World Universities' Debating Council
From UCC Philosophical Society Wiki
Excerpt from Wikipedia article
The World Universities Debating Council consists of every country that competes at the Championships selecting a council delegate (the national debating association president, or selected from the participants at Worlds). The Council is responsible for setting the rules and awarding the right to host the championships. Up to 2000, the host country of the championships appointed the Chair of Council.
The Worlds Committee is elected to discuss issues during the year as Council only meets at the championships itself. This Committee consists of a mix of elected officers and regional representatives from Africa, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, Continental Europe and the Middle East, and the Islands of the North Atlantic (IONA), a form of words thought less controversial than British Isles. Since 2000, the Chair of the Committee has also chaired the Council [2000 Omar Salluhudin (Malaysia), 2001 & 2002 Colm Flynn (Ireland), 2002-2008 Ian Lising (US), 2008-current Neill Harvey-Smith (England)].
The Council formerly operated not unlike the United Nations Security Council, with seven nations holding charter member status - the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. A two thirds majority of these countries was required for changes to the Championship's constitution, irrespective of how the general vote was tallied. However, as the number of non-charter nations attending grew, many fielding far more teams than some of the upper tier, and Worlds began being hosted outside the Charter nations, pressure grew for the distinction to be eliminated.
The modern Championship grants voting strength of between one and four votes per country based on numbers of institutions attending recent championships. To allow for fluctuations in participation due to the financial difference in attending championships nearer or further in succeeding years, nations lose or gain their voting strength gradually.
