Parliamentary style 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.
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).
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.
[2] NPDA circuit consists of a loose confederation of local leagues and a number of invitational tournaments.
It does, however, recognize parli competitions offered at the state level, albeit at a reduced points value.
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).
Although Nationals is open to all, TOC is limited to teams that exceed a certain yearly points threshold.
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.
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.
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.
Debater role names are borrowed from the British Parliament, with the judge being referred to as the Speaker.
[19] Most variations of the style do not include a specialized cross-examination period, but allow debaters to make parliamentary points.
The presence of themes makes some differences in the strategy in comparison to the general parliamentary debate.
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".
