A Level Politics A Level Politics

THE BISHOP’S STORTFORD HIGH SCHOOL

A LEVEL POLITICS Bridging Unit 2020

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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

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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

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.

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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)

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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 and 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?

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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?

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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.

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A Level Politics

Week 3 – Current Affairs

Politics is a subject which cannot be unplugged from news and current affairs. 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.

There are also a whole range of different means to get your news:

Broadsheet Newspapers:

The Times ∙ ∙ ∙ (I) ∙ The ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ The Independent on Sunday, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago-Sun Times.

Magazines:

The Week-The Economist ∙ Private Eye ∙ The ∙ ∙ Total Politics ∙ Prospect ∙ Phillip Allan Politics Review –New York Review of Books - New Republic - The Atlantic –Time – New Yorker -

Websites:

BBCNews ∙ Simple Politics ∙ Tutor2u ∙ Politics ∙ BBC Parliament- CNN Politics - Real Clear Politics - 270 to Win – Parliament Find Your Way

Television:

Channel 4 News 7pm daily ∙ Newsnight BBC2 10.30 daily ∙ Question Time BBC1 Thursdays 10.30pm (only when Parliament is in session) ∙ The Andrew Marr Show 10am Sunday morning – Meet The Press Sunday Morning- BBC Parliament-America This Week – BBC Washington Journal -Sophie Ridge On Sunday Sunday.

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A Level Politics

Radio:

Radio 4 in the mornings 6-9am for The Today Programme, PM at 5pm, The World This Weekend.

Podcasts:

Best of Today ∙ The Spectator ∙ The Guardian UK: Politics Weekly ∙ Westminster Hour ∙ Week in Westminster ∙ FT Politics ∙ Left, Right & Center – The Argument

Task

You are going to be tasked with keeping a current affairs scrapbook for this week. You will continue to keep this scrapbook throughout your time studying politics in the sixth form.

How to keep a current affairs scrapbook:

1. Each morning you must listen to, watch or read what is going on in the country and make a list of the top three news stories. You can do this whilst you are getting ready in the morning; listening to the radio or podcasts whilst travelling into school on weekdays; by looking at one of the internet news sites or twitter and/or spending some time each day in the school library or at home looking at a newspaper.

2. In your scrapbook make a list of the top three stories for each day, including a brief outline of what has happened.

3. At the end of each week you must select one of these stories and write a short editorial on it. This should include:

• An objective explanation of the issue. How it has progressed across the week.

• Opinions from different viewpoints.

• Your opinion – including where applicable alternative solutions to the problem or issue being criticised.

Feel free to keep this going over the summer – reading the news must become a habit for any politics student.

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A Level Politics

Week 4 – The 2019 General Election

As you may have seen, a week is a long time in politics. It is a subject that constantly shifts and changes depending on the political landscape. There was no greater demonstration of this than the 2019 general election, which completely altered our understanding and direction of the last 5 years of Westminster politics.

A key part of the A Level course is analysing the reasons why people vote the way they do, the election systems used, and the impact such results produce on the government of the United Kingdom. The 2019 election was important for all these reasons.

Task 1. Go to these links here for the UK’s three major parties: • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50524262 • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50501411 • https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50459123

These links summarise their key manifesto policies in the 2019 general election. I would like you to choose a few policies of your choice and explain below why you support OR do not support that policy. You must choose at least 1 policy from each manifesto to discuss your agreement to or opposition to – if you want to extend yourself and go further, you can do more than 3. Use the template below for one party:

Party Manifesto Agree/disagree and why Conservative Party

Labour Party

Liberal Democrats

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2. Based on these manifestos, the British people went to the polls on Thursday 12 December. As the results came in during the early hours of the morning, there was a rush to analyse how the dust had settled.

Watch Robert Peston’s analysis on Good Morning Britain here, and answer the following questions:

• What was the biggest issue in deciding the election? • What does Robert Peston suggest happened to the opinion polls during the election campaign? • What controversy was Jeremy Corbyn embroiled in? • What controversy was Boris Johnson embroiled in? • How does Robert Peston suggest that Boris Johnson was able to unite the ‘Brexit vote’? • What happened to the ‘Remain’ vote? • Why does Peston suggest this is a hugely significant election? o For Labour? o For the Liberal Democrats? o For the Conservatives? • What were the issues highlighted for the survival of the United Kingdom as a union of four nations? • What ideology is suggested to have swept England, Scotland and Northern Ireland during the 2019 general election?

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A Level Politics

Week 5 – Political Guess Who?

Look at the photographs of British politicians below. You must identify who they are, which party they belonged to, their position within Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) or Her Majesty’s Opposition (HMO), and one interesting fact about their political career. Get your family involved in this task – your parents will remember many of these faces, and some of them may even be better suited to your grandparents!

The Past

The Present

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A Level Politics

Week 6 – Should 16 and 17 year-olds be allowed to vote?

Politics has a direct impact on people your age. The GCSEs and A Levels you study, the tuition charged at university, the minimum wage for those under 18. But even more than this, political decisions being made now that will affect your future. Should you have a say of these now?

Scotland, and soon Wales, have allowed people aged 16 and over to vote in their national assemblies. Should this be extended to the whole of the UK?

Below is an extract containing many different arguments, both for and against the view that those over 16 should be able to vote. One of the key skills required for the Politics A Level is the ability to identify and understand different arguments from an extract and contrast them in a meaningful debate.

In the UK, the minimum voting age is 18, except in Scotland, where 16- and 17-year-olds have been given the right to vote in local and Scottish parliamentary elections. By and large, 16-year-olds haven’t yet entered the world of home ownership, employment, tax or pensions but these economic issues are often at the forefront of election campaigns. The main argument against lowering the voting age is that a lack of experience in these matters prevents young people from making a considered judgement at the ballot box.

Opponents also point to the fact that 18- to 24-year-olds have the lowest turnout of any age group in elections, reflecting an apparent lack of interest in politics. These critics question whether an even younger generation would be any different. And there are concerns that teenagers who do want to cast their votes would be impressionable and easily influenced by radical politics, or would not fully think things through and would blindly vote for the same party as their parents.

But calls to lower the voting age come from a range of sources – adults as well as teenagers themselves, backed up by youth organisations, pressure groups and politicians. 16 and 17 year olds in the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Brazil and Austria already have the vote. They can also vote in some elections in Germany, Malta and Norway. Evidence from the Scottish independence referendum, substantiated by research from Austria and Norway, shows – aided by the encouragement of families and schools – 16 and 17 year- olds have higher rates of turnout than 18 to 24 year-olds.

For supporters, it’s about giving young people a say in matters that directly affect them, such as tuition fees. It’s also thought that lowering the limit will encourage civic- mindedness at an earlier age and establish an interest in the political system, which will be continued throughout a person’s life. Scotland’s positive experience of including 16- and 17-year- olds in the 2014 independence referendum led to the lowering of the voting age for local and Holyrood elections.

A study by the University of Edinburgh during the referendum found that some teenagers were initially doubtful of their own abilities to make the right decision, but that this led them to actively seek out information to help inform their judgement. In some cases,

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A Level Politics

teenagers even influenced their parents’ voting intentions with their new-found knowledge.

But as there are no immediate plans for the UK government to debate lowering the voting age for general elections, it is unlikely that all 16-year-olds will get the chance to put that to the test any time soon.

Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zsbtbk7 and https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/ campaigns/votes-at-16/

Task

1. Define the following political and non-political words from the source.

Parliamentary elections

Forefront

Ballot box

Turnout

Impressionable

Radical politics

Blindly

Pressure groups

Substantiated

Tuition fees

Civic-mindedness

Referendum

Holyrood

Voting intentions

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A Level Politics

2. Using two different coloured highlighters, indicate: a. The arguments in the source that support the view that 16 to 18 year-olds should be given the vote b. The arguments in the source that support the view that the voting age should remain at 18.

3. Now match up 3 arguments that support the view that 16 to 18 year-olds should be given the vote with 3 counter-arguments that directly challenge that view. Try to get the counter- arguments to match with the argument.

Arguments that support the view that 16 to 18 Counter-arguments that support the view that year-olds should get the vote the voting age should remain at 18

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4. You are now going to practice analysing one of these arguments. You are going to use evidence to back up your analysis. You may need to do some additional research to answer some of these questions.

The source states that the 18-24 age group has the lowest turnout in UK elections so therefore even younger voters are likely to have an even lower turnout.

What is turnout? For example, what was the turnout for 18-24 year olds in the recent 2019 general election?

How does this compare with turnout for this age group in the 2017 and 2015 general elections?

Why therefore is it perhaps not a good idea to extend the vote to 16 and 17 year olds?

In the 2014 Scottish

Independence Referendum (the first UK election to give 16 year olds the vote) what was the turnout for 16-18 years old? Which age group had the lowest turnout in this referendum?

Therefore, how does this argument prove that the voting age should not be reduced to 16 years old?

5. The work you have just done is how you would start to answer the A Level exam question - ‘Using the source, evaluate the view that the voting age should be lowered to 16 for UK general elections.’

Don’t worry you are not going to have to write a full answer to this question: you are just going to have a go at writing a conclusion to this question. You will need to weigh up all the arguments and explain why one view is more convincing than the other.

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A Level Politics

Section 2 – August 2020: After Results Day

Bridging Unit Tasks

Key Skills in this Task Politics students need to do more independent reading which can then be used as part of an assessment.

Tasks Outline To be completed over the summer holidays and handed in to your teacher in the first lesson in September.

Task 1: Introductory reading from Who governs Britain? By Anthony King. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Task 2: Create a glossary of new and key terms from the reading. Be sure to include the follow terms:

• Democracy • First-past-the-post • Executive • Constitution • Coalition • Judiciary • Legitimacy • Mandate • Separation of • Pluralism • Codification powers • Participation crisis • Sovereignty • Fusion of powers • Democratic deficit • The rule of law • Elective dictatorship • Left-wing • Devolution • Parliamentary • Right-wing • Legislature sovereignty

Task 3: Using the reading provided and your own knowledge, write an answer to the following question:

‘Evaluate the view that the UK political system is in need of reform.’

You can use the following as starting points:

• Constitutional reforms • Reforms to the electoral system • Reforms to Parliament • Voter participation

This must be a formal written piece of around 1500 words.

Format: Typed

Research: In addition to the reading provided, you are to carry out individual research to produce an original piece of writing. You must also include a bibliography that references all the sources of information you have used (and contains actual books, not just references to Wikipedia). You can use academic texts and arguments being discussed by contemporary politicians and in the media.

Assessment: You will be assessed using a traffic light system (green/amber/red) on the following four criteria:

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• Knowledge and understanding • Analytical evaluative skills • Ability to communicate clearly and coherently in writing • Independent study skills

You will not receive a grade for your work, but you will have a learning conversation with one of your teachers to discuss your work and how it might be improved. The work done for this bridging unit will reflect the type of study involved in Politics.

You will need to hand this bridging unit into your teacher in your first Politics lesson.

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A Level Politics

I hope you have enjoyed finding out a little more about the UK political system. If you would like to find out more about studying Politics at A Level, please contact [email protected].

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

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