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A Level Politics a Level Politics A Level Politics A Level Politics THE BISHOP’S STORTFORD HIGH SCHOOL A LEVEL POLITICS Bridging Unit 2020 0 @TBSHSPolitics A Level Politics Welcome Welcome, Year 11, to the TBSHS A Level Politics Bridging Unit. You may have decided to take A Level Politics as a firm choice for next year or may just be interested in what the subject is about. For all students, this bridging unit has been designed to give you a taste of what studying A Level Politics is like, and insight into British politics, and some of the skills required to succeed at A Level Politics. A Level Politics will suit those students who: • Have an interest in the world around them: who want to know more about the structures of government, the way politics and society interact, how it works and how it could work; • Enjoy constructing debates and argument: who are comfortable with the fact that in politics there are no simple ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’; • Like to think for themselves: who wants to develop their own views, rather than accept the views of others. • Politics will be a new subject to the majority of you and therefore you may see it as an opportunity to do something fresh and new, an enriching experience in itself. • It is particularly important that you have an enquiring mind, a desire to learn about how the political system works and its impact on you, the citizen. The bridging unit is divided into two distinct sections: • The first section will be for completion during the second half of the Summer Term, from June to July. These will be set out in weekly tasks for six weeks and are designed to develop an interest in British politics. • The second section will be a more challenging unit, designed to push your understanding and use of political concepts, research skills, and essay writing. These will need to be completed for your first A Level Politics lesson in September. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr Ross Conquest, Subject Leader for Politics, at [email protected] I hope you enjoy preparing to study Politics! ‘Man is a political animal’ – Aristotle Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you." – attributed to Pericles, 5th century BC 1 A Level Politics Course Structure Component Content Component 1: • Democracy and Participation UK Politics and Core • Political Parties Political Ideas • Electoral Systems • Voting Behaviour and the media • Core ideas: Liberalism, conservatism and socialism Component 2: • The Constitution UK Government and non- • Parliament core Political Ideas • The PM and Government • Relations between the braches • Non-core ideas: Nationalism Component 3: • The US Constitution and federalism Comparative Politics - US • US Congress • US presidency • US Supreme Court and civil rights • Democracy and participation • Comparative theories The skills you will develop studying politics: · Knowledge and understanding of basic political ideas, concepts, structures and processes, the relationship between them and how they work at different levels. · An ability to interpret and analyse political information in various forms and from various sources, and to apply a range of political ideas concepts and theories. · An ability to evaluate arguments, theories, values and ideologies to explain political behaviour and suggest solutions to controversial issues. · The skills to organise and present an argument with relevance, clarity and coherence using good English. 2 A Level Politics Section 1: Week One – What is politics? “Politics is the study of how a people, a nation or a state is governed.” When most people think of politics, they think of old, wealthy men (only sometimes women, and only sometimes ethnic minorities) in offices, making deals and agreements that will affect millions of people, just for personal gain. And it’s true that some decisions are made that way, but politics is much more than that. Politics is about power, about people, equality, war, conflict, debate, cooperation, freedom, money, etc. – it’s about the relationship between the state (the government) and its citizens, or the state and other states. It governs everything we can and will do in our lives. One of the reasons politics is so exciting is that it changes every single day based on the actions of individuals. Less than 500 people (in a country of 330 million) decided the result of the 2000 presidential election that made George Bush president. In 2001 he invaded Afghanistan and in 2003 he invaded Iraq. These two things have changed the Middle East and global politics, perhaps forever. Closer to home, if just one out of every 50 people who voted to leave the EU had voted differently, we may have had a different result. Each individual vote is vital, and yet 28% of all the people who could vote and registered to vote in that referendum didn’t turn out on June 23rd. It would take just a small number of them to change the result. However, politics can mean different things to different people. Your first task is to help you garner an understanding of what Politics is really all about. Task You are required to conduct some independent research into the meaning of politics. You can use whatever resources are available to you. You are asked to write a 500 word summary of what you believe is the best definition of ‘politics’. There are competing views, and there is no right or wrong answer. This task is about broadening your understanding, weighing competing views, and arguing your view based on an evaluation of the different views you research You will need to: • Define your view of what the term ‘politics’ means • Weigh competing views • Justify your response These are the core skills of any Politics student. To help you, there are a range of helpful resources listed below. You do not have to read all of them, but some may be of interest to you: • https://www.open.edu/openlearn/society-politics-law/what-politics/content-section-2. (this is particularly helpful as it analyses a range of competing definitions, but it is lengthy and you do not have to read it all) • https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/what-is-politics • https://www.macmillanihe.com/resources/sample-chapters/9780230363373_sample.pdf (Again, this is rather lengthy, you may want to select different passages to read) 3 A Level Politics Week Two – Your MP French philosopher Joseph de Maistre once said that “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve”. While this is an argument often levelled as a criticism of the state of British politics, it also gets to the heart of how politicians are not separate from the people, but are connected to and chosen by the people. The foundation of any democracy is usually based on some form of consent. That consent is usually expressed in elections, and while it may be Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn who grabbed the headlines in the 2019 general election, unless you were a member of their constituency, the public did not vote for them is a technical sense. Instead, they voted for their own local representative: their MP. Task You task for this week is to research the role of an MP and, more specifically, your MP. Use the table and profile on the following pages as a worksheet to complete. 1. Investigate the role of an MP. Complete the table below to guide your research. As a starting point, you can use the Parliament guidance found here. The role of an MP Findings How are MPs chosen? What does an MP do? How does an MP raise matters in the House of Commons? 4 A Level Politics Why did MPs sit in the House of Commons opposite each other? Why are some MPs described as backbenchers and some frontbenchers? How can an MP help constituents? How many MPs are there in Parliament? Following the 2019 general election, how are they divided by party? What is the salary of an MP? 5 A Level Politics 2. Learn more about the role of an MP by playing the “MP for a week” online game. The game challenges you to survive a week in politics and keep your party, your voters and the media happy. You can play on different levels of challenge, and can be a governing party MP or opposition MP 3. Who is your MP? Find out the following information: • Name • Constituency • Party • Position within the government/House of Commons • Voting history – what are their views on some of the biggest issues to come before Parliament? Use https://www.theyworkforyou.com/ to find out how your MP has voted. 6 A Level Politics Week 3 – Current Affairs Politics is a subject which cannot be unplugged from news and current affairs. Twitter is seen by some to be the future of Politics – it is used by journalists, politicians and politicos alike to share news and information as well as discuss political issues. I would advise that you create yourselves Twitter accounts as soon as possible and follow the below users for Political information and news: @Britainelects (for news and updates on all things electoral in the UK) @BBCNews / @SkyNews (or any other news station of your choice – or even more than one!) @bbcquestiontime (the UK’s most-watched political talk-show: BBC Question Time) @BorisJohnson (prime minister) @POTUS (the president of the United States of America) @DExEUgov (The Department for Exiting the European Union) @TBSHSPolitics Twitter Unsure on how to filter what news is relevant to the course? The @TBSHSPolitics account tweets the latest news stories and makes specification links so that you can add the latest examples to your notes.
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