Government and Politics AS/A Level

A Level Government and Politics aims to develop students' knowledge and understanding of the decision-making processes in the UK. This involves a study of government at local, regional, national and European Union levels and includes some comparisons with other political systems. It is an ideal course for anyone who is interested in topical issues which affect the lives of every person in the UK, such as: law and order and civil liberties, the management of the economy, policies on education and health care, environmental policy and issues relating to the European Union.

The course should appeal to students who enjoy discussion and debate because controversies arise over topics such as: the management of the UK economy, counter-terrorism measures, the use of the private sector in the NHS, adoption of the Euro and the reform of Parliament. In addition, the Politics course seeks to develop students’ abilities to analyse and evaluate questions logically and their capacity to support arguments with relevant evidence. These skills provide an excellent grounding for university degree courses in the fields of law, humanities and business.

The first year AS Specification concentrates on the main UK political institutions and processes. There are two examination papers, both lasting 80 minutes, which contain short answer questions, essays and data response exercises.

Unit 1 – People and Politics

Students have to answer two questions from the four following topics:

• Democracy: examples include: how democratic is the UK?; argument for and against the use of referendums.
• UK political parties: eg: analysis of the similarities and differences between the Conservative and Labour parties’ policies and ideas; compromises of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Agreement.
• pressure groups: examples include: reasons why some pressure groups are more successful than others and whether or not pressure groups promote democracy in the UK.
• electoral systems: this involves a study of the operation and evaluation of different electoral systems such as : “First Past the Post”, Alternative Vote, Single Transferable Vote, Additional Member System.

Unit 2 – Governing the UK

Again students have to answer two questions from four topics.

• Constitution:  work will be based on a study of some of the following themes: nature, sources and evaluation of the UK uncodified constitution; nature and evaluation of constitutional reform in the UK.
• Parliament: work includes a study of the composition and functions of Parliament and an evaluation of its effectiveness.
• Prime Minister and Executive: includes an evaluation of the extent to which the UK system can be described as being prime ministerial, presidential or one based on cabinet government.
• Judiciary: involves a study of the roles of judges and an evaluation of whether or not they are neutral, independent and effective at protecting civil liberties in the UK.

At A2 Level student will take a further two papers, each lasting 90 minutes, which contain short-answer questions and essays.

Unit 3 - UK political issues

Students will benefit from understanding the significance of developments since 1945 in topics such as the welfare state and Keynesian economics and  since 1979 with the  reforms of the Thatcher and Major Governments. The examination paper, however, will focus on questions relating to policies and debates associated with the Labour Governments from 1997-2010 and the Coalition Government since 2010.  The examination questions deal with four main themes:  

• the economy: eg: study of fiscal and monetary policies; evaluation of records of unemployment; inflation and economic growth of different governments
• welfare state: eg: developments and debates in education, health care, social security  and pensions
• law and order: eg: policies and controversies associated with police, prisons, counter-terrorism and civil liberties;
• environmental policy: eg reconciling policies which protect the environment with the need to promote economic growth; how “green” are the main political parties in the UK?  

Unit 4 – European Union political issues

Although the historical development of the European Union from the 1950s is studied, the examination paper concentrates on more recent events and policies, stemming from the Single European Act of 1986 and the Maastricht Treaty of 1991.In particular, the Paper will focus on four key areas.

• the impact of the EU on the UK political system: eg:  attitudes of  different political parties towards issues such as EU enlargement, the adoption of the euro and the Lisbon Treaty and the impact of the EU on different  UK pressure groups
• the nature of European integration: e.g. distinctions between common policies of all member states in areas such as trade and agriculture and looser forms of co-operation in areas such as foreign and defence policies
• EU institutions: eg: analysis of the roles and relative importance of the Council, European Parliament and European Commission.
• main areas of  EU policies: eg: single market; eurozone; agriculture; environment; enlargement of EU; social affairs and foreign, defence and security policies. 

Apart from the obvious need for hard work, experience shows that the key qualities needed for success in Politics are: good English expression; a capacity to combine sound knowledge and understanding with good analytical and evaluative skills and a genuine interest in current affairs.