Roles and Strategies for the First Government Team China Debate Education Network:

Contents: I.Constructing a Case: The Role of the Prime Minister II.Role of Deputy Prime Minister: Supporting the Case II.Examples of Cases II.Interactive practices 2

Constructing a Case: The Role of the Prime Minister Analyze the motion Define and interpret the motion Present a model of the motion Create a case for the motion 3

Constructing a Case: Analyze the Motion Focus attention on different ways to interpret the motion Focus attention on what should be expected Focus attention on the type of motion 4

Constructing a Case: Defining and Interpreting 1 st Government team has the right to define and interpret the motion. 1 st Government team has the responsibility to do so in a reasonable manner Defining: Ambiguous terms in the motion Interpreting: Narrowing the motion for debate 5

Constructing a Case: Defining Ambiguous Terms Does the motion include terms that might be unclear? Motion: “Israel should change its policies toward Palestinians.” Definition: “Palestinians” include citizens of the West Bank and Gaza as well as Arab citizens of the State of Israel. 6

Constructing a Case: Interpreting the Motion Interpreting the motion means narrowing it for the purposes of debate. Motion: “Israel should change its policies toward Palestinians.” Interpretation: For the purposes of this debate we will interpret (narrow) the motion to include only Arab citizens of the State of Israel. 7

Presenting the Model of the Motion If the motion is about assigning value, then the model simply needs to be a clear statement of the focus and direction for the debate. If the motion is about a policy or action, then model should contain at least three things: – actor – proposed action – other details 8

Constructing Arguments to Support the Model Principled arguments, usually grounded in morals and ethics, focus on the inherent rightness or wrongness of an action Consequential arguments, grounded in the effects or outcomes of policies or actions. 9

10 Motion: Mohandas Gandhi was one of the world's greatest leaders Description: Mohandas Gandhi employed civil disobedience throughout his life. Association: Civil disobedience supports the principle of non- violence. Evaluation: Non-violence is one of the most important principles the world has ever known. Principled Arguments to Support a Motion

11 Motion: Mao Zedong was one of the world’s greatest leader Description: Mao Zedong created the Chinese Communist Party. Association: The Chinese Communist Party raised the standard of living for millions of Chinese citizens. Evaluation: Few people in the world have had such positive effects on the lives of millions of people. Consequential Arguments to Support a Motion

Role of Deputy Prime Minister Providing refutation (Later lesson on refutation) Add something new to the case, like a new principled argument, a new consequential argument, or more detailed support for an existing argument 12

Examples of Cases

Case Construction Exercise