PAPER 1: UK Politics • Democracy and participation- What is democracy? What types of democracy are there? What affects people’s participation in politics? • Political parties- The “mainstream” UK political parties and two smaller parties- what are their main ideas? What accounts for their levels of support? • Electoral systems- What different methods are there for electing representatives? How are they used in the UK? Should our election system change? • Voting behaviour and the media- What affects the way people vote? How has this impacted UK general elections? • Core ideologies: conservatism, socialism and liberalism. PAPER 2: UK Government • The UK Constitution- What are the component parts of the UK Constitution? What are the sources of the UK Constitution? Should it be reformed? • Parliament- What are the functions of the UK Parliament? How effective is it at carrying these out? Should the House of Lords be abolished? • The Prime Minister and government- What is cabinet government? How powerful is the PM? What factors affect their power? • Relations between the branches of state- How do Parliament, government and the courts interact? Who has the most power? Who should have the most power? • Non-core ideology: feminism PAPER 3: Global politics and comparative politics • The state and globalisation- What is a state? Are states undermined by globalisation? • Global governance: political and economic- What are IGOs? How powerful is the UN? How powerful are NGOs? • Global governance: human rights and environmental: What are human rights? Why are they promoted? Can the current system save the environment? • Power- What types of power are there? How has the application of this changed over time? • Regionalism and the EU- How powerful is the EU? What other regional organisations are there? • Comparative theories of politics: What is realism? What is liberalism? What is international anarchy? How can we apply these ideas?