Defense (policy debate)

In policy debate, defense refers to argument which has no implication other than mitigating an argument made by the opposing team.

For example, "A will not cause B" is an defensive argument, while "A will cause B" is a offensive argument.

Defesnive arguements may often be conceded to "kick out" of positions. For example, a team wishing to kick out of their politics disadvantage could concede the arguement "Fiat takes out the link]]." Although this argument is frowned upon by the community, the fact that it is conceded gives it 100% percent weight in the round and thus takes out any offence the other team may have on that flow. For example, an impact turn on a disad with no internal link becomes irrelevant.

See Also