Framework

Framework is the argument that kritik-affirmatives must defend a topical policy action. The negative claims that allowing K-affs to abandon the resolution undermines the educational and competitive functions of debate: preparation becomes impossible when the aff’s thesis is unknown, and the judge cannot evaluate competing policy proposals if one side is not making one.

The two main views on framework are competing impacts and procedural. The competing-impacts view treats framework as a policy question where the negative must outweigh the aff’s reasons to prefer kritical education. The procedural view treats framework as a threshold question: if the aff is not topical, the negative wins regardless of the substantive debate, because a non-topical advocacy cannot fulfill the resolution’s burden of proof.