25 debates in this category.
Big business refers to large corporations and conglomerates that wield significant economic and political power, often operating across multiple industries and national borders. The debate concerns the balance between their productive efficiency and their social and political influence.
Policies and efforts to preserve the variety of life on Earth — species, genetic diversity, and ecosystems — and the habitats that sustain them, in the face of accelerating extinction driven by human activity.
The deliberate, nonviolent refusal to comply with laws or government demands as a form of political protest, based on a higher moral or ethical principle. Debate concerns its legitimacy, effectiveness, and the obligations of democratic citizens.
Government mandates requiring citizens to receive vaccinations against certain diseases, with penalties for non-compliance. Debate involves public health imperatives, individual liberty, and the limits of state power over the body.
The proposal for wealthy nations and international financial institutions to forgive debts owed by the world's poorest countries, freeing resources for domestic investment in health, education, and development rather than debt service to foreign creditors.
Fiat currency is money that derives its value from government decree and legal tender status rather than from a fixed link to a physical commodity such as gold. All major national currencies today are fiat currencies, governed by central banks.
Deliberate large-scale technological interventions in Earth's climate system — such as stratospheric aerosol injection or ocean iron fertilization — intended to counteract global warming. Debate weighs its potential as an emergency measure against profound risks and governance challenges.
The government's borrowing power refers to the state's capacity to issue debt — typically through bonds — to fund expenditures that exceed current tax revenues. It is both a fiscal tool and a subject of ongoing debate about sustainability, intergenerational equity, and macroeconomic management.
The movement of people from one country to another with the intention of settling permanently. Immigration policy involves trade-offs between humanitarian obligations, economic interests, cultural cohesion, and national security.
Legal rights over creations of the mind, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. Intellectual property law attempts to balance innovation incentives against public access to knowledge and culture.
A permanent international tribunal established to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression when national courts are unwilling or unable to act. Debate concerns its legitimacy, effectiveness, and geopolitical selectivity.
A political ideology holding that the nation is the central unit of human social life and that national interests should be prioritized in governance and policy. Nationalism ranges from civic pride to ethno-cultural exclusion.
The proposal to eliminate all nuclear weapons globally through multilateral treaties and verified disarmament, based on the view that their existence poses an unacceptable existential risk to humanity.
An electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes wins regardless of whether they receive a majority. Plurality rule is the simplest vote-counting method but critics argue it distorts representation in multi-candidate races.
The practice of using language and behavior that avoids marginalizing or offending historically disadvantaged groups. Political correctness is defended as a form of respect and contested as a constraint on free expression and honest discourse.
A system in which citizens elect representatives to make political decisions on their behalf rather than deciding matters directly. Debate concerns the quality, legitimacy, and responsiveness of representative versus direct democratic forms.
The right of individuals to control information about themselves and be free from unwarranted surveillance or intrusion. Debate centers on the balance between privacy and legitimate state and commercial interests in security and data use.
The constitutional division of government authority among distinct legislative, executive, and judicial branches to prevent any single entity from accumulating excessive power. Debate concerns its effectiveness, adaptability, and limitations.
A political philosophy favoring minimal government intervention in the economy and personal life, with power devolved to lower levels or the private sector. Debate concerns economic efficiency, public welfare, and the appropriate scope of collective action.
A levy on foods and beverages with high sugar content — most commonly sugary drinks — intended to reduce consumption, fund public health programs, and shift dietary behavior at a population level. Debate concerns health effectiveness, economic incidence, and paternalism.
A nation with dominant global influence exerted through military, economic, and cultural power. Debate concerns the legitimacy of unipolar dominance, the benefits of great power competition, and the prospects for a multipolar world order.
The debate over whether developing nations are better served by expanded access to wealthy-country markets and trade liberalization, or by direct financial aid and development assistance. The two approaches reflect different theories of what causes and sustains development.
The power held by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the U.S., Russia, China, France, and the UK — to block any substantive resolution, effectively making unanimous great-power agreement a precondition for binding Security Council action.
Organized armed conflict between nations, states, or non-state groups, pursued through military force. Debate concerns the conditions under which war may be justified, its humanitarian costs, and alternatives to military resolution of conflict.
The transfer of water supply and distribution services from public ownership to private companies. Debate involves whether water is a human right that markets cannot be trusted to deliver, or a service that private operators can provide more efficiently.