New Zealand politics

Structure the paragraph as follows: 1. Opening sentence with your claim

e.g. MMP is the best electoral system for New Zealand, because it reduces the likelihood that one party can dominate the executive and the legislature.

2. Next 1-3 sentences outlining the counterargument

e.g. Critics of MMP argue, however, that too much power is given to smaller parties, as they are relied upon to form coalitions or confidence and supply agreements. As a result, despite only representing a small percentage of the vote, smaller parties might have an outsized influence on aspects of governmental policy or positions of power.

3. Next 2-3 sentences outlining why this counterargument is not persuasive

e.g. However, studies indicate that MMP governments have allowed for effective government, in particular because the ‘agree to disagree’ clause enables minor parties to distinguish themselves from their coalition partner without needing to invoke the possibility of walking away from the support agreement. This means that smaller parties can meet the political demands of their constituents (by stating how their policy differs from the government’s) without dominating the government’s agenda, while the larger coalition partner can proceed with their overall policy agenda without necessarily losing their coalition or confidence and supply partner. As such, smaller parties are prevented from exercising excessive power over their ally, while at the same time retaining some ability to serve as an important check on governmental power.

Your submission should look something like this:

MMP is the best electoral system for New Zealand, because it reduces the likelihood that one party can dominate the executive and the legislature. Critics of MMP argue, however, that too much power is given to smaller parties, as they are relied upon to form coalitions or confidence and supply agreements. As a result, despite only representing a small percentage of the vote, smaller parties might have an outsized influence on aspects of governmental policy or positions of power. However, studies indicate that MMP governments have allowed for effective government, in particular because the ‘agree to disagree’ clause enables minor parties to distinguish themselves from their coalition partner without needing to invoke the possibility of walking away from the support agreement. This means that smaller parties can meet the political demands of their constituents (by stating how their policy differs from the government’s) without dominating the government’s agenda, while the larger coalition partner can proceed with their overall policy agenda without necessarily losing their coalition or confidence and supply partner. As such, smaller parties are prevented from exercising excessive power over their ally, while at the same time retaining some ability to serve as an important check on governmental power.

Remember that if you wish to use your paragraph in your final essay (which you should!), you will need to include citations where appropriate (though citations are not required for this exercise).

Marks will be allocated as follows, for a mark out of 5:

1 mark: Topic sentence

1 mark for identifying a claim with which you agree

.5 mark for identifying a claim, though it’s not clear what the claim is

0 marks for no topic sentence

2 marks: Counterargument

2 marks for identifying a convincing counterargument

1 mark for identifying a counterargument, though it may not be particularly convincing

0 marks for failing to identify a counterargument

2 marks: Refutation

2 marks for persuasively refuting the counterargument

1 mark for refuting the counterargument, though it may not be very convincing

0 marks for failing to refute the counterargument

1

POLS 111 | Task 6 | Drafting a counterargument