Parliamentary style debate, colloquially oftentimes just Parliamentary debate, is a formal framework for debate used in debating societies, academic debate events and competitive debate. It has its roots in parliamentary procedure and develops differently in different countries as a result.
The style was first formalised in 19th century England. Procedural commentaries by members of parliament like John Hooker or William Hakewill or parliamentary clerks such as Henry Elsynge sr. and Henry Scobell recorded not just the rulebook but the manner of parliamentary debate. This manner was then expanded upon in the later commentaries of John Hatsell, Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Erskine May, which then spread the style of parliamentary debate throughout Europe and the world. [1]
Today, many organisations at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, such as schools, colleges or debate-clubs sponsor parliamentary debate teams. In the 1980s, global debating championships such as the World Universities Debating Championship and related formats were established, which all use variants of the parliamentary style of debate.
British Parliamentary debate is very widespread. It has also been adopted as the official style of the World Universities Debating Championship and the European Universities Debating Championship (at which the speakers are given only fifteen minutes' notice of the motion). Speeches are usually between five and seven minutes in duration. The debate consists of four teams of two speakers, sometimes called factions, with two teams on either side of the case.
Because of the style's origins in British parliamentary procedure, the two sides are called the Government and the Opposition, while the speakers take their titles from those of their parliamentary equivalents (such as the opening Government speaker, called the Prime Minister). Furthermore, since this style is based on parliamentary debate, each faction is considered to be one of two parties in a coalition. They must therefore differentiate themselves from the other team on their side of the case in order to succeed in their own right.
All speakers are expected to offer Points of Information (POIs) to their opponents. POIs are particularly important in British Parliamentary style, as it allows the first two teams to maintain their relevance during the course of the debate, and the last two teams to introduce their arguments early in the debate. The first and last minute of each speech is considered "protected time", during which no POI may be offered.
Depending on the country, there are variations in speaking time, speaking order, and the number of speakers. For example, in New Zealand, both the leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister offer a short summary as the last two speakers.
American parliamentary debate is supported by a number of organizations in the United States at the tertiary and secondary levels.
The most popular intercollegiate parliamentary debate style is supported by the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA), which was born in western US in 1991. [2] NPDA circuit consists of a loose confederation of local leagues and a number of invitational tournaments. The NPDA season culminates with two national tournaments – NPDA Nationals [3] and the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE). [4] NPDA Nationals (founded in 1994 [2] ) is open to all and attracts about 200 teams each year. [5] NPTE (founded in 2001 [6] ) is qualification-only and invites the top 64 teams of the approximately 1000 teams that compete in NPDA/NPTE-sanctioned invitationals throughout the season. [4] Phi Rho Pi Nationals for junior and community colleges have an NPDA-style division, [7] as do Novice Nationals. [8] The chief online forum for the NPDA circuit is Net-Benefits.net, started in 2002 by Jed Link.
American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA), the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debate league in the US, was founded in 1982. APDA currently has around 40 member universities, [9] [10] primarily on the east coast.
A number of smaller intercollegiate debate leagues, such as the Lincoln Parliamentary League (LPL) and International Public Debate Association (IPDA) also exist.
The British Parliamentary Style (a.k.a. Worlds Debate, distinct from World Schools Style) is also beginning to spread to the US, with the US Universities Debating Championship held annually at rotating universities.
Chamber Debate is a modified form of Australia-Asia debating that sponsors three national tournaments annually using the 3-on-3 format of parliamentary debate [11] Unlike other formats of parliamentary debate, Chamber Debate allows teams to use electronic devices via a 4th non-speaking member of each team who conducts fact-checking and other research for their team during the round.
Parliamentary debate is offered through the High School Public Debate League (http://highschooldebate.org) and the National Parliamentary Debate League (NPDL) (https://www.parliamentarydebate.org/).
The other public school high school debate league, National Forensic League (NFL), does not offer parliamentary debate at its national tournament. It does, however, recognize parli competitions offered at the state level, albeit at a reduced points value. [12] In 2010 NFL Nationals added Supplemental Debate, [13] which bears some similarity to parliamentary debate.
A number of attempts to organize a high school parli championship tournament have been made – National Parliamentary Caucus (2003–2005), NPDL Parli Grand Nationals (2006–2007) and IDEA Tournament of Champions (2005–2009, switched to world format in 2010). [14]
The current incarnation of such a championship is the Tournament of Champions, [15] hosted by the NPDL. [16] It was started as a California championship, named "California Cup," but has been renamed the Tournament of Champions to represent the prestige of the high school tournament. The "NPDL Nationals," an annual online tournament held at the end of the year, is also hosted by NPDL. However, the rules for qualification differ between the two tournaments. Although Nationals is open to all, TOC is limited to teams that exceed a certain yearly points threshold.
Oregon State Tournament (OSAA) [17] added parliamentary debate (known in Oregon as Public debate) in 2001, California State Tournament (CHSSA) [18] followed suit in 2003, and Pennsylvania State Tournament (PHSSL) [19] in 2010. Yale, ASU, Whitman, as well as a number of invitational tournaments in Oregon and California, the largest of them held at Stanford, James Logan HS, SCU, UOP, Willamette, University of Oregon, Pepperdine and Claremont HS also offer parli. [20] The Kansas City, Missouri area has conducted monthly high school tournaments since 2002. The Kansas City Greater Metropolitan Parliamentary Debate League offers two-round contests during the week with a championship tournament at the end of the school year.
High school parli is taught at several summer debate camps, including Stanford National Forensics Institute, [21] ODI, [22] CCPDI, [23] and the POI Debate Institute at UC Berkeley. [24]
On the home school level, the home school debate league, Stoa, also promotes parliamentary debate in a number of its tournaments nationwide. Stoa also offers parliamentary debate at nationals (NITOC). [25] The other home school debate league, NCFCA, does not offer parliamentary debate at any of its tournaments or is it hosted at nationals. [26]
The first key feature uniting various formats of parliamentary debate in the US is their spontaneity. The resolutions alternate each round. They are announced, then participants are given 20 minutes of preparation time known as "prep". APDA is somewhat of an exception in the respect, with "loose link" rounds allowing the affirmative to run a case of their choosing, dealing with virtually any topic. [27] The second key feature of parli is a ban on quoted evidence. Debaters may not bring in any material that was not prepared in the 20 minutes of preparation time and consult it during the round. APDA, Worlds and high school parli debate styles tend to take a more lay-friendly approach to debate, ensuring that debates are easy to understand no matter the audience member's expertise of the resolution. NPDA is more diverse, with some teams engaging in a more academic and specific-knowledge style borrowed from Policy debate. Resolutions typically focus on current events, though the entrance of the Kritik to NPDA, and, to a lesser extent, to some high school circuits, introduced a philosophical element to parli.
This style consists of a two-on-two debate, between the affirmative team, known as the Government or the Proposition, and the negative team, referred to as the Opposition. Debater role names are borrowed from the British Parliament, with the judge being referred to as the Speaker. The round consists of six speeches, as follows:
Specific rules and speech times vary slightly between organizations. NPDA, [28] APDA [27] and OSAA [29] use the 7-8-8-8-4-5 format, CHSSA [30] and the ASU Invitational [31] use the Claremont 7-7-7-7-5-5 format, the SCU Invitational uses the 6-7-7-7-4-5 format, and Yale high school tournaments use the Osterweis 4-5-5-5-2-3 format. [32] PHSSL borrows its 8 speeches 6-6-6-6-6-6-3-3 format from World Schools Style debate. [19]
Most variations of the style do not include a specialized cross-examination period, but allow debaters to make parliamentary points.
The Brazilian Parliamentary Debate involves a "proposition team", that will support the motion, and an "opposition team", who will oppose the motion. Unlike the British Parliamentary debate, the Brazilian debate uses the term "proposition", instead of "government", since [Brazil] has a congressional government rather than a [parliament]. [34] Thus, teams can either support or oppose the topic in session on the Congress. [ citation needed ] Therefore, the speakers at the debate are called "First Member of Proposition", "First Member of Opposition", "Second Member of Proposition", and so on.
It is the most used competitive debating style used in Brazil; it is used at the official competitions of the Instituto Brasileiro de Debates (Brazilian Institute of Debates). At Parli Brasil, every speaker speaks for 7 minutes, with 15 seconds of tolerance after that. After the first minute and before the last minute, debaters from the opposite team may ask for Points of Information, which the speaker may accept or reject as they wish (although they are supposed to accept at least one). [ citation needed ] Another major difference between the Brazilian scene and the Worlds is that Brazilian tournaments use to present themes weeks before the tournament, with the motion only being presented 15 minutes before the debate, as usual BP. Some tournaments, such as GV Debate and Open de Natal are changing this, too. The presence of themes makes some differences in the strategy in comparison to the general parliamentary debate.
However, there is no unique model in Brazil because many club debates were created before the creation of "Parli Brazil" and not all modified their rules. This is the case, for example, of the UFC Debate Society in Fortaleza ("Sociedade de Debates da UFC"), which was established in 2010. [35] In 2013, UFRN Debate Society was created and implemented some changes based on the old "Clube de Debates de Natal". [36] The model "Parli Brazil" only started its activities in 2014 with the realization of the I Brazilian Championship of Debates in the city of Belo Horizonte, making the second edition in the city of Fortaleza, and the third is scheduled to take place in the city of Florianópolis. [37] Since then, they were also created UFSC Debate Society ("Sociedade de Debates da UFSC") in 2014 [38] and the UFRJ Debate Society ("Sociedade de Debates da UFRJ") on June 25, 2015, [39] and others.
The offene parlamentarische Debatte (Open Parliamentary Debate, OPD) is a German competitive debating format. It was developed by the debate club Streitkultur Tübingen and was used for the first time in a tournament in 2001. [40] It aims to combine the advantages of parliamentary debates and public audience debates: each of the two teams has three speakers, and in addition, the debate includes three independent "free speakers". Clubs using OPD exist in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. [41]
World Schools Style Debating combines the British Parliamentary and Australian formats, which results in a debate comprising eight speeches delivered by two three-member teams (the Proposition and the Opposition). Each speaker delivers an eight-minute speech – the first two are substantive matter and the third a rebuttal speech; then both teams deliver a "reply speech" lasting four minutes, with the last word being reserved for the Proposition. In junior debates, these limits are changed to about 5 minutes, and in some local competitions, speeches are 7 minutes.
Between the end of the first and the beginning of the last minute of an eight-minute speech, the opposing party may offer "points of information". Depending on the tournament rules, the speaker may refuse these, or may be mandated to take one (mandatory POI rule), but it is encouraged to take at least one or two points during his or her speech. No points of order or Privilege are used.
Topics can be supplied long in advance, or may be given 45 minutes or an hour before the debate begins. There is not much room for re-definition, and squirreling is strictly prohibited. The World Schools Debating Championships is attended by many countries, and uses this format.
A similar format, with 7-minute speeches and Points-of-Information, is known as the Asian Parliamentary Format and is used by the United Asian Debating Championships
The Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate is the national organization which governs all English language competitive university debating and public speaking in Canada. It sanctions several official annual tournaments and represents Canadian debating domestically and abroad. Its membership consists of student debating unions, sanctioned by their respective universities, from across Canada. CUSID has been described as "a student-run, parliamentary debate league with close ties to the American Parliamentary Debate Association".
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for common opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, academic institutions, debate halls, coffeehouses, competitions, and legislative assemblies. Debates have also been conducted for educational and recreational purposes, usually associated with educational establishments and debating societies. These debates emphasized logical consistency, factual accuracy, and emotional appeal to an audience. Modern forms of competitive debate also include rules for participants to discuss and decide upon the framework of the debates.
Lincoln–Douglas debate is a type of one-on-one competitive debate practiced mainly in the United States at the high school level. It is sometimes also called values debate because the format traditionally places a heavy emphasis on logic, ethical values, and philosophy. The Lincoln–Douglas debate format is named for the 1858 Lincoln–Douglas debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, because their debates focused on slavery and the morals, values, and logic behind it. LD debates are used by the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) competitions, and also widely used in related debate leagues such as the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association, the National Catholic Forensic League, the National Educational Debate Association, the Texas University Interscholastic League, Texas Forensic Association, Stoa USA and their affiliated regional organizations.
Policy debate is an American form of debate competition in which teams of two usually advocate for and against a resolution that typically calls for policy change by the United States federal government. It is also referred to as cross-examination debate because of the 3-minute questioning period following each constructive speech. Evidence presentation is a crucial part of policy debate. The main argument being debated during a round is to change or not change the status quo. When a team explains why their solvency is greater than the opposition's, they compare advantages. One team’s job is to argue that the resolution— the statement that we should make some specific change to a national or international problem —is a good idea. Affirmative teams generally present a plan as a proposal for implementation of the resolution. On the other hand, the Negative teams present arguments against the implementation of the resolution. In a single round of debate competition, each person gives two speeches. The first speech each person gives is called a “constructive” speech, because it is the speech when the first person of the team speaks positively, presenting the team's main idea without rebuttals that have not occurred, presents the basic arguments they will make throughout the debate. The second speech is called a “rebuttal”, because this is the speech where each person tries to rebut the arguments made by the other team, while using their own arguments to try to persuade the judge to vote for their team. The Affirmative has to persuade the judge to vote for the resolution, while the Negative has to persuade the judge the Negative's position is a better idea.
Congressional Debate is a competitive interscholastic high school debate event in the United States. The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) and many state associations and national invitational tournaments offer Congressional Debate as an event. Each organization and tournament offers its own rules, although the National Speech and Debate Association has championed standardization since 2007, when it began to ask its districts to use one of a number of procedures for qualification to its National Tournament.
The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debating association in the United States. APDA sponsors over 50 tournaments a year, all in a parliamentary format, as well as a national championship in late April. It also administers the North American Debating Championship with the Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate (CUSID) every year in January. Although it is mainly funded by its member universities, APDA is an entirely student-run organization.
The National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) is one of the two national intercollegiate parliamentary debate organizations in the United States. The other is the American Parliamentary Debate Association. Its membership is national with participating schools throughout the country. In 2015, NPDA was the largest debating organization in the United States with around 200-250 participating schools in any given year.
The Brown Debating Union (BDU) is a student-run debating organization at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. The team competes in American Parliamentary Debate and British Parliamentary Debate. Currently the team is ranked 2nd in North America.
Inter-collegiate policy debate is a form of speech competition involving two teams of two debaters from different colleges or universities based on a resolution phrased as something the United States federal government "should" do. Policy debate also exists as a high school activity, with a very similar format, but different leagues, tournaments, speech times, resolutions, and styles.
British Parliamentary style is a major form of academic debate that originated in Liverpool in the mid 1800s. It has gained wide support globally and is the official format of the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC).
In competitive debate, most commonly in the World Schools, Karl Popper, and British Parliamentary debate styles, a point of information (POI) is when a member of the team opposing that of the current speaker gets to briefly interrupt the current speaker, offering a POI in the form of a question or a statement. This may be as a correction, asking for clarity, or just a plain question. As in some debating styles, such as World Schools Style, they often may not be offered in the first or last minute of any speech, or during reply speeches. Points of information may never be offered to a member of the same team.
World Schools Style debating is a combination of the British Parliamentary and Australia-Asian debating formats, designed to meet the needs of the World Schools Debating Championships tournament. Each debate comprises eight speeches delivered by two teams of three members, representing the Proposition and Opposition sides. The first six speeches are eight minutes in duration, with each team then finishing up by giving a four-minute concluding reply speech. Teams are given 30 to 60 minutes to prepare for their speeches.
Australia–Asia Debate, sometimes referred to as Australasian Debating or Australs Style, is a form of academic debate. In the past few years, this style of debating has increased in usage dramatically throughout both Australia and the Asian region, but in the case of Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, the format is also used alongside the British Parliamentary Format. The context in which the Australia-Asia style of debate is used varies, but it is commonly used in Australia at the primary and secondary school level, ranging from small informal one-off intra-school debates to larger more formal inter-school competitions with several rounds and a finals series which occur over a year. It is also commonly used at university level.
The Boston University Debate Society is a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association. The current incarnation of the Boston University Debate Society was formed in 1999, and competes in parliamentary debate. Previously, Boston University teams competed in other varieties of collegiate debate. For instance, in 1975 a team from Boston University came in third at the National Debate Tournament, a policy debate competition..
The Arena is a debate-style television show produced by Mediacorp Channel 5 in Singapore. Season 1 of the show was broadcast from January–March 2007. A second season, known as The Arena II, was aired from March–May 2008. The show involves teams of students from secondary schools in Singapore debating against each other on issues of topical interest.
Public debate may mean simply debating by the public, or in public. The term is also used for a particular formal style of debate in a competitive or educational context. Two teams of two compete through six rounds of argument, giving persuasive speeches on a particular topic.
The Yale Debate Association (YDA) is Yale University's only competitive intercollegiate debate team. Founded in 1908, it is the most prolific winner of the American Parliamentary Debate Association's Club of the Year award. The YDA was also the first American team to win and have the top speaker at the modern World Championships. Currently, the YDA is the fourth-ranked collegiate debate society in the world, and as of January 2024, the highest ranked in North America.
The Eurasian Schools Debating Championship (ESDC) is an annual open English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries that thakes place in Robert College, Istanbul. ESDC is open to international and school teams alike, depending on team cap. ESDC is organized by members of Robert College Debate Society. ESDC is the world's first and only international WSDC debating championship that is organized completely by high-school students.
The Rutgers University Debate Union (RUDU) is Rutgers University's intercollegiate debate team. Re-founded in 2001, the Union's roots extend back to the 18th century literary societies that existed at Rutgers (then Queen's College). There have also been the tradition of King's-Queen's Debates with Columbia University (then King's College) when Rutgers was known under its founding name of Queen's College.
The Harvard College Debating Union is Harvard University's only internationally competitive debate team. The union has won the most American Parliamentary Debate Association National Championships and the 2014, 2016 and 2018 World Universities Debating Championships.
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