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Roles of Teams and Speakers (general overview)

Team overview

 

Opening Government:

• Defines the terms of the debate and illustrates how the proposal will be implemented.

• Opens the case for the Government.

• Opposes the case of the Opening Opposition when it is presented.

 

Opening Opposition:

• Opposes the case of the Opening Government.

• Opens the case for the Opposition.

 

Closing Government:

• Extends the Government case by providing more focused fresh material.

• Opposes the cases of the Opening and Closing Opposition teams.

• Summarizes the debate (by pointing out why their side won).

 

Closing Opposition:

• Extends the Opposition case by providing more focused fresh material.

• Opposes the cases of the Opening and Closing Opposition teams.

• Summarizes the debate (by pointing out why their side won).

 

Teams should spend roughly half their time rebutting what has been said and the other half constructing their own case.

 

Individual Speaker overview

 

Prime Minister (Opening Government):

• Defines the resolution (all major terms should be explained within the motion).

• Introduces the Government case (by using examples and explaining why this proposal is necessary).

 

Leader of the Opposition (Opening Opposition):

• Rebuts what PM said.

• Introduces Opening Opposition case.

• If there’s going to be a definitional challenge, the LO must mention it in their speech, otherwise all the other teams in the round must accept the original definition.

 

Deputy Prime Minister (Opening Government):

• Rebuts what LO said.

• Continues Opening Government case (may also expand on the definition and support the PM's case).

 

                                                              

 

Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Opening Opposition):

• Rebuts what DPM said.

• Continues Opening Opposition case.

 

Member of the Government (Closing Government):

• Extends the Government case (one major new point is usually recommended).

• Rebuts what DLO said.

 

Member of the Opposition (Closing Opposition):

• Extends the Opposition case (one major new point is usually recommended).

• Rebuts what MG said.

 

Government Whip (Closing Government):

• May introduce new contentions, but it’s not generally recommended.

• Rebuts what the MO said.

• Summarizes the debate (why they won).

 

Opposition Whip (Closing Government):

• Absolutely no new contentions may be introduced, but new evidence in support of existing contentions may be introduced.

• Rebuts what the GW said.

• Summarizes the debate (why they won).

 

 

 

 

 

Basic Rules of British Parliamentary Debate

The Basics

 

In BP there are 4 teams in each round. Two teams represent the Government, and two teams represent the Opposition. The Government supports the resolution, and the Opposition opposes the resolution. The teams are also divided into the Opening and Closing halves of the debate. The teams are organized like this in the room:

 

Opening Government (OG) Opening Opposition (OO)

 

Closing Government (CG) Closing Opposition (CO)

 

There are two speakers on each team. Each speaker has a title. The titles are:

 

OG: Prime Minister OO: Leader of the Opposition

                                                 

Deputy Prime Minister Deputy Leader of the Opposition

 

CG: Member of the Government CO: Member of the Opposition

Government Whip Opposition Whip

 

The speaking order is as follows:

1. Prime Minister First Speaker, OG

2. Leader of the Opposition First Speaker, OO

3. Deputy Prime Minister Second Speaker, OG

4. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Second Speaker, OO

5. Member of the Government First Speaker, CG

6. Member of the Opposition First Speaker, CO

7. Government Whip Second Speaker, CG

8. Opposition Whip Second Speaker, CO

 

Debates are presided over by a Speaker, who is often the Chair of the adjudicator panel (or chief judge). The Speaker keeps time and calls debaters to the floor.

 

Each debater has 5-7 minutes to speak (depending on the tournament). The first and last minutes are protected time. This means that no POIs may be offered during this time. The Speaker will give a signal at the end and the beginning of protected time, at the seven-minute mark, and at the end of grace. The Speaker will probably not give time signals otherwise, so it is recommended that debaters bring a stopwatch to time themselves or their partner.

 

There are no Points of Order, or Points of Personal Privilege.

 

At the end of each debate, the teams will be ranked from first place to fourth place. Each ranking has a point value associated with it. The common point values used are as follows:

 

First Place = 3 points

Second Place = 2 points

Third Place = 1 point

Fourth Place = 0 points

 

Your points are added over the course of the tournament. The break is determined by point total, and speaker points if some teams have the same point total.

 

Speaker points criteria

 

In BP there are two categories that you are judged on as a speaker. Matter is the content of your speech, and manner is how you present that content. Matter and manner are weighted equally. The lists include some of the more common elements of matter and manner, but are not exhaustive.

                                  

 

Matter Includes:

• Substantive arguments for your side

• Rebuttal arguments

• Case Studies / Facts

• POIs

Manner Includes:

• Humor

• Appropriate language

• Engaging the audience

 

 

Type of Motions

Open Motion

 A relatively vague idea is presented, one which may defined by the Opening Government in a creative way as long as it is debatable.

 

Example:

This House Believes that we Need a Hero.

 

Vaild Interpretation:This House Would Install Superman as an Absolute Dictator. (the debate could then be expanded on the advantages or disadvantages of absolute political power)

 

Invalid Interpretation: 

This House Believes that Chuck Norris is Superior to Ordinary Men. (both a silly interpratation and a side-tracking of the prospect of heroes being useful). 

 

Closed Motion

The opposite of an Open Motion, oftentimes of a limited scope, however while also leaving some room for interpretation.

 

Example:

This House Believes that Mandatory Drug Testing of Public Officials is Justified.

 

Semi-Closed Motion

More specific than an Open Motion, however while also leaving plenty of room for introducing specific case examples.

 

Example:

This House Supports Privatization.

                                             

Role of the Opening Government

 

The first goal of an OG team is to present a clear, coherent, and above all, contentious case. Remember that the OG case must be contentious enough to last for eight speeches, and 56 minutes of debate. One of the most important things OG teams should keep in mind is that bold cases are generally better to run than squirreled cases that run out of steam within the first few speeches. It is debate, after all. This doesn’t mean that you should propose that humans eat their young. But it does mean that you shouldn’t be afraid of proposing controversial models or cases. The major point: Propose bold, but not suicidal cases.

 

An example of an acceptable and unacceptable interpretation of a resolution:

Resolution: THW Reverse Austerity Measures in Europe.

Acceptable: THW Eliminate the Greek Memorandum.

Unacceptable: THBT the Rise of Extremist Parties in Greece was Caused by Austerity Measures.

 

The reason why the second interpretation is abusive is because the original resolution clearly hints at a topic involving the drawbacks of balancing budgets in Europe. This could be a myriad of things, from raising taxes to cutting spending on social services. So the OG has a degree of flexibility in choosing a topic relating to the form of austerity measures being implemented. With this in mind, the second interpretation clearly goes against the spirit of the resolution by overextending the case without an obvious correlation.

 

Role of the Opening Opposition

 

As the OO team, your role is twofold. You must refute what the OG team has said, but it is not enough to simply poke holes in the OG case. You must also bring in constructive arguments of your own. It is not enough to go into a round as an OO team and do a rebuttal-only opposition. A good OO case would make sense if the wording of the resolution were reversed, and OO became the OG. You have to bring your own constructive analysis to the round.

 

Role of the Closing Teams

 

Both closing teams are expected to offer an extension for their opening team’s case. What is an extension? An extension can take many forms:

 

• Switching the focus of the debate from practical to philosophical arguments, or vice versa.

• Bringing in new practical/philosophical arguments.

• Focusing on a specific case study.

• Focusing on an already mentioned argument and expanding on it significantly.

• Providing a practical alternative proposal which would be more effective in tackling a specific issue.

 

                                               

 

This is an incredibly short list of acceptable extensions. The main goal for a closing team is to differentiate yourself from the opening team, but still support them. It's incredibly important that you reinforce the opening team. But at the same time it’s still important for your arguments to be more relevant than theirs. So you have to establish that your case has an over-arching theme that the judges can easily identify, that makes your team distinct from the opening team, and still supports the opening team. This doesn't have to be difficult. Many teams stress themselves out about the closing positions because of the extension, but being on the closing half of the debate has distinct advantages. The closing teams enjoy the benefit of introducing their own constructive material and rebutting what the other team has said, but also to summarize the debate in their own words.

 

The summary is to be done by the second speaker on each closing team. This is an integral part of the role of each closing team. There are many ways to summarize the debate. Some speakers like to identify the main themes that were analyzed during the round. Oftentimes speakers like to label each team with a name describing their arguments. One of the easiest ways for debaters new to British Parliamentary Debating is to go through their summary speech and identify three questions that need to be answered at the end of the round, and explain why your side, and particularly your team, bring the best resolution to those questions. Any style you choose is fine so long as it gives a substantive summary of the arguments in the round, and why you won those arguments. As a reminder: The Opposition Whip is not allowed any new arguments in their speech, and it is highly recommended that the Government Whip focus entirely on what has already been analyzed.

 

 

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