In policy debate, a disadvantage (here abbreviated as DA) is an argument that a team brings up against a policy action that is being considered. A disadvantage is also used in the Lincoln-Douglas debate format.

Structure

A disadvantage usually has four key elements. These four elements are not always necessary depending on the type of disadvantage run, and some are often combined into a single piece of evidence. A Unique Link card, for example, will include both a description of the status quo and the plan's effect on it. A traditional threshold DA has a structure as follows:

Uniqueness

Uniqueness shows why the impacts have not occurred yet or to a substantial extent and will uniquely occur with the adoption of either the affirmative's plan or the negative's counterplan.

For example, the negative team argues that the affirmative plan will result in nuclear proliferation, it would also argue that the status quo will avoid nuclear proliferation. If the Affirmative claims that nuclear proliferation is already occurring, the negative team could argue that adoption of the plan would result in a unique increase in nuclear proliferation. If the plan causes no net change in the rate of nuclear proliferation, the disadvantage is not unique to the plan, and therefore not relevant.

For the disadvantage to have relevance in the round, the negative team must show that the affirmative plan causes the disadvantage that is claimed. If the DA stated that the plan takes money from the government, and the affirmative team shows that the plan does not increase governmental spending, then the DA would be considered to have "no link".

The "no link" argument claims that the plan does not cause the impact.

For example:

  • Uniqueness: American oil consumption is high now.
  • Link: Expansion of ethanol decreases oil consumption.
  • Internal Link: Decreased oil consumption will OPEC will flood the market with cheap oil.
  • Internal Link: Cheap oil influx destroys the Russian and Canadian economies.
  • Impact: Russian and/or Canadian economic collapse causes global economic collapse, resulting in nuclear war.

In this case, the argument that OPEC flooded the market last year with cheap oil and there was no nuclear war would be considered an impact uniqueness takeout.

Turns

A link turn is an argument that the passage of the plan would prevent the disadvantage's impact rather than causing it. Double-turns should be avoided as they are equivalent to refuting one's own plan.