Political debate is a forum for contesting positions and ideas. It can be a powerful way to inform voters and influence public opinion. Debate can also help resolve differences of opinion and create a common ground on which to build consensus and policy.

A political debate has a structure that can be simplified into a grouping of participants, a moderator, and a series of questions and responses. This simplifies the problem of finding an objective function that identifies the composition of the groups and the moderator, making it easier for automatic analysis methods to work.

The parties in a debate have an interest in being right. This can be framed narrowly in terms of vindicating their immediate position or attacking the other party’s position, or it can be framed more broadly in terms of coming as close to truth as possible. The latter interest requires that the parties cooperate to establish a process of examining a range of possibilities for standpoints, even if those standpoints conflict with their initial beliefs, and to respect the other’s perspective as a legitimate one.

To be able to do this, both parties need a firm footing on the first floor of their psychological interests and an ability to recognize how personal concerns can subvert reason and fairness when threatened. This is a fundamental tenet of Getting to Yes, and a foundation for effective negotiation in general, as well as political argumentation. If the parties in a debate are willing to do this, then they can agree on how to set the terms of the discussion.