CA Team: Raffy Marshall, Monica Forman, Melda Eren, Tin Puljic, Tom Manor
Motions: We'll find out soon! :) For more info visit the Astana WUDC facebook page.
CA Team: Sharmila Parmanand, Dan Lahav, Benji Kalman, Brian Wong, Clíodhna Ní Ch, Milos Marjanovic
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | THBT Greece should introduce significant financial incentives for companies and individuals currently based in Athens* to relocate to other Greek cities *Over a third of the Greek population lives in Athens. | |
| 2 | THBT it is in the interest of the Chinese Communist Party to cease attempts to infringe on "One Country, Two Systems" in Hong Kong, rather than continuing its current approach. | |
| 3 | THW encourage women to be selfish | |
| 4 | THBT it is in the interest of dominant organised religions for their leaders to declare more progressive interpretations of traditional dogma* *e.g. on dietary and pilgrimage requirements, the acceptability of contraception, same-sex relationships | |
| 5 | THBT consumers should predominantly aim to buy locally produced goods and services | |
| 6 | THW break up Disney | The Walt Disney Company owns Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, ABC and dozens of other studios, media networks, amusement parks and merchandising rights. |
| 7 | THBT schools should teach children to be skeptical of parental authority | |
| 8 | In circumstances where a unanimous decision is currently required, THP majority voting as the European Council's decision-making approach | In matters of high sensitivity and complexity, the European Council requires unanimous decision-making. These matters include, but are not limited to foreign policy decisions, granting new rights to EU citizens and suspending the rights of current member states. |
| 9 | THW make police commanders personally criminally liable for instances of police brutality committed by their subordinates | |
| ESL_Quarters | In situations where deliberate economic policies by another state have caused substantial economic harms, THBT international law should recognise that military retaliation can be justified | Substantial economic harms: e.g. restricting access to important trade routes on straits, aggressively increasing the price of vital commodities, limiting access to strategic resources |
| ESL_Semis | THBT the US Democratic Party should prioritise employment issues, even at the expense of significant harms to the environment. | |
| ESL_Finals | TH Opposes the Defining Decade norm | The 'Defining Decade' is a cultural norm which urges young adults to persistently pursue life goals, even at the expense of significantly neglecting immediate desires. As part of this approach it is common to seek to maximise educational value from most activities, seek more responsibility at work, seek instrumental value from social relationships, and stigmatise idle time. |
| Open_Octos | THBT local governments in developing countries should allocate significant portions of their budget via Participatory Budgeting | Participatory Budgeting is a process in which ordinary civilians decide how to allocate part of a municipal or local public budget. Citizens propose and prioritise spending projects within a predefined amount of funding, and the government is bound by the decisions they made, e.g. local transportation projects, subsidies and educational and cultural programs. |
| Open_Quarters | THBT it is in the interest of the Kremlin to take measures to reduce Russian dependency of China (e.g. limit the selling of raw materials to China, reduce the share of Yuan in Russia's currency reserves, not allowing Chinese companies to develop strategic infrastructure such as 5G in Russia) | |
| Open_Semis | THBT communities that have been victims of atrocities should emphasise the narrative of the 'banality of evil' when interpreting those atrocities | The concept of the 'banality of evil' claims that great acts of evil can be committed by ordinary individuals within a bureaucracy. Under this theory, most perpetrators of great evil are ordinary people, with no motive for their actions other than promoting their own advancement in the system. |
| Open_Final | THBT the Greek government should have rejected the 2015 bailout deal and sought to negotiate further concessions, even at the risk of not receiving a bailout. |
CA Team: Duncan Crowe, Olivia Sundberg Diez, Daan Welling, Dee Courtney, Gigi Gil, Ilija Ivanisevic, Yair Har-Oz
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | This House Believes that the US Democratic Party should move to the left in candidate selection and policy platform | |
| 2 | This House believes that State Health Services should allow private companies to run hospitals for profit | |
| 3 | This House believes that the State should fund the creation of, and access to, realistic androids that simulate romantic relationships. | |
| 4 | This House Regrets the glorification of the immediate postcolonial leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa. | |
| 5 | This House Believes That South Korea should abandon the goal of, and all policies which aim at, Korean reunification | |
| 6 | This House regrets the increasing trend of popular shows featuring neurodivergence* as the central theme. *Neurodivergence refers to those whose psychology is non standard, e.g. for reasons of mental health, mental disability, etc. | |
| 7 | This House, as Colombia, would cease cooperation with the USA in the War Against Drugs | |
| 8 | This House Believes That Artists should not participate in the ongoing interpretation of their art. | |
| 9 | This house supports first generation immigrants to Western Europe encouraging their children to fully assimilate and identify with the local culture | |
| ESL_Quarters | THBT the EU should decriminalise human smuggling*. * Human smuggling is the aiding of a willing person to illegally cross a border. It is distinct from human trafficking, in which the person does not consent. | |
| ESL_Semis | THR the decline of labour union power in the West | |
| ESL_Final | This House supports the promotion of collective guilt after large scale crimes against humanity | |
| Open_Octos | THW prefer a religion which preaches that one's fate in the material world is predetermined rather than one which preaches that choices influence it | |
| Open_Quarters | THBT the IMF should require direct control over a country's monetary policy as a condition of national bailouts. | |
| Open_Semis | THBT liberal democracies should constitutionally enshrine the right of regions to unilaterally secede | |
| Open_Final | THR the shift in the #MeToo movement from victims sharing their experiences to holding public figures to account |
CA Team: Steven Ramesh Rajavinothan, Helena Ivanov, Dan Lahav, Rebecca Irvine, Thomas Simpson, Olivia Sundberg
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | This house believes that the US should ban extremist groups (e.g. the KKK and neo-Nazi groups) | |
| 2 | This house believes that the WTO should allow developing countries to impose policies aimed at protecting domestic industries, even at the expense of harming international trade. | |
| 3 | THR the rise of “Sharing Culture” | “Sharing Culture” (a culture which encourages the frequent posting of both mundane and intimate details of ones life on social media platforms, and the commenting on and reacting to others posts of this nature) |
| 4 | This house believes that states should significantly fund female-only tech companies | |
| 5 | This house, as Israel, supports the Jewish People’s Intelligence Services Doctrine. | The Jewish People’s Intelligence Services should have a significant responsiblity not only to Israeli citizens’ security, ut also to the security of Jewish communities abroad. If this doctrine were adopted, Israel would use significant resources and launch potentially violent operations in order to keep Jewish people safe internationally. |
| 6 | This house supports universities treating students as customers (eg by allocating significant resources to improving students lifestyles, and granting students influence over university decisions and the content and delivery of course curricula) | |
| 7 | This house believes that Western institutions should neither cooperate with, nor use the data produced by, non-Western medical institutions that do not meet Western standards on human clinical trials | |
| 8 | This house believes that LGBT groups should actively seek to include Side B Christians. | Side B Christians are Christians who identify as experiencing same sex attraction but nevertheless believe that homosexual sex is sinful and therefore attempt to remain celibate. |
| 9 | This house supports the creation and use of Lethal Autonomous Robots (Lethal Autonomous Robots are fully autonomous military weapons that can select and engage targets without human intervention). | |
| ESL_Final | THB that Western European states at high risk for terror attacks should implement 'state of emergency' laws. | |
| Open_Semis | THR the mass deregulation of the financial sector | |
| Open_Final | TH as the Kremlin would commemorate the 1917 Russian Revolution as a tradegy rather than a triumph for the nation. |
CA Team: Emilia Carlqvist, Harish Natarajan, Adam Hawksbee, Helena Ivanov, Radu Cotarcea, Yael Bezalel
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TH regrets the rise of social media as a primary source of news distribution | |
| 2 | TH supports Barack Obama's statements that emphasise African- Americans taking individual responsibility for improving their own position in life | |
| 3 | THW create state-run centres where individuals can purchase and consume psychedelic* drugs *drugs whose primary effect is to alter cognition and perception e.g. LSD and Magic Mushrooms | |
| 4 | TH supports strong government intervention to prevent gentrification* *process when significant numbers of wealthier people move to a poor area | |
| 5 | THBT the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra should regularly play the works of Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner was a 19th century anti-semitic German composer. His music was favoured by the Nazis and played at the Nuremburg rallies, and reportedly at Nazi death camps. When Wagner's music was played in Israel, it lead to protests and it remains controversial. Motion: THB |
| 6 | TH regrets the mass commercialisation of football | |
| 7 | TH supports Sanctuary Cities in the United States | A 'sanctuary city', for example San Francisco, does not allow police or city employees (e.g. educators, social, and healthcare workers), to inquite about an individual's immigration status. These cities do not co-operate with the federal government's controls on illegal immigrants. Motion: TH |
| 8 | THBT Latin American states should provide extensive material support for a military coup against the Venezualan government | |
| 9 | THBT the European Union should fund satirical* publications in its member states that target far-right political parties * the use of humour and exaggeration to criticize | |
| ESL_Quarters | THBT Western States should fund the spread of atheism in Iraq through provision of education, health care and welfare | |
| ESL_Semis | TH regrets the safe space movement’s attempts to significantly limit speech on university campuses | The growing safe space movement has used both social pressure and direct action to achieve its aims. These include, but are not limited to banning certain speakers, and limiting exposure to controversial, and potentially triggering topics. Motion: TH |
| ESL_Final | THBT western nations should support breakaway states in former Soviet Union (e.g. East Ukraine or South Ossetia) after free and fair referendum. | |
| Open_Partial_Octos | TH supports BRICS* countries creating alternatives to the current international economic institutions (i.e. the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation) * Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa | |
| Open_Quarters | THW require the economic policies of political parties to be approved by an independent panel of experts before being used in campaigns | |
| Open_Semis | TH supports Iran’s extension of the Sharia principle of “an eye for an eye” to the victims of acid attacks | Recently there has been a high number of acid attacks against women, either due to personal feuds or for their non-conformity to Islamic values. / Iranian courts that are governed by Sharia law ruled that victims have the right to choose to blind their attacker by putting acid in their eye(s). Motion: TH |
| Open_Final | THW nationalize and provide public access to the Metadata being gathered by online multinational companies. |
CA Team: Christine Simpson, Michael Shapira, Amanda Moorghen, Emilia Carlqvist, Gavin Illsley
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | This House would pay all elected politicians the median wage in their country. | |
| 2 | This House believes that when multi-national corporations conduct any business in Western states, these nations should enforce their environmental standards at all stages of production. | |
| 3 | This House believes that Western states should not use private military contractors in combat. | |
| 4 | This House would ban any treatment, service or ritual from claiming a physical healing effect until it is tested and proven more effective than a placebo by a national regulator. | |
| 5 | This House believes that the European Union should lift its arms embargo on China. | |
| 6 | This House would only allow the media and campagning organisations to depict or publish information about the deceased in a tragedy with the explicit permission of the family. | |
| 7 | TH believes that the West should stop all attempts to gather information or intelligence by deception and/or coercion of foreign citizens | |
| 8 | TH believes that it is legitimate for individuals to punish people they deem to have committed online harassment by revealing their identity online. | |
| 9 | THW introduce a 100% inheritance tax | |
| ESL_Quarters | TH would legalise surrogacy for profit in Western Liberal Democracies | |
| ESL_Semis | TH would introduce a mandatory term of at least 1 year of non-military national service for 18year olds | |
| ESL_Semis_Aborted | TH would allow EU citizens to donate to political parties in any EU state | |
| ESL_Final | TH believes that parents of a musical child genius have a moral obligation to push that child to maximise their musical potential. | |
| Open_Quarters | TH would prohibit businesses from taking a public position on social issues | |
| Open_Semis | TH would require all defendants in criminal cases to be represented only by state-employed lawyers. | |
| Open_Final | TH would treat the deaths of soldiers as regrettable losses of lives rather than examples of heroism. |
CA team: Rebecca Meredith, Milan Vignjevic, Alon van Dam, Ashish Kumar, Engin Arikan, Maja Cimerman, Sella Nevo, Tomas Beerthuis
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | This house would pay additional benefits to families on welfare according to their child’s performance in school. | |
| 2 | This house supports two-party political systems over multi-party political systems. | |
| 3 | This house would ban international aid charities from using senational, graphic, or overly-emotional images of suffering in fundraising and advertising campaigns. | |
| 4 | This house believes that EU member states should nationalise all their oil and gas resources in order to surrender total ownership and control of them to an EU-run energy agency. | |
| 5 | This house believes that states of the former Yugoslavia should not commemorate the events of the Yugoslav Wars. | |
| 6 | This house would introduce blind voting. | |
| 7 | This house would require of police departments that the ethnic composition of their arrests match the ethnic composition of the population in their jurisdiction. | |
| 8 | This house believes that micro-finance organisations (including, but not limited to: NGOs, charities and development banks) should offer micro-finance loans in developing nations exclusively to women. | |
| 9 | This house believes that states should hold binding national referendums on major peace agreements. | |
| ESL_Tiebreak | This house would make membership in a labour union compulsory for every worker. | |
| ESL_Quarters | This house would require companies to place images of animal suffering on all products or food whose production harmed or killed animals. | |
| ESL_Semis | This house believes that leaders of minority religions in Europe should strongly encourage their congregations to refrain from public displays of their faith. | |
| ESL_Final | THW, assuming it was technically feasible, remove the ability of soldiers to feel fear | |
| Open_Quarters | This house believes that supreme/constitutional courts should not have the power to strike down legislation. | |
| Open_Semis | This house believes that the United States of America should invade, and forcibly partition Iraq. | |
| Open_Finals | This House believes that feminist movement should oppose military interventions which claim to further women's rights |
CA Team: Shengwu Li, Omer Nevo, Joe Roussos, Dessislava Kirova, Filip Dobranic, Andrew Tuffin
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | THW ban video games in which the player engages in brutal and immoral violence in a realistic setting | |
| 2 | THW require international development aid budgets to be approved by popular referenda | |
| 3 | TH, as the Muslim Brotherhood, would sincerely offer to cease resistance, participate in elections and respect a liberal constitution | |
| 4 | THW permit government agencies to conduct automated surveillance without court authorisation | |
| 5 | THBT Israel should allow members of the Jewish diaspora to vote in elections | |
| 6 | TH applauds the rise of songs by female pop artists that glorify assertive female sexuality. For example: Nothing on, I strut around; I do it big, I shut it down; I wonder if you’ll be able to handle me; Rita Ora – R.I.P | |
| 7 | THBT it is in China’s strategic interest to cease all non-humanitarian assistance to North-Korea until it verifiably ends its nuclear programme | |
| 8 | THBT Barack Obama should not have granted legal immunity to officials who ordered the use of torture | |
| 9 | THW provide welfare in the form of basic goods and services rather than cash payments | |
| ESL_Quarters | THBT men should consistently call out and correct chauvinistic claims by colleagues and co-workers | |
| ESL_Semis | THBT environmental agencies should start a campaign of sabotage and destruction against major pollution companies | |
| ESL_Final | THBT the state should not fund any works of art or performances that the average citizen would not recognize as having artistic merit | |
| Open_Quarters | THBT African countries should adopt English as the principle language of instruction | |
| Open_Semis | TH regrets that Western Media demonised Islamist Terrorists rather than portraying them as criminals with legitimate grievances | |
| Open_Final | THW give more votes to citizens according to their performance on a current affairs test |
CA Team: Art Ward, Isabelle Loewe, filip Dobranic, Stephen Boyle, Benjamin Woolgar, Manos Moschopoulos
| Round | Motion | Infoslide |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | THBT Parents Should Choose Not To Send their Children to Private Schools | |
| 2 | THW Give First Nations Peoples (eg. Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians) Complete Autonomous Self-Government | |
| 3 | THBT The Music Industry Should Not Facilitate the Comebacks of Artists Who Commit Violent Crimes | |
| 4 | THBT The Mexican Government Should Lift All Limits on the Military and Law Enforcement in the Fight Against Organised Crime | |
| 5 | THBT The ECB Should Unconditionally Buy Government Debt from Struggling Eurozone Economies | |
| 6 | THW Cap the Amount Corporations Can Spend in Any One Course of Litigation | |
| 7 | THW Require the Military to Recruit Soldiers in Direct Proportion to the Socio-Economic Make-up of the Country | |
| 8 | THBT The Palestinians Should Accept Complete Demilitarisation in Immediate Return for A Sovereign State | |
| 9 | THW Let Anyone Take Up Residence in Any Country, Provided They Can Show that They Will Not be an Economic Burden on that Country | |
| ESL_Quarters | TH Supports Life Sentences Without the Possibility of Parole For Serial Serious Re-Offenders | |
| ESL_Semis | THBT The Militaries of Newly Democratised Arab Countries Should Act as Guardians of Secularism | |
| ESL_Final | THW Retrospectively Remove Amnesties Granted to Those Who Committed Crimes As Part of Oppressive Regimes | |
| Open_Quarters | THBT Republika Srpska Should Secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Open_Semis | THBT Schools Should Aggressively Stream Students According to their Ability From An Early Age | |
| Open_Final | THW Amend the US Constitution To Prohibit Any Involvement by Religious Organisation in the Electoral Process |