In policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate, a Deleuze and Guattari Kritik (often shortened to "D&G K" or "Rhizome K") is a critical argument that uses concepts from French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari—most famously developed in their two-volume Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Anti-Oedipus, 1972; A Thousand Plateaus, 1980)—to indict the assumptions underlying an opponent's advocacy.
Common moves the kritik makes:
- Arborescent vs. rhizomatic thinking. D&G contrast "tree" logic (hierarchical, rooted, centralized) with "rhizome" logic (decentralized, multiplicitous, non-hierarchical). The K typically accuses the affirmative of arborescent reasoning—imposing a single root cause, a single solution, or a state-centered policy.
- Striated vs. smooth space. State apparatuses "striate" space by gridding, measuring, and bordering it. Debaters argue the plan reproduces this striation (e.g., through surveillance, militarized borders, or bureaucratic regulation) and counterpose nomadic or "smooth" alternatives.
- Desiring-production and the Body without Organs. Drawing on Anti-Oedipus, debaters critique how capitalism and the family-state structure channel desire into productive, repressive forms, and call for liberating flows of desire.
- Micropolitics and lines of flight. Rather than top-down reform, the alternative often advocates molecular resistance, becoming, and lines of flight that escape majoritarian capture.
The alternative is rarely a counterplan; more often it asks the judge to reject the affirmative in order to affirm rhizomatic, nomadic, or schizoanalytic thought. Frequently cited secondary sources in debate include Brian Massumi's A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1992) and Eugene Holland's work on schizoanalysis.
Affirmative answers typically include permutations, claims that abstract theory cannot resolve concrete harms, framework arguments demanding policy comparison, and critiques that D&G's vocabulary is inaccessible or politically quietist.
Example
In a 2019 college policy round on arms sales, the negative read a Deleuze and Guattari Kritik arguing that the affirmative's reliance on State Department export controls reproduced striated, arborescent governance and foreclosed nomadic alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
A Cap K typically draws on Marx and demands material redistribution or revolution, while a D&G K targets the structure of thought and desire itself, often rejecting both capitalism and orthodox Marxism as equally arborescent.
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