How to Set Rules for Political Debates

Political debate is the cornerstone of any functioning democracy. Crucial to the unfolding of a productive and enlightening debate is a set of rules that all parties find fair and reasonable. Structuring the rules for political debate takes some time and knowledge, but a few steps will help you out.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Set the total amount of time you have for the political debate and work backwards, dividing the debate into topical segments.
2. Determine how many debaters will participate and then divide each of your topical segment into equal time slots for each debater. You can use a conventional structure of an allotted introduction time followed by a response time for each debater or you can use a more simple time structure that gives debaters equal time and moves in an alternating response format.
3. Consider whether you want to allow debaters to use resources such as notes or newspaper clippings. You can decide to allow a short review period during which debaters can review their material. Or you can choose to set the rules so that all responses must be unaided and impromptu.
4. Make a penalty for debaters who run over their allotted time by either giving the same amount of excess time plus a penalty time to their opponent or by adjusting the debater's score if the political debate is scored.
5. Draw up rules for personal attacks, indecent remarks and cursing so you have protocol in place for the behavior of debaters. Make a list of no-tolerance rules that result in instant disqualification if a debater breaks one of them.
6. Get the debaters to approve the rules and sign a debating contract that says they will obey the rules of the debate.