Government and Politics

Course summary

Can Trump win again in the USA? Can Labour ever win again in the UK? Why is our right to protest under threat? Politics seeks to explain the unexpected and, also to show how these events affect all of us. You will look at UK political parties, pressure groups, and Parliament and you will also compare them with politics in the USA. We will also look at political ideas. We ask: Why is feminism on the rise? Why are socialists so divided? You will also engage with people who are making politics happen, from Parliament to university, in both the UK and the USA. UK Government and Politics You will look at how people participate in politics by voting, engaging with political parties, pressure group activity and through the media. You will also study how the UK is governed and how we are represented. This will include making laws in Parliament and putting those laws into action through the role of the Prime Minister, Cabinet and Civil Service. We will also look at the way the law is interpreted by judges. US Government and Politics You look at how people take part in politics in the US differs from the UK. Looking at the American electoral process, the role of US political parties, and US pressure groups, you will be able to analyse and compare the way they function with those in the UK and make judgements about the extent to which they are democratic. You will also study the institutions that make up the three branches of the US Government: the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court and you will be able to analyse the relationship between them to assess where power lies. Political ideas You will study a range of political ideas that have helped to define the way politics is practised and the way people think about it. As well as the core ideas that have come to define UK Politics in the last century (Conservatism, Socialism and Liberalism), you will be able to focus on a wider range of contemporary schools of political thought including feminism, environmentalism, anarchism, multiculturalism and nationalism.