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How to make a proposition case is
probably the most important question. The debates are good or bad
mostly because of the propositions case and the proposition is mostly
punished if the judges feel that the debate was bad.
I will write about a plan/model
proposition case here, because its most widely used in the British
parliamentary debate format. I will prepare another article about the
other prop cases.
If we compare the proposition case with
a “real” government change in a law/policy, the first question
that you need to answer is, why are you doing it. So there must be a
problem. And this is the first thing that you should speak about. Is
there something wrong in the world? If there is you should spent some
time on explaining the problem. Show the judges, that the problem is
important and that it should be solved.
After the problem you should propose a
solution. In the debate jargon its called a plan or a model (the
British or IONA – Islands of the Northern Atlantic use the word
model). In this model you should answer a couple of basic questions.
Who is going to do it. What he/she/it is going to do it and how it is
going to be done. Your plan should be precise, but it should not go
into too many details or technicalities. That means that you can
specify that a group of experts is going to do something, but you
don't need to name them, or where you are going to find them. The
plan should be direct and it should do exactly what the motion says.
If you have a closed motion than you can use the wording of the
motion for your plan.
After you have proposed a plan/model,
all you need to prove is, that it will have benefits, or that there
are arguments why you should do that. While learning about how to
make a good debate, probably the best advice that I received, how to
make an argument is, ask the WHY question. And then some more. And
more. Until you get a stupid answer. Example: THBT EU needs a
standing army and you run an argument that the EU is going to be more
important in the international arena. WHY: Because having an army
makes you an important player in the arena. WHY: because if you have
an army you can threat other countries. WHY: because you can bomb
them and they dont like it. WHY: because their people will die and
this the governments dont like that. WHY: well if you have noone to
govern, than being a prime minister is not fun. WHY: well, now you
can stop asking the question.
Don't forget to link every argument to
your plan/problem. That means, that at least at the end of your
argument you should say, why is your argument important for your
problem or model.
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