Government and Politics

Assessment

There are three papers, each of two hours, sat at the end of the Upper Sixth. Paper One assesses UK Politics and the interaction between people and the political system. It addresses topics such as democracy and participation in the UK, political parties, electoral systems, voting behaviour and the media. The core UK political ideas of conservatism, liberalism, socialism will also be studied in both a historical and philosophical context. Paper Two assesses the structures of the UK Government, incorporating a detailed understanding of the UK constitution, parliament, Prime Minister and executive, and relationships between the branches of government. In deliberate contrast this will be studied alongside the oppositional political ideas of anarchism, ecologism, feminism, multiculturalism, and nationalism. Paper Three is a comparative paper, assessing the US Constitution and federalism, US congress, US presidency, US Supreme Court, democracy and participation and civil rights, alongside theories of Global Politics, sovereignty & globalisation, global governance, political and economic, global governance and issues of human rights. Each paper requires pupils to respond in short-form essays to a choice of questions.