Government and Politics

Course summary

An A Level in Politics is highly prized by employers and universities. Knowledge of how the political system of a country operates and the philosophies that have shaped it are an indispensable part of the general education of anyone, not least since it enables people to properly fulfil their roles as citizens. Politics exists because people disagree. They disagree about how they should live (moral questions), about who should get what (resource questions) and about who should make decisions (power questions). As an activity, politics is the process through which people with different ideas, values, opinions and interests attempt to find a way of living together within the same society. Politics therefore seeks to establish the general rules under which we live and it is those rules that make orderly existence possible. As such, politics is the most basic and necessary of social activities - without orderly existence, society will degenerate into a civil war of each against all. Who should study politics, and why? The short answer is that everyone should study politics - all members of society should have a better understanding of the general rules under which they live. For these rules to be effective, as many people as possible should actively participate in making them, upholding them and maybe, changing them. This is what is meant by ‘active citizenship’. A healthy society is a society in which many people participate in political activity and do so with insight and understanding. What makes politics different as an academic subject is its emphasis on debate, discussion and argument. If politics exists because people disagree studying politics must mean studying how, why and when people disagree and taking an interest in these disagreements. Politics is therefore particul