De eeuw van het debat. De ontwikkeling van het publieke debat in Nederland en Engeland 1800-1920

PhD ceremony: Mr. J.J. van Rijn, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Thesis: De eeuw van het debat. De ontwikkeling van het publieke debat in Nederland en Engeland 1800-1920

Promotor(s): prof. H. te Velde

Faculty: Arts

Jaap van Rijn’s thesis is about how debating societies influenced the way in which public debate was conducted in the nineteenth century. It describes how the rules and traditions of parliamentarian debate framed public debate between citizens. Eloquence, public speech and debate played a central part in the political world of the nineteenth century. In the debating societies citizens practised the various forms of debate but they also presented themselves as true citizens of the nation. Because of that debating clubs shaped public opinion. The example of parliament strengthened the dignity and respectability of the debates. It also enhanced the game element in debating clubs.

In Britain debating societies were large associations which were open to all classes of society. In the Netherlands the liberal founders wanted civilized debate between respectable citizens. Debating clubs were small and only for an elite. After the 1860s large parliamentarian debating societies called ‘local parliaments’ were established in the whole of Britain. These were perfect copies of the House of Commons. They were called ’a perfect democracy’ because they were open to all citizens. The local parliaments succeeded in integrating new voters in the political system. They also raised a new generation of politicians. In the Netherlands the liberal game of debate was not adopted by the new ideological political groups in society. Debating was used to combat other political parties. Only the orthodox-protestants and the socialists tried to educate young men from the lower social classes in the art of debating. However, political debate in the Netherlands was elitist.