola. Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever and the latest outbreak is thought to have begun in December 2013 in Guinea. Health experts argue that deforestation has brought African peoples into closer proximity to animals that are carriers of Ebola such as bats and the consumption of bushmeat, or the meat of wild animals, also increases the risk of Ebola transmission. Ebola eventually spread from Guinea to neighboring countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone and the governments of each country were ill-prepared for a public health crisis. Senegal and Nigeria also battled their own cases and health workers, on the front-lines of preventing the transmission of Ebola (for which there is no cure), succumbed to the virus as did tens of thousands of other Africans. Religious practices of washing the dead before burial and a suspicion of international health workers complicated efforts to contain the disease. When some health workers with Ebola were flown to Western Europe and the United States there were fears that those countries would suddenly have their own outbreaks and these fears arguably affected the U.S. midterm elections in November. The World Health Organization (WHO) now thinks that it has Ebola under control with the number of cases decreasing. Liberia was found to have had its outbreak end on May 9, but Sierra Leone and Guinea are still affected. The reason Ebola matters is that it economically devastated the affected West Africa states, while also serving as a reminder that in a globalized world new diseases from one part of the world can easily affect another. It should also be noted that Ebola overshadowed Africa’s ongoing battle with AIDS and HIV and while progress is being made on that front, aid workers say much more is needed to educate Africans about its dangers and more funding is needed for their work.
Finally, economic issues could factor into the Africa round, especially when it comes to the economic potential of the continent. Nigeria is the continent’s economic powerhouse, having the largest GDP of any African nation. However, most of Nigeria’s people live on less than $2 a day and the country is notoriously corrupt, with billions of dollars of oil revenue siphoned off by government bureaucrats and leaders in recent decades. Part of the reason that Muhammadu Buhari, a former dictator, won the Nigerian presidential election was his promise to clamp down on corruption. Time will tell if Buhari is able to do so and if he can quell violence with Boko Haram and regional movements such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) then he might turn Nigeria into a place that can attract greater foreign investment. South Africa attracted headlines in recent weeks for xenophobic attacks on migrant workers, which is due to the inability of its government to decrease the nation’s high unemployment rate that stands at over 20%. These problems date back to the end of apartheid where the South African economy liberalized, became more service-centric, and lost manufacturing and mining jobs. South Africans allege that migrants from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and Mozambique are taking much-needed jobs and violence against migrants drew condemnation from other African states. President Jacob Zuma and the ruling ANC also stand accused of fanning the flames of discontent to distract from the government’s inability to solve the persistent unemployment problem. A radical leftist party called the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of Julius Malema is appealing to South Africans angry about the economy and it advocates similar land seizure policies that were practiced in Zimbabwe. South Africa does have a problem of whites owning large tracts of property relative to the native black population, but radical land reform may alienate foreign investment, thereby making the country’s economic situation even worse. Furthermore, the dream of an economic integrated Africa still exists with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pressing for closer cooperation among African states to bolster economic development. Economic integrationists in Africa argue that old European colonial boundaries are inhibiting growth and fueling conflict and that an African version of the European Union (EU), one that potentially allowed greater movement of peoples, would overcome some of these problems. They also note that trade between African states is anemic when compared to other parts o the world and that it is easier for some African nations to trade with non-African states. African states also need to invest more in infrastructure, especially transportation and telecommunications, but it will take strong political leadership to win over foreign investors. Another glaring economic issue is female empowerment. Many African states have yet to truly empower women with adequate social and economic protections. Failing to integrate this part of the continent’s workforce into society is seen as a potential drag on growth in the decades ahead, especially in terms of a lack of access to education for women. Few investors currently feel confident parking money in a continent with ethnic tensions, religious conflict, and political uncertainty, so those problems must be fixed for Africa to realize its potential.
Strategy
For the Africa round, I would highly encourage you to bolster your files about the continent by cutting African sources. The place to do this would be AllAfrica. AllAfrica provides links to other African newspapers (which can be identified when looking under the title of a given article) and also provides its own original writing about the issues plaguing the continent. The Economist is also good, especially its archives. I highly encourage extempers to use the search function on The Economist’s main page for countries that have deficient coverage. Extempers also need to broaden their source base to include research institutes that are concerned with African problems. The International Crisis Group provides an overview of some of the continent’s conflicts (as well as other parts of the world) and places such as the African Center for Strategic Studies and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project can provide great information for the region. Finally, extempers should make use of the daily reports issued by the African Union, which has an interest in helping the continent prosper politically and economically.
I would also highly advise extempers to crack open a world history book and learn about some of the recent conflicts in Africa. A college-level World History text (possibly one that your school uses for AP World History) can be of great use. If you are limited for time, focus your attention on the European imperial control of Africa in the late 19th century and the decolonization that took place between the 1950s and 1970s. Europeans fundamentally altered the African continent by drawing boundaries that suited their aims and not those of the African peoples they governed, pitting ethnic groups against each other in imperial administration, and brutally abusing African peoples in their quest for raw materials (look at Belgium’s administration of the Congo for horrifying accounts of this). History is a very underutilized tool for extempers, but getting a grasp of these historical problems can help you explain for your judges how the problems that Africa is facing are long-term phenomenon and did not emerge overnight. History can also explain why some European nations, especially France and Italy, remain so heavily engaged with their former colonial states of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Mali.
Extempers should also head to the Voice of America pronunciation guide to look for foreign names that they do not know how to pronounce. This can be a challenge in African nations when the names of leaders do not easily translate into English equivalents. For example, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s last name is pronounced CHANG-R-I, which is something that would not be apparent to one that was not skilled with Zimbabwean dialects.
Most importantly, when talking about Africa please do not call it a country! The continent is rich with diversity in terms of political viewpoints, ethnic groups, religions, and other beliefs. When breaking down a conflict, make sure to adequately describe the groups fighting and why they are doing so. Remember that you are educating your audience about a large continent, so make them feel like you are talking with them and not at them.
Practice Questions
- How can the Democratic Alliance become a stronger force in South African politics?
- Is South Sudan on the verge of collapse?
- Would embracing gay rights help African nations better combat AIDS?
- Is the African Union doing enough to promote democracy?
- How should Muhammadu Buhari address corruption?
United States Extemp Analysis by Logan Scisco (Sample)
Topic Area #3: Business and Industry
Issues
As per usual, the United States Extemp tournament has two economics rounds, something that thrills hundreds of coaches, competitors, and judges. Okay, maybe not, but the reason that this type of division exists is because the question writers have to get thirteen topic areas and devoting a round solely to the operations of specific sectors of the economy and companies is sensible. However, this round can be difficult because extempers that confront “Economics” rounds at their local tournaments can just as easily take questions on fiscal and monetary policy without ever having to talk about General Motors, Microsoft, Comcast, or other corporate giants. Such an out will not exist here.
Sectors of the economy will be important in this round and the auto sector is usually an important area for questions. The U.S. auto industry is showing signs of growth, recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, and industry experts see 2015 as a banner year. Even SUV sales are climbing due to low gasoline prices. General Motors (GM) officials are facing possible criminal charges due to an ignition switch defect that has thus far been attributed to the deaths of more than one hundred people. The company also faces lawsuits related to the incident, which they are attempting to deflect due to the immunity they received as part of the 2009 auto bailout. GM will face negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union this year as well, creating an interesting showdown because both sides are headed by women (Mary Barra is the CEO of GM whereas Cindy Estrada is heading the UAW’s GM department). Pay raises and working conditions are likely to play a role in those negotiations. Innovation is always a big part of the auto industry and futuristic idea of self-driving cars is starting to become more of a reality. Google is allegedly testing this technology and Ford Motor Company’s CEO Mark Fields has said that his company wants to make self-driving cars affordable for all Americans. If self-driving cars become affordable, some industry experts see them as a major challenge for established auto companies. Netflix took out Blockbuster and other retail chains and self-driving cars could flatten GM, Ford, Toyota, and other companies if they do not innovate fast enough. Supporters of self-driving vehicles note that they could substantially eliminate traffic accidents and could be electrically powered, thereby reducing American fossil fuel consumption for gasoline. Of course, this could create substantial economic challenges because the collapse of American auto giants would create a major unemployment nightmare, but again, we are talking about the future.
In telecommunications, net neutrality will factor into this round. Earlier this year the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines (three Democrats to two Republicans) to reclassify broadband Internet providers as a telecommunications service, thereby allowing them to impose regulations as if these companies were public utilities. The FCC mandated that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot block or throttle content, nor can they compel companies to pay fees to achieve faster speeds on their networks. Telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Comcast argue that net neutrality rules are bad for their business as small companies that provide online content, especially streaming content, such as Netflix need to pay for part of the infrastructure necessary to carry that content to customers. Thus far, AT&T and CenturyLink have called for the FCC to rethink these rules and a court challenge over them is likely to play out in the years ahead. Additionally, mergers have been the dominant theme of telecommunications in recent years and 2014-2015 was no different. Public pressure and regulator skepticism caused Comcast to abandon its bid for Time Warner Cable, which would have sizably increased Comcast’s presence in the U.S. broadband market. Now, Charter Communications has reached a $55 billion agreement to acquire Time Warner, but this may not survive regulatory approval either. America Online was also recently taken over by Verizon for $4.4 billion as part of a push by Verizon to establish a greater presence in Internet content. Extempers should look into the arguments made for and against these mergers in telecommunications. Advocates for them say that they will result in better economies of scale and greater benefits for consumers, while skeptics say they will produce worse customer service and monopolies in local communities. Telecommunications firms are also being challenged by Google laying fiber networks in major metropolitan centers of the country such as Austin, Texas. In January, Google announced that fiber networks are planned for Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, and Nashville. If successful, Google could enhance its market presence even more and it was notable during the net neutrality debate that Google was silent, which some took as an indication that it now sees itself as a premier, established corporation and not as a small start-up. Also, some local communities are looking into building their own Internet networks that can be run as a public utility and telecommunications firms are crying foul over this development well. In fact, some have called upon state officials to prohibit such action.
In the airline industry, Southwest continues to dominate and customers remain unhappy. The airline industry, like other sectors of the economy, has experienced significant consolidation in recent decades and four carriers – Delta, American, United, and Southwest – control 80% of domestic passenger traffic. Airlines now stand accused of making it more difficult for travel agencies such as Expedia and travel sites such as TripAdvisor to access their airfare and route information, thereby costing consumers billions of dollars. This has led to calls for regulations that mandate more transparency within the industry. Despite the complaints, though, the U.S. airline industry is set to have a good 2015 with 2.5 million travelers expected to hit the skies this summer, which would be an industry record. The industry also saw its most profitable quarter of all-time in the first three months of this year (likely helped by low oil prices and a stronger U.S. dollar). However, some investors are worried about oversupply as airlines are all planning to bolster capacity and this may fuel more competition, which in turn will produce lower prices on some flights and less corporate profits. The industry must also handle security challenges, with some worried about whether the industry is doing enough to prevent hacking of aircraft and there is a renewed focus on pilot mental health after the tragic downing of Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps in late March.
The U.S. oil and natural gas industry’s boom has helped to lower oil prices globally, but fears exist about how several firms are carrying too much debt that they may not be able to pay off due to the low rates of return that they are acquiring from low oil prices. To give an indication of how the industry has grown, in 2008 the U.S. produced 5 million barrels of oil a day, but last year it produced 8.7 million barrels of oil per day. Natural gas also increased from 57.7 billion cubic feet a day to 74.7 billion cubic feet per day during the same time frame. The boom has led to more jobs in states such as North Dakota and Texas, but again, people question whether the boom is sustainable. Optimists see continued innovation as an asset for U.S. oil firms, but sustained low prices benefit other oil producers such as Saudi Arabia that have fewer overhead costs. There are also concerns that a wave of defaults by oil companies could spill into financial markets as investors have found good rates of return here in recent years. This could sow the seeds of another financial crisis if regulators are not careful. With reports coming out that banks are starting to become hesitant in lending money to oil businesses that have growing debt burdens, this is a story that extempers need to start thinking about.
In terms of other prominent businesses and sectors, do not forget that you may get a question about the wisdom of Apple’s investment in its recent watch. Also, fast food chains are redesigning their image with Taco Bell and Pizza Hut pledging to eliminate artificial flavors and colors from most of its selections. McDonald’s is struggling dismal sales figures, so much so that it has recently decided to quit releasing monthly sales data. The company’s CEO Don Thompson retired in January (although he was really fired by all accounts) and Steve Easterbrook, its chief brand officer, was put in his place. Easterbrook has decided that the company needs to warm its burger buns more and also heat its burger patties longer to try to improve taste. Beyond this, the company also faces the brunt of worker protests for $15 wages, something that is a very polarizing issue among Americans because a wage hike of that magnitude would make unskilled work on par with skilled work in some parts of the country. Still, Wal-Mart has decided to raise its hourly minimum wage to $10 by February 2016 in face of some progressive protests. The U.S. steel industry hoped that 2015 would be a turnaround year, but this did not happen as prices collapsed and Moody’s sees the industry as declining and not stabilizing. The steel industry has fought for more than a decade for trade protections, but this is an uphill battle for a Congress that is in the process of giving President Obama trade promotion authority. The U.S. poultry industry is facing the brunt of a bird flu outbreak that should not be ignored for this round and agricultural interests are feuding with West Coast and Southwestern states such as California over water rights in light of the region’s drought. U.S. agricultural subsidies are also under international attack as Brazil is in the process of challenging U.S. subsidies for soy and corn farmers.
Finally, extempers should not forget about consumer protections in this round and this revolves around data breaches. Congress has yet to pass a major legislation that clarifies whether companies should monitor identity fraud, should be legally bound to recover financial losses that customers endure, and protect the credit ratings of minors. In the past few years, Anthem, Target, CareFirst, Sony’s Playstation Network, and even the Internal Revenue Service have been hacked and customer information has been compromised to some degree.
Strategy
This round demands that you know about the microeconomic aspect of the economy and tests whether you can fit that into a macroeconomic framework. This inverts traditional economic rounds where you center your analysis primarily on wages, unemployment, or another economic issue and then use sectors of the economy or businesses as examples. If you are not aware of what is taking place in specific sectors of the economy, then you need to read about it over the next few weeks. You do not have to know every minor detail, but it helps to know which industries are doing well, which are not, and a few quick facts about each industry (e.g. what challenges they face, do they have labor disputes, how prevalent are mergers, etc.).
Remember that since this is an economic round that you will need to have statistics to back up your conclusions. This will include employment figures, profits, and growth numbers (or numbers that indicate a lack thereof). However, be careful of turning the round into a “data dump.” Make sure that you impact all of your statistics to give them meaning. So what if the airline industry’s profits have risen by 5%? What does that mean? Similarly, what might it mean for GM if it has to pay hundreds of millions more for worker’s health insurance? Numbers without impacts are numbers without meaning and the “data dump” strategy will not only hinder the communication of your advocacy, but it will also frustrate and alienate your audience. As I recommend for the other economic round, try to put a human face on the issues you are talking about here. If you have to talk about data breaches, try to find a brief story or quotation of someone who was negatively affected by the event. The same can be said of industry layoffs or poor pay. This will provide a creative dimension to your analysis and make it more realistic instead of merely theoretical.
Keep in mind that you can use a lot of information in this round to support your conclusions in the “The State of the American Economy” round and vice versa. Although your focus in this round should be more microeconomic, you can still touch on the strength of the American dollar, current monetary policy, and federal and state-level economic policymaking and regulation. Just remember that these aspects of the economy should not overwhelm your analysis in this round, though, and that they should supplement your existing analysis about a given industry.
For sources, you want to cut the business section of various newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. Bloomberg’s Business Week is also valuable, as are any Economist articles that focus specifically on a U.S. industry. The Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Commerce can also provide interesting data on business activity in the United States and can help you vary your sources.
Practice Questions
- Will net neutrality help or hinder innovation in the telecommunications industry?
- What should companies be obligated to do when a data breach occurs?
- Should regulators block the proposed Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable merger?
- How can McDonald’s improve their sagging financial fortunes?
- Will American automakers fortunes continue to improve over the next five years?