The Amsterdam Student Debate Association Bonaparte was founded in 1998. Since then, Bonaparte has become the most sociable and best student debate association in the Netherlands. Bonaparte is a lively association in which every member decides for himself what he gets out of his membership.
Some members come mainly to debate, others just for fun. We have no hazing, compulsory attendance, year clubs or disputes, but we do have committees in which you can quickly become active. We don't care what study you do, what political party you identify with or whether you are a bachelor or master student, we would like to get to know you!
Many activities are organized throughout the year, including parties, dinners, movie nights, a gala and various debate tournaments. At Bonaparte, you get the chance to both sharpen your mind and enjoy student life!
Every Tuesday at 7 o'clock we debate at the Roeterseiland campus of the UvA. There are several debates in one evening in both English and Dutch and they cover a wide range of topics. One can think of motions such as: drugs should be legalized, capitalism is a better economic system than communism, red wine tastes better than white wine and many more.
We end the evening by going to the pub, usually to CREA café, and having a nice chat there.
Want to stop by sometime to debate or watch? Then sign up here!
Bonaparte offers courses throughout the year so that our members can improve their debating skills even faster. These courses can be either content-oriented or focused on public speaking, such as posture and speaking style.
These courses are given by our own experienced members, but sometimes also by guest speakers from the debate world from within and outside the Netherlands. The courses are always very interactive and therefore give a lot of room to practice. We often see participants applying their newly learned knowledge, successfully, to the debates later that evening.
That these courses pay off is also easy to see: Bonapartians regularly score well at both national and international tournaments.
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