Introduction to 2013-14 debate topic

1. Introduction to 2013-14 debate topic

2. The Resolution Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela.

3. The Topic Paragraph Because of the prevalence of Mexico in the news and Cuba in the study of American history, novice debaters should be able to make their entry into the topic relatively easily, while issues related to indigenous peoples and deeper discussions of capitalism will provide fertile educational ground for advanced and kritik oriented debaters. Affirmative cases may examine the role of embargoes and sanctions, remittances from immigrants, foreign assistance and issues regarding the drug economies. Negative arguments may address the efficacy of foreign assistance, non-economically oriented solutions to issues raised by the affirmative, kritiks of capitalism, the state and the United States specifically and the effects of these policies on United States hegemony.

4. Resolved: The presence of resolved as a convention. We call the topic a resolution. Is resolved part of the topic itself? Help.org http://www.examples-help.org.uk/punctuation/punctuation-marks.htm. The colon is a punctuation mark (:) which is used to direct attention to matter (such as a list, an explanation, a quotation, or amplification) that follows.

5. Colon means USFG is the Agent Army Officer School 2004 (5-12, “# 12, Punctuation – The Colon and Semicolon”, http://usawocc.army.mil/IMI/wg12.htm) The colon introducesthe following: a.  A list, but only after "as follows," "the following," or a noun for which the list is an appositive: Each scout will carry the following: (colon) meals for three days, a survival knife, and his sleeping bag. The company had four new officers: (colon) Bill Smith, Frank Tucker, Peter Fillmore, and Oliver Lewis. b.  A long quotation (one or more paragraphs): In The Killer Angels Michael Shaara wrote: (colon) You may find it a different story from the one you learned in school. There have been many versions of that battle [Gettysburg] and that war [the Civil War]. (The quote continues for two more paragraphs.) c.  A formal quotation or question: The President declared: (colon) "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The question is: (colon) what can we do about it? d.  A second independent clause which explains the first: Potter's motive is clear: (colon) he wants the assignment. e.  After the introduction of a business letter: Dear Sirs: (colon) Dear Madam: (colon) f.  The details following an announcement For sale: (colon) large lakeside cabin with dock g.  A formal resolution, after the word "resolved:"Resolved: (colon) That this council petition the mayor.

6. ‘Resolved’ requires a commitment to policy action Words and Phrases 64 (Permanent Edition) Definition of the word “resolve,” given by Webster is “to express an opinion or determination by resolution or vote; as ‘it was resolved by the legislature;” It is of similar force to the word “enact,” which is defined by Bouvieras meaning “to establish by law”. American Heritage Dictionary, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resolved) INTRANSITIVE VERB:1. To reach a decision or make a determination: resolve on a course of action. 2. To become separated or reduced to constituents. 3. Music To undergo resolution. Random House 6 (Unabridged Dictionary, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/resolve) re·solve1. to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine (to do something): I have resolved that I shall live to the full.

7. Aff critical use– Resolved as an openness to thinking rather than a commitment to acting. Resolved as openness to a thought: Pezze, 2k6, 2k6 (Barbara, PhD Philosophy at Honk Kong U, “Heidegger on Gelassenheit”, Minerva, vol .10, http://www.ul.ie/~philos/vol10/Heidegger.html Let us pause for a moment to consider a possible misunderstanding. It could appear, from what we have been saying, that Gelassenheit “floats in the realm of unreality and so in nothingness, and, lacking all power of action, is a will-less letting in of everything and, basically, the denial of the will to live!” (1966a, p. 80). But this is not the case, for in the Gelassenheit we find something that recalls the “power of action,” but which is not a will. It is a “resolve”[Entschlossenheit] (ibid., p. 81), but not as an act of will that makes a decision and finds a solution to a problem or a situation. This “resolve,” as Heidegger himself suggests, must be thought as the one that is spoken of in Being and Time, that is, it is a “letting oneself be called forth” (1996, p. 283) to one’s own most possibility of being. “Resoluteness” — as Entschlossenheit is translated in Being and Time — is “authentic being a self” (1996, p. 274). It is quite difficult to think a resolve that is not a matter of will that moves to an action; we tend, in fact, to consider resoluteness as a strong determination to attain something. As we read in Heidegger’s Introduction To Metaphysics (2000), the essence of the resolve, as he intends it, is not an intention to act; it is not a ‘gathering of energy’ to be released into action. Resolve is the beginning, the inceptual beginning of any action moved. Here acting is not be taken as an action undertakenby Dasein in being resolute. Rather, acting refers to the existential and fundamental mode of being of Dasein, which is to be “care,” and which is the “primordial” being of Dasein.

8. Resolved does not require doing and can be tentative Barbour 98 Rejecting mere stasis, Feltham's resolve of process risks the dispersion that any sage must finally avoid: as a verb, the word "resolve" can mean "dissolve" or "disintegrate." In turn, Feltham tips the balance in the direction of Stoic perfection by including a resolve that praises inviolable resolution and by making such resolution the goal of resolve: thus, the word can mean "harmonize," "compose," "be certain," or "solve." His readers have noticed that Feltham, like Ford, is in conflict with himself over the relative ethical merits of fixed resolution and tentative resolve. Indeed, Ford's tragic protagonists cannot escape from the very extremes of stasis and dispersion that Feltham s resolve attempts to navigate.¶ By name and structure, contributors to the premiere genre of the second decade distinguished "resolves" from "vows," which are insistently termed as such and separated for their inviolable sanctity from the exploratory resolve.14 In the twenties, Feltham's Resolves defined for his generation the fundamental difference between a tentative resolve and a static vow:11¶ Resolutions may often change, sometimes for the better; and the last ever stands firmest. But vowes well made should know no variance; for the first should bee sure without alteration. Hee that violates their per¬formancefailes of his dutie, and every breach is a wound to the soule. I will resolve oft, before I vow once; never resolve to vow, but what I may keepe: never vow, but what I both can and will keepe. (Lievsay, 105)¶ This sequence—tentative resolves, last and firmest resolution, invariant vow—advocates process but not dispersion. It resists a premature fixity yet issues in secure and stable resolution, which merges with the sacred vow. Although the abuse of vows is a common theme in Renaissance literature, the emphasis on their difference from exploratory resolves is especially remarked by writers like Feltham, who encapsulates the mental and spiritual assets of self-reformat ion, still guided by structure, still secured in hierarchy.16

9. Resolve does not require permanence Barbour 98 Reid Barbour is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. English Epicures and Stoics: Ancient Legacies in Early Stuart Culture google books In the second decade of the seventeenth century, the notion of a static, unswerving "resolution" was decisively challenged by developments in the prose essay, medication, and vow. Culminating in the enormously popular work of Owen Feltham, these developments produced a prose genre, the "resolve," which advocates a tentative process in self-determination, eventually yielding (rather than presupposing) closure or "avowal." That the resolve has generic boundaries or strategies has been demonstrated by John Lievsay and Ted-Larry Pebworth.11 Diverging from the essay and meditation, the structure of a complete resolve comprises the writer's observation of public or private phenomena, followed by a judgment, usually along moral or religious lines, which issues in a proposed course of action with fluctuating degrees of self-determination: "I will," "let me," "I would." Even when the resolve is incomplete, the familiarity or momentum of the process encourages us to fulfill the expected sequence of observation, judgment, and decision. Most important, the resolve is remarkable for its tentativeness, a point underscored by the hypothetical "if or casuistic "when" in an essay's culminating proposal to effect some change or to do some act, for example, "if I find that lost, which I thought to have kept, I will comfort myself."12¶ Beyond structure, this emerging genre subsumes and transforms Ford's beloved resolution—the Stoic's fixed, static endurance seamlessly elaborated in a rigid code of behavior—into an engagement with the processes of human potential, ripe with the possibilities of change, growth, error, improvement, and finally, firm composure. This last stage of preparation, the true resolve of the framed mind, is designed to avoid the dispersed or "uncomposed man" as Feltham describes him in "Of Resolution" (Lievsay, 83).

10. Resolve can be temporary and performative Barbour 98 Reid Barbour is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. English Epicures and Stoics: Ancient Legacies in Early Stuart Culture google books The similarity between Perkins's purpose/vow and Feltham's resolve/vow is manifest- Vows mark the end of a tentative process and of alteration; like Feltham, Perkins is remarkably careful about this. Resolves, on the other hand, allow for imperfection, that is, for a discrepancy between the actor's intentions and performances, and for some ambiguity or uncertainty within intentions and performances. To adopt Epictetus's metaphor for the Stoic sage who by choice is identical to the part already destined for him, the resolver struggles to realize his election, though election ensures his perseverance toward Feltham's last and firmest resolve. 10 Thomas Fuller summarizes the entire point when he declares that "there is a grand difference betwixt a Resolution and a Vow." "Resolution" admits change according to occasion or further search into "the world of [one's] own heart." Only God can acquit a vow." Firmness of resolve does not require permanent commitment Theosophical¶ Movement 03 ¶ A Magazine Devoted to¶ The Living of the Higher Life¶ ¶ Vol. 74—No. 2 http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7402goal.html Technically, action planning is the second most important step, next to the first management rule, namely, goal-setting. One must be able to define or identify the steps that could lead to goal achievement. Sometimes the plan, however well set, may require to be modified as we go along the way—after due deliberation. One must be ready for an unexpected turn of events. The game-plan may be ready at hand but we must be creative and flexible in approach. Firmness of the resolve does not mean frozen rigidity or one-track thinking.

11. Resolve by mental analysis Webstershttp://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/resolve Definition of RESOLVE a:break up, separate <the prism resolved the light into a play of color>; also: to change by disintegration b:to reduce by analysis <resolve the problem into simple elements> c: to distinguish between or make independently visible adjacent parts of d: to separate (a racemic compound or mixture) into the two components

12. 4 a: to deal with successfully : clear up <resolve doubts> <resolve a dispute> b:to find an answer to c: to make clear or understandable d:to find a mathematical solution of e: to split up (as a vector) into two or more components especially in assigned directions

13. The United States federal government The Agent of Action in resolution The Government in Washington D.C. The Free Dictionary.com federal government - United States - the executive and legislative and judicial branches of the federalgovernment of the United States People as 4th branch of government

14. Should Should/would “ought to”— Fiat implications Tense (past tense of shall) Freedictionary.com Usage Note: Like the rules governing the use of shall and will on which they are based, the traditional rules governing the use of should and wouldare largely ignored in modern American practice. Either should or wouldcan now be used in the first person to express conditional futurity: If I had known that, I would (or somewhat more formally, should) have answered differently.

15. substantially a) Substantially is an adverb modifying the verb increase sub·stan·tial (Yourdictionary.com) of or having substance real; actual; true; not imaginary strong; solid; firm; stout considerable; ample; large of considerable worth or value; important b) It is a relative term InState v. Rose the court held that “the term ‘substantially’ is relative and must be considered within the context of the particular fact situation; in essence, it means less than totally or the whole, but more than imaginary” (Words and Phrases, Vol. 40, 1995, p. 458).

16. How do you determine whether an increase is substantial? --Percentage tests Words and Phrases “Evidence including eating establishments owner’s admission that 25 percent of food served in the years 1963-1965 and 18 percent of first six months of fiscal year of 1965-1966 moved in commerce established that a ‘substantial’ portion of food served had moved in interstate commerce” (Words and Phrases, Vol. 40, 1995, p. 309).

17. ADVOCACY HANDBOOK 09 THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS The Federal Budget Process FY 2010 Appropriations Timeline Glossary of Congressional Terms Tips on Lobbying http://www.statehumanities.org/library/advocacyhbweb.pdf. Prior to the 1976 law, the percentage of income or activities that an organization could devote to lobbying was unclear. Based on decisions of courts, which were not necessarily consistent with one another, an organization could spend no more than “an insubstantial amount” of its budget on lobbying, with up to 5 percent being interpreted as “insubstantial.” Conversely, a substantial amount was “more than 5 percent.” Any organization engaging in a substantial amount of lobbying (devoting more than 5 percent of its budget to lobbying activity) could be in danger of losing its tax deductible status under this admittedly vague guideline.

18. Percentage Tests Inappropriate LEO 08 Kevin Leo** J.D. Candidate, Spring 2008, Hastings College of the Law. Hastings Business Law Journal Spring, 2008 4 Hastings Bus. L.J. 297 LEXIS In contrast, the court in Haswell v. United States held that spending over sixteen percent of an organization's time on lobbying was substantial. n83 The court found that applying a strict percentage test to determine whether activities are substantial would be inappropriate, since  [*308]  such a test "obscures the complexity of balancing the organization's activities in relation to its objectives and circumstances in the context of the totality of the organization." n84 SUBSTANTIAL MEANS TANGIBLE …SUBSTANTIALLY DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY PARTICULAR PERCENTAGE. WORDS AND PHRASES 95 (Words and Phrases, Vol. 40, 1995, p. 458) In State v. Rose the court held that “the term ‘substantially’ is relative and must be considered within the context of the particular fact situation; in essence, it means less than totally or the whole, but more than imaginary” (Words and Phrases, Vol. 40, 1995, p. 458).

19. The problem this year is Relative to what? How do you measure economic engagement?

20. SUBSTANTIALLY MEANS WITHOUT MATERIAL QUALIFICATION Smith 84 Jim, Attorney General of florida 1984 http://myfloridalegal.com/ago.nsf/Opinions/9CF0AA7178DC692C8525657700610790 No definition or construction of the term "substantially" is contained within s 166.041(3)(c), F.S., as that term is used in the phrase "which substantially change permitted use categories." However, words in common use in a statute are to be construed in their plain and ordinary sense. See, State v. Tunnicliffe, 124 So. 279 (Fla.1929); Gasson v. Gay, 49 So.2d 567 (Fla.1950); Pedersen v. Green, 105 So.2d 1 (Fla.1958); State v. Egan, 287 So.2d 1, 4 (Fla.1973). "Substantially" is defined as: "Essentially; without material qualification; in the main; in substance; materially; in a substantial manner." Black's Law Dictionary 1281 (5th ed. 1979). " 'Substantially' is variously defined as meaning in a substantial manner; in substance; in the main; essentially; solidly; actually; really; truly; competently." 83 C.J.S. Substantially p. 765. Further, the term has been construed as not meaning wholly or completely, but it may mean part. See, 83 C.J.S. supra. Nor does the statute define or limit or qualify the phrase "permitted use categories" in zoning districts or distinguish between absolute or conditional uses.In the absence of any legislative direction, it would appear that the addition of any other permitted use within a particular district, whether conditioned upon the grant of a special exception or otherwise, would "substantially change" the permissible uses within a particular district. The addition of various uses permitted by special exception such as those contemplated in your question seem to "substantially change," i.e., materially or essentially change, the uses permitted in the affected zoning districts of Riviera Beach. Therefore, it would appear that the City of Riviera Beach must comply with the notice requirements of s 166.041(3)(c), F.S., as the proposed ordinances substantially change permitted use categories in zoning districts as contemplated therein. Black's Law Dictionary 1428-29 (6th ed. 1990) "Substantially" means " without material qualification

21. Substantially can mean how it is done not the amount JAMES L. WATSON, SENIOR JUDGE 2002 UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE GENESCO INC., :Plaintiff, :v.Court No. 92-02-00084 UNITED STATES http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op00/00-57.pdf. The term “substantially” is used as an adverb preceding a verb, the term means “in a substantial manner: so as to be substantial.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (1968).

22. Increase To make greater in some manner THINKEXIST.COM http://thinkexist.com/dictionary/meaning/increase/ INCREASE: (v. t.) To augment or make greater inbulk, quantity, extent, value, or amount, etc.; to add to; to extend; to lengthen; to enhance; to aggravate; as, to increase one's possessions, influence.

23. Increase requires preexistence Buckley et al, 06 - attorney (Jeremiah, Amicus Curiae Brief, Safeco Ins. Co. of America et al v. Charles Burr et al, http://supreme.lp.findlaw.com/supreme_court/briefs/06-84/06-84.mer.ami.mica.pdf) First, the court said that the ordinary meaning of the word “increase” is “to make something greater,” which it believed should not “be limited to cases in which a company raises the rate that an individual has previously been charged.” 435 F.3d at 1091. Yet the definition offered by the Ninth Circuit compels the opposite conclusion. Because “increase” means “to make something greater,” there must necessarily have been an existing premium, to which Edo’s actual premium may be compared, to determine whether an “increase” occurred. Congress could have provided that “ad-verse action” in the insurance context means charging an amount greater than the optimal premium, but instead chose to define adverse action in terms of an “increase.” That def-initional choice must be respected, not ignored. See Colautti v. Franklin, 439 U.S. 379, 392-93 n.10 (1979) (“[a] defin-ition which declares what a term ‘means’ . . . excludes any meaning that is not stated”). Next, the Ninth Circuit reasoned that because the Insurance Prong includes the words “existing or applied for,” Congress intended that an “increase in any charge” for insurance must “apply to all insurance transactions – from an initial policy of insurance to a renewal of a long-held policy.” 435 F.3d at 1091. This interpretation reads the words “exist-ing or applied for” in isolation. Other types of adverse action described in the Insurance Prong apply only to situations where a consumer had an existing policy of insurance, such as a “cancellation,” “reduction,” or “change” in insurance. Each of these forms of adverse action presupposes an already-existing policy, and under usual canons of statutory construction the term “increase” also should be construed to apply to increases of an already-existing policy. See Hibbs v. Winn, 542 U.S. 88, 101 (2004) (“a phrase gathers meaning from the words around it”) (citation omitted).

24. Its Its is a Possessive Pronoun May be defined to require ownership— Your Dictionary.com its (its) pronoun that or those belonging to it: the possessive form of it, used without a following noun Origin: Early ModE analogical formation < it + ʼs; written it's until early 19th c.: the ME & OE form was his possessive pronominal adjective of, belonging to, made by, or done by it English Grammar 5 (Glossary of English Grammar Terms, http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/possessive- pronoun.html) Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs are the possessive pronouns used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership. EG. This is your disk and that's mine. (Mine substitutes the word disk and shows that it belongs to me.)

25. BlueBook of Grammar http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp. Possessive pronouns show ownership and never need apostrophes. Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs Wickstromhttp://www.spwickstrom.com/pronouns/. A possessive personal pronoun is used to indicate that the pronoun defines who owns (ownership) a particular object or person.

26. “Its” is exclusive--- Douglas F. Brent 10, attorney, June 2, 2010, “Reply Brief on Threshold Issues of Cricket Communications, Inc.,” online: http://psc.ky.gov/PSCSCF/2010%20cases/2010-00131/20100602_Crickets_Reply_Brief_on_Threshold_Issues.PDF) Notably, Merger Commitment 7.4 states that “AT&T/BellSouth ILECs shall permit a requesting telecommunications carrier to extend its current interconnection agreement . . . . As written, the commitment allows any carrier to extend “its” agreement. Clearly, the use of the pronoun “its” in this context is possessive, such that the term “its” means - that particular carrier’s agreement with AT&T (and not any other carrier’s agreement). Thus, the merger commitment applies to each agreement that an individual carrier may have with AT&T. It necessarily follows then, that Cricket’s right to extend its agreement under Merger Commitment 7.4 is separate and distinct right from another carrier’s right to extend its agreement with AT&T (or whether such agreement has been extended).

27. Affirmatives may want to include broader definitions meaning associated with Its means belonging to or associated with Dictionary.com, 9 (based on Collins English Dictionary, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/its?s=t) its (ɪts) — determiner a. of, belonging to, or associated in some way with it: its left rear wheel Possessive pronouns mean associated with Zozanga.com http://www.zozanga.com/grammar/pronounpossessive.htm. The possessive pronoun shows who the thing being referred to belongs to or is associated with. http://www.englishforums.com/English/PossessivePronoun/vlvn/post.htm. Possession doesn't always mean "ownership", of course. When it comes to human relationships, possession just means "associated with" or "related to", but such relationships still count as possessive case.

28. Economic Engagement Economic Engagement is a term of art. Engagement strategies have generally evolved out of strategies for dealing with nations with which we have political disagreements. It grows out of the 1980’s strategy of “Constructive Engagement” with South Africa. It is generally treated as an alternative to strategies of economic isolation or sanctions on a country.

29. Unfortunately there is a lack of consensus and precision in the literature on how the term of art is used Resnik, 1 – Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University (Evan, Journal of International Affairs, “Defining Engagement” v54, n2, political science complete) While the term "engagement" enjoys great consistency and clarity of meaning in the discourse of romantic love, it enjoys neither in the discourse of statecraft. Currently, practitioners and scholars of American foreign policy are vigorously debating the merits of engagement as a strategy for modifying the behavior of unsavory regimes. The quality of this debate, however, is diminished by the persistent inability of the US foreign policy establishment to advance a coherent and analytically rigorous conceptualization of engagement. In this essay, I begin with a brief survey ofthe conceptual fog that surrounds engagement and then attempt to give a more refined definition. I will use this definition as the basis for drawing a sharp distinction between engagement and alternative policy approaches, especially appeasement, isolation and containment. In the contemporary lexicon of United States foreign policy, few terms have been as frequently or as confusingly invoked as that of engagement.(n1) A growing consensus extols the virtues of engagement as the most promising policy for managing the threats posed to the US by foreign adversaries. In recent years, engagement constituted the Clinton administration's declared approach in the conduct of bilateral relations with such countries as China, Russia, North Korea and Vietnam. Robert Suettinger, a onetime member of the Clinton administration's National Security Council, remarked that the word engagement has "been overused and poorly defined by a variety of policymakers and speechwriters" and has "become shopworn to the point that there is little agreement on what it actually means."(n2) The Clinton foreign policy team attributed five distinct meanings to engagement:(n3) A broad-based grand strategic orientation: In this sense, engagement is considered synonymous with American internationalism and global leadership. For example, in a 1993 speech, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake observed that American public opinion was divided into two rival camps: "On the one side is protectionism and limited foreign engagement; on the other is active American engagement abroad on behalf of democracy and expanded trade."(n4) A specific approach to managing bilateral relations with a target state through the unconditional provision of continuous concessions to that state: During the 1992 presidential campaign, candidate Bill Clinton criticized the Bush administration's "ill-advised and failed" policy of "constructive engagement" toward China as one that "coddled the dictators and pleaded for progress, but refused to impose penalties for intransigence."(n5) A bilateral policy characterized by the conditional provision of concessions to a target state: The Clinton administration announced in May 1993 that the future extension of Most Favored Nation trading status to China would be conditional on improvements in the Chinese government's domestic human rights record.(n6) Likewise, in the Agreed Framework signed by the US and North Korea in October 1994, the US agreed to provide North Korea with heavy oil, new light-water nuclear reactors and eventual diplomatic and economic normalization in exchange for a freeze in the North's nuclear weapons program.(n7) A bilateral policy characterized by the broadening of contacts in areas of mutual interest with a target state: Key to this notion of engagement is the idea that areas of dialogue and fruitful cooperation should be broadened and not be held hostage through linkage to areas of continuing disagreement and friction. The Clinton administration inaugurated such a policy toward China in May 1994 by declaring that it would not tie the annual MFN decision to the Chinese government's human rights record.(n8) Similarly, the administration's foreign policy toward the Russian Federation has largely been one of engagement and described as an effort to "build areas of agreement and...develop policies to manage our differences."(n9) A bilateral policy characterized by the provision of technical assistance to facilitate economic and political liberalization in a target state: In its 1999 national security report, the White House proclaimed that its "strategy of engagement with each of the NIS [Newly Independent States]" consisted of "working with grassroots organizations, independent media, and emerging entrepreneurs" to "improve electoral processes and help strengthen civil society," and to help the governments of the NIS to "build the laws, institutions and skills needed for a market democracy, to fight crime and corruption [and] to advance human rights and the rule of law."(n10) Unfortunately, scholars have not fared better than policymakers in the effort to conceptualize engagement because they often make at least one of the following critical errors: (1) treating engagement as a synonym for appeasement; (2) defining engagement so expansively that it essentially constitutes any policy relying on positive sanctions; (3) defining engagement in an unnecessarily restrictive manner.

30. Developing precise definitions is important Resnik, 1 – Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University (Evan, Journal of International Affairs, “Defining Engagement” v54, n2, political science complete) In matters of national security, establishing a clear definition of terms is a precondition for effective policymaking. Decisionmakers who invoke critical terms in an erratic, ad hoc fashion risk alienating their constituencies. They also risk exacerbating misperceptions and hostility among those the policies target. Scholars who commit the same error undercut their ability to conduct valuable empirical research. Hence, if scholars and policymakers fail rigorously to define "engagement," they undermine the ability to build an effective foreign policy. The refined definition I propose as a substitute for existing descriptions of engagement is different in two important ways: First, it clarifies the menu of choices available for policymakers by allowing engagement to be distinguished from related approaches such as appeasement, containment and isolation. Second, it lays the groundwork for systematic and objective research on historical cases of engagement in order to discern the conditions under which it can be used effectively. Such research will, in turn, help policymakers acquire the information necessary to better manage the rogue states of the 21st century.

31. Engagement must have the purpose of changing behavior of the target state Kahler & Kastner 06 Economic engagement – a policy of deliberately expanding economic ties with an adversary in order to change the behavior of the target state and improve bilateral political relations – is a subject of growing interest in international relations.

32. Four different types of engagement—Political, Military, Economic and Cultural Lee, 12 - Instructor, Department of Military & Strategic Studies, Republic of Korea Air Force Academy (Jeongseok, “Hedging against Uncertain Future: The Response of East Asian Secondary Powers to Rising China” http://rc41.ipsa.org/public/Madrid_2012/lee.pdf) The Seventh option is to engage with the ascending power. Engagement is defined as “the attempt to influence the political behavior of a target state through the comprehensive establishment and enhancement of contacts with that state across multiple issue-areas.” (Resnick 2001: 559) Instruments of engagement policy include diplomatic contacts (e.g. extension and elevation of diplomatic relations, summits, high level meetings, etc.), military contacts (e.g. military exchange, joint training or exercise, confidence building measures, intelligence sharing), economic contacts (e.g. agreements, foreign aids and loans, coordination of macroeconomic policies), and social contacts (e.g. cultural exchanges, improvement of tourism, youth exchange programs).

33. Hall, 11 - Senior Fellow in International Relations, Australian National University (Ian “The engagement of India”, Paper submitted at workshop for the Australia India Institute, http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30197993/1_Hall.pdf Engagement strategiestake different forms depending on their objectives. They can emphasize diplomacy, aiming at the improvement of formal, state-to-state contacts, and be led by professional diplomats, special envoys, or politicians. Alternatively, they can emphasize military ties, utilizing military-to-military dialogues, exchanges, and training to build trust, convey strategic intentions, or simply to foster greater openness in the target state’s defense establishment.16 They can be primarily economic in approach, using trade, investment, and technology transfer to engender changein the target society, and perhaps to generate greater economic interdependence, constraining a target state’s foreign policy choices.17 Finally, they can seek to create channels for people-to-people contact through state-driven public diplomacy, business forums and research networks, aid and development assistance, and so on.

34. Resnik, 1 – Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University (Evan, Journal of International Affairs, “Defining Engagement” v54, n2, political science complete) A REFINED DEFINITION OF ENGAGEMENT In order to establish a more effective framework for dealing with unsavory regimes, Ipropose that we define engagement as the attempt to influence the political behavior of a target state through the comprehensive establishment and enhancement of contacts with that state across multiple issue-areas (i.e. diplomatic, military, economic, cultural). The following is a brief list of the specific forms that such contacts might include: DIPLOMATIC CONTACTS Extension of diplomatic recognition; normalization of diplomatic relations Promotion of target-state membership in international institutions and regimes Summit meetings and other visits by the head of state and other senior government officials of sender state to target state and vice-versa MILITARY CONTACTS Visits of senior military officials of the sender state to the target state and vice-versa Arms transfers Military aid and cooperation Military exchange and training programs Confidence and security-building measures Intelligence sharing ECONOMIC CONTACTS Trade agreements and promotion Foreign economic and humanitarian aid in the form of loans and/or grants CULTURAL CONTACTS Cultural treaties Inauguration of travel and tourism links Sport, artistic and academic exchanges(n25) Engagement is an iterated process in which the sender and target state develop a relationship of increasing interdependence, culminating in the endpoint of "normalized relations" characterized by a high level of interactions across multiple domains. Engagement is a quintessential exchange relationship: the target state wants the prestige and material resources that would accrue to it from increased contacts with the sender state, while the sender state seeks to modify thedomestic and/or foreign policy behavior of the target state. This deductive logic could adopt a number of different forms or strategies when deployed in practice.(n26) For instance, individual contacts can be established by the sender state at either a low or a high level of conditionality.(n27) Additionally, the sender state can achieve its objectives using engagement through any one of the following causal processes: by directly modifying the behavior of the target regime; by manipulating or reinforcing the target states' domestic balance of political power between competing factions that advocate divergent policies; or by shifting preferences at the grassroots level in the hope that this will precipitate political change from below within the target state. This definition implies that three necessary conditions must hold for engagement to constitute an effective foreign policy instrument. First, the overall magnitude of contacts between the sender and target states must initially be low. If two states are already bound by dense contacts in multiple domains (i.e., are already in a highly interdependent relationship), engagement loses its impact as an effective policy tool. Hence, one could not reasonably invoke the possibility of the US engaging Canada or Japan in order to effect a change in either country's political behavior. Second, the material or prestige needs of the target state must be significant, as engagement derives its power from the promise that it can fulfill those needs. The greater the needs of the target state, the more amenable to engagement it is likely to be. For example, North Korea's receptivity to engagement by the US dramatically increased in the wake of the demise of its chief patron, the Soviet Union, and the near-total collapse of its national economy.(n28) Third, the target state must perceive the engager and the international order it represents as a potential source of the material or prestige resources it desires. This means that autarkic, revolutionary and unlimited regimes which eschew the norms and institutions of the prevailing order, such as Stalin's Soviet Union or Hitler's Germany, will not be seduced by the potential benefits of engagement. This reformulated conceptualization avoids the pitfalls of prevailing scholarly conceptions of engagement. It considers the policy as a set of means rather than ends, does not delimit the types of states that can either engage or be engaged, explicitly encompasses contacts in multiple issue-areas, allows for the existence of multiple objectives in any given instance of engagement and, as will be shown below, permits the elucidation of multiple types of positive sanctions.

35. Categories are distinct Haassand O’Sullivan, 2k - *Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution AND **a Fellow with the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (Richard and Meghan, “Terms of Engagement: Alternatives to Punitive Policies” Survival,, vol. 42, no. 2, Summer 2000, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer%20haass/2000survival.pdf Architects of engagement strategies can choose from a wide variety of incentives. Economic engagement might offer tangible incentives such as export credits, investment insurance or promotion, access to technology, loans and economic aid.3 Other equally useful economic incentives involve the removal of penalties such as trade embargoes, investment bans or high tariffs, which have impeded economic relations between the United States and the target country. Facilitated entry into the economic global arena and the institutions that govern it rank among the most potent incentives in today’s global market. Similarly, political engagement can involve the lure of diplomatic recognition, access to regional or international institutions, the scheduling of summits between leaders – or the termination of these benefits. Military engagement could involve the extension of international military educational training in order both to strengthen respect for civilian authority and human rights among a country’s armed forces and, more feasibly, to establish relationships between Americans and young foreign military officers. While these areas of engagement are likely to involve working with state institutions, cultural or civil-society engagement entails building people-to-people contacts. Funding nongovernmental organisations, facilitating the flow of remittances and promoting the exchange of students, tourists and other non-governmental people between countries are just some of the possible incentives used in the form of engagement.

36. The instruments of engagement must be exclusively economic Jakstaite, 10 - Doctoral Candidate Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Political Sciences and Diplomacy (Lithuania) (Gerda, “CONTAINMENT AND ENGAGEMENT AS MIDDLE-RANGE THEORIES” BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 (2010), DOI: 10.2478/v10076-010-0015-7) The approach to engagement as economic engagement focuses exclusively on economic instruments of foreign policy with the main national interest being security. Economic engagement is a policy of the conscious development of economic relations with the adversary in order to change the target state‟sbehaviour and to improve bilateral relations.94 Economic engagement is academically wielded in several respects. It recommends that the state engage the target country in the international community (with the there existing rules) and modify the target state‟s run foreign policy, thus preventing the emergence of a potential enemy.95 Thus, this strategy aims to ensure safety in particular, whereas economic benefit is not a priority objective. Objectives of economic engagement indicate that this form of engagement is designed for relations with problematic countries – those that pose a potential danger to national security of a state that implements economic engagement. Professor of the University of California Paul Papayoanou and University of Maryland professor Scott Kastner say that economic engagement should be used in relations with the emerging powers: countries which accumulate more and more power, and attempt a new division of power in the international system – i.e., pose a serious challenge for the status quo in the international system (the latter theorists have focused specifically on China-US relations). These theorists also claim that economic engagement is recommended in relations with emerging powers whose regimes are not democratic – that is, against such players in the international system with which it is difficult to agree on foreign policy by other means.96 Meanwhile, other supporters of economic engagement (for example, professor of the University of California Miles Kahler) are not as categorical and do not exclude the possibility to realize economic engagement in relations with democratic regimes.97 Proponents of economic engagement believe that the economy may be one factor which leads to closer relations and cooperation (a more peaceful foreign policy and the expected pledge to cooperate) between hostile countries – closer economic ties will develop the target state‟s dependence on economic engagement implementing state for which such relations will also be cost-effective (i.e., the mutual dependence). However, there are some important conditions for the economic factor in engagement to be effective and bring the desired results. P. Papayoanou and S. Kastner note that economic engagement gives the most positive results when initial economic relations with the target state is minimal and when the target state‟s political forces are interested in development of international economic relations. Whether economic relations will encourage the target state to develop more peaceful foreign policy and willingness to cooperate will depend on the extent to which the target state‟s forces with economic interests are influential in internal political structure. If the target country‟s dominant political coalition includes the leaders or groups interested in the development of international economic relations, economic ties between the development would bring the desired results. Academics note that in non-democratic countries in particular leaders often have an interest to pursue economic cooperation with the powerful economic partners because that would help them maintain a dominant position in their own country.98 Proponents of economic engagement do not provide a detailed description of the means of this form of engagement, but identify a number of possible variants of engagement: conditional economic engagement, using the restrictions caused by economic dependency and unconditional economic engagement by exploiting economic dependency caused by the flow. Conditional economic engagement, sometimes called linkage or economic carrots engagement, could be described as conflicting with economic sanctions. A state that implements this form of engagement instead of menacing to use sanctions for not changing policy course promises for a target state to provide more economic benefits in return for the desired political change. Thus, in this case economic ties are developed depending on changes in the target state‟s behaviour.99 Unconditional economic engagement is more moderate form of engagement. Engagement applying state while developing economic relations with an adversary hopes that the resulting economic dependence over time will change foreign policy course of the target state and reduce the likelihood of armed conflict. Theorists assume that economic dependence may act as a restriction of target state‟s foreign policy or as transforming factor that changes target state‟s foreign policy objectives.100 Thus, economic engagement focuses solely on economic measures (although theorists do not give a more detailed description), on strategically important actors of the international arena and includes other types of engagement, such as the conditional-unconditional economic engagement.

37. What things are economic engagement? Derrick, 98 - LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT R. DERRICK United States Army (“ENGAGEMENT: THE NATIONS PREMIER GRAND STRATEGY, WHO'S IN CHARGE?” http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA342695) Economic engagement covers a wide range of programs. Financial incentives are an effective engagement tool since countries usually interact with the US when money is involved. Whether it is obtaining funding for a national program; acquiring materiel, food or medicine; or maintaining Most Favored Nation Status, financial aide has always been a preferred way for the US to affect the behavior of others. Diplomatic engagement ranges from recognition of sovereign states and foreign governments, to presidential visits, to all aspects of the embassy itself. The mere existence of an embassy is an engagement tool. Through official diplomatic ceremonies, informal meetings, and embassy employees living among the locals, the Department of State's presence is engagement in and of itself. Similarly, "...overseas...forces embody global military engagement. They serve as role models for militaries in emerging democracies; contribute uniquely to the stability, continuity, and flexibility that protects US interests; and are crucial to continued democratic and economic development."14 In addition to our presence overseas, our military engagement consists of a variety of military to military and political to military events. U.S. and host nation defense forces conduct combined exercises to improve cooperation and strengthen ties.

38. Exchanges are non-economic engagement Australian Government, 11 (“The White Paper and Australia’s Strategic Relationship with China”, 9/28 http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/public-submissions/nd.doc Australia risks losing a healthy relationship with Asia due to overdependence on trade relations and shortcomings of soft power. As trade and economic ties continue to grow between Australia and China, non-economic bilateral relations must be improved in order for general engagement to remain stable. To keep pace with the Asian Century, Australia must strive to find greater common ground with China outside of trade and commerce. The White Paper should take into consideration issues of non-economic relations in order to fully address Australia’s long term relationship with China. Some possible considerations for the White Paper to take into account in building a strategy for improving non-economic engagement with China:  Increased frequency of diplomatic visits and high-level visits; building a policy for minimum frequency and level of such diplomatic engagement  Increasing volume and breadth of non-diplomatic high-level exchanges such as academic conferences, exchange trips between sister agencies, and two-way exchanges between schools by dramatically increasing government funding or subsidization of such engagement  Encouraging bilateral cooperation and partnerships between non-economically driven organisations such as public sector agencies and think tanks for the purpose of fostering mutual investments between China and Australia where more than trade or profit is in question  Encouraging cultural literacy in the Australian population through people-to-people exchange, tourism, and language training; in particular encouraging Mandarin study for non-heritage students from an early age  Increasing funding for China-Australia partnerships on development in science, math, energy, environment and technology; mitigating the risk and impact of China’s capabilities surpassing those of Australia in the near future  Cultivating soft power through aid funding and development projects

39. List of programs that fall under economic engagement – USAID, ESF, FMS, health aid Derrick, 98 - LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT R. DERRICK United States Army (“ENGAGEMENT: THE NATIONS PREMIER GRAND STRATEGY, WHO'S IN CHARGE?” http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA342695) Much of the peacetime efforts of the DOS and DOD are engagement. This is in the form of forward presence, regional exercises, and infrastructure construction projects. The engagement tools of three of our five instruments of our National Power: Military, Economic and Political, (Geographical and National Will being the other two), listed below in Figure 3, are a few examples of how the US uses these powers to stay engaged.

41. Economic engagement can be conditional or unconditional Kahler, 6 - Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego (M., “Strategic Uses of Economic Interdependence: Engagement Policies on the Korean Peninsula and Across the Taiwan Strait” in Journal of Peace Research (2006), 43:5, p. 523-541, Sage Publications) Scholars have usefully distinguished between two types of economic engagement: conditional policies that require an explicit quid pro quo on the part of the target country and policies that are unconditional.1 Conditional policies, sometimes labeled linkage or economic 'carrots', are the inverse of economic sanctions. Instead of threatening a target country with economic loss (sanction) in the absence of policy change, conditional engagement policies promise increased economic benefits in return for desired policy change. Drezner (1999/2000) has proposed several plausible predictions regarding the employment of conditional strategies and the conditions of their success. He argues that the successful use of economic engagement is most likely between democracies (because democracies are better able to make credible commitments than non-democracies), within the context of international regimes (because regimes reduce the transactions costs of market exchange), and, among adversaries, only after coercive threats are first used. The success of a conditional engagement strategy should also be contingent on a state's influence over domestic firms. If those firms find market-based transactions with the target state unappealing, a government pursuing a conditional strategy must convince them to deal with the target when desired change occurs. On the other hand, if domestic firms have strong economic incentives to conduct economic transactions with the target state, a successful conditional strategy must prevent them from pursuing their economic exchange in the absence of the desired change in a target states behavior. In this regard, democracies may have a harder time pursuing a conditional strategy: in a democratic setting, firms are likely to be openly critical of politicians who try to restrict their commercial activities and will support candidates who do not place such demands on them. Our first hypothesis (HI), therefore, is that conditional engagement strategies will be less likely to succeed if the initiating state is a democracy, especially when underlying economic incentives to trade with or invest in the target state are strong.2 Unconditional engagement strategies are more passive than conditional variants in that they do not include a specific quid pro quo. Rather, countries deploy economic links with an adversary in the hopes that economic interdependence itself will, over time, change the target's foreign policy behavior and yield a reduced threat of military conflict.

42. Neg will need unlimits/effects arguments to claim effecting economics is insufficient for topicality Derrick, 98 - LIEUTENANT COLONEL ROBERT R. DERRICK United States Army (“ENGAGEMENT: THE NATIONS PREMIER GRAND STRATEGY, WHO'S IN CHARGE?” http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA342695) In addition to the agencies that administer the programs listed in figure 3, the State Department proclaims that "...protecting national interests and advancing US goals involve virtually every agency of the government...."16 US governmental agencies with international reach directly engage as a part of their daily routines. Agencies that deal strictly with domestic policy indirectly engage through the effect their actions have on US markets and thus world markets. For example the Departments of State, Defense, Agriculture, Transportation, and Energy, have both domestic and international responsibilities.From trade status to travel status, from immigration rules to export of tools, from training flights to basing rights, US agencies directly and indirectly engage through hundreds of programs. US governmental agencies that inadvertently operate at crosspurposes, through misunderstanding or ignorance, must ultimately be coordinated at some point. Since there is no single director below the President to coordinate the US engagement activities of the three elements of national power, it becomes the responsibility of the regional CINCs and Ambassadors.

43. Does the aff have to be government to government? Daga, 13 - director of research at PoliticasPublicaspara la Libertad, in Bolivia, and a visiting senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation (Sergio, “Economics of the 2013-2014 Debate Topic: U.S. Economic Engagement Toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela”, National Center for Policy Analysis, 5/15, http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Message_to_Debaters_6-7-13.pdf) Economic engagement between or among countries can take many forms, but this document will focus on government-to-government engagement through 1) international trade agreements designed to lower barriers to trade; and 2) government foreign aid; next, we will contrast government-to-government economic engagement with private economic engagement through 3) international investment, called foreign direct investment; and 4) remittances and migration by individuals. All of these areas are important with respect to the countries mentioned in the debate resolution; however, when discussing economic engagement by the U.S. federal government, some issues are more important with respect to some countries than to others.

44. Economic engagement works with state institutions Haassand O’Sullivan, 2k - *Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution AND **a Fellow with the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (Richard and Meghan, “Terms of Engagement: Alternatives to Punitive Policies” Survival,, vol. 42, no. 2, Summer 2000, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer%20haass/2000survival.pdf Architects of engagement strategies can choose from a wide variety of incentives. Economic engagement might offer tangible incentives such as export credits, investment insurance or promotion, access to technology, loans and economic aid.3 Other equally useful economic incentives involve the removal of penalties such as trade embargoes, investment bans or high tariffs, which have impeded economic relations between the United States and the target country. Facilitated entry into the economic global arena and the institutions that govern it rank among the most potent incentives in today’s global market. Similarly, political engagement can involve the lure of diplomatic recognition, access to regional or international institutions, the scheduling of summits between leaders – or the termination of these benefits. Military engagement could involve the extension of international military educational training in order both to strengthen respect for civilian authority and human rights among a country’s armed forces and, more feasibly, to establish relationships between Americans and young foreign military officers. While these areas of engagement are likely to involve working with state institutions, cultural or civil-society engagement entails building people-to-people contacts. Funding nongovernmental organisations, facilitating the flow of remittances and promoting the exchange of students, tourists and other non-governmental people between countries are just some of the possible incentives used in the form of engagement.

45. Engagement can include private entities Vickery, 11 – former Assistant Secretary of Commere for Trade and Development in the Clinton Administration and former Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center (David, The Eagle and the Elephant: Strategic Aspects of U.S.-India Economic Engagement, p. 283-284) Also raised as an impediment to government partnering with the private sector on economic engagement issues is the specter of market distortion abroad. The problem is somewhat akin to that of subsidization. Questions of subsidization are subject to the WTO’s disciplines. Where government support of economic engagement does not run afoul of these disciplines, such support should be accepted as a legitimate instrument of foreign policy. Governments routinely and acceptably work to promote the economic engagement of companies operating from their national territories. Where there is specific activity that can be seen as furthering particular US private-sector interests over those of a foreign competitor, US governmental involvement usually operates to level the playing field against foreign competition. Thus, the United States should move more fully to involve its private sector as a partner in the use of economic engagement to promote strategic cooperation. The challenges to this involvement can be met by facing the difficulties indicated and by providing for fair and open mechanisms to promote it.

46. Economic engagement can be unconditional and towards the private sector Haass and O’Sullivan, 2k - *Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution AND **a Fellow with the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (Richard and Meghan, “Terms of Engagement: Alternatives to Punitive Policies” Survival,, vol. 42, no. 2, Summer 2000, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer%20haass/2000survival.pdf The provision of economic incentives to the private sector of a target country can be an effective mode of ‘unconditional’ engagement, particularly when the economy is not state dominated. In these more open economic climates, those nourished by the exchanges made possible under economic engagement will often be agents for change and natural allies in some Western causes. To the extent that economic engagement builds the private sector and other non-state actors, it is likely to widen the base of support for engagement with America specifically and the promotion of international norms more generally. Certainly, US engagement with China has nurtured sympathetic pockets, if not to American ideals per se, then at least to trade and open economic markets and the maintenance of good relations to secure them. The only constraint on the scope and development of ‘unconditional’ engagement is the range of available collaborators in civil society or the private sector. Fortunately, globalisation and the explosion of economic entities that has accompanied it – while making economic isolation more difficult to achieve – presents a multitude of possible partners for unconditional engagement with non-state actors.

47. Argument that I think will be persuasive— The plan removes a barrier to private interactions established by the government. The govt is currently using a strategy of non-engagement– Removing that barrier is a shift in its strategy to one of engagement.

48. Affirmatives will rely on contextual evidence For example—allowing remittances is EE Haass and O’Sullivan, 2k - *Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution AND **a Fellow with the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution (Richard and Meghan, “Terms of Engagement: Alternatives to Punitive Policies” Survival,, vol. 42, no. 2, Summer 2000, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer%20haass/2000survival.pdf The United States should also expand unconditional engagement of the economic variety; such a low-risk strategy can gradually promote internal changes as Cubans benefit from new economic opportunities. The Clinton administration has already authorised increased levels of allowable remittances and expanded trade with non-government entities. However, these changes do not go far enough. There should be no ceiling on the amount of remittances which Cuban families can receive from relatives living in the US. Moreover, even if Castro resists conditional engagement that could be linked to the gradual easing of the embargo, US policy-makers should consider ways in which investment codes could replace elements of the embargo. The possibility of employing investment codes that allow for American trade with, and investment in, Cuban entities meeting specific conditions concerning ownership structure and labour rights should be explored.14 Given the paucity of privately owned businesses in Cuba today, the instant effects of such codes in boosting trade and investment would probably be minimal. However, the employment of investment codes – in place of more blanked restrictions – would offer immediate psychological support, as well as tangible incentives for growth, to Cuba’s struggling private sector.

49. Economic engagement includes energy Hormats, 13 - Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment for the State Department (Robert, “U.S. Economic Engagement with the Asia Pacific” 6/12, http://www.state.gov/e/rls/rmk/210563.htm) Energy But U.S. economic engagement with the Asia-Pacific region is not limited to traditional trade and investment issues. It includes energy as well. As part of the U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Energy Partnership, announced by President Obama at last year’s East Asia Summit, the U.S. Government has earmarked up to $6 billion in a line of credit over four years through the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. This will drive trade and investment in private sector and public-private energy-related projects across the region. In addition to these resources, the United States will support capacity building programs through APEC and ASEAN, as well as with our bilateral partners, in the priority areas of interconnectivity, natural gas, renewables, and sustainable development.

50. Economic engagement includes dialogue and technical assistance for trade, economic reform and rule of law • State Department, 8 (Country Reports on Terrorism OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM April 30, 2008, http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2007/104118.htm) High unemployment and underemployment, often a result of slow economic growth, are among the most critical issues in predominantly Muslim countries. U.S. assistance programs attempt to address this issue with reforms to improve the investment climate. Such reforms could include business registration, dispute settlement, financial sector and agricultural reforms, combined with education, job training, and health programs. The U.S. strategy of Total Economic Engagement pursues economic reform, rule of law, and global economic integration, including countries with predominantly Muslim populations. Total Economic Engagement includes: Regular bilateral discussions on these topics with host government officials, with both U.S. Embassy officials and officials from a wide range of U.S. agencies participating; Formal structured dialogues, high-level Economic Dialogues, and Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Councils; U.S. bilateral and multilateral assistance programs for economic reform, trade capacity-building, and rule of law managed chiefly through USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Programs are often complemented with technical assistance provided by specialized U.S. agencies and offices; Coordinated multilateral policies and assistance strategies to advance reform goals by working with such international organizations as the (IMF, WB, World Trade Organization (WTO), and OECD (MENA-OECD Investment), and other multilateral donors; and Working with NGOs, such as Transparency International, and U.S. and foreign business associations, such as American Chambers of Commerce and Business Councils, to advance reform issues of mutual concern.