AS
AS Government and Politics
Unit One
This unit is called “People and Politics” and it covers four topics (and there are four questions in the exam). First, the UK electoral system. How does it work in General Elections? Is it fair? Secondly, participation and democracy. Why is participation in the political process so low at the moment? Is the UK a truly representative democracy? Thirdly, pressure groups. What is their role, and how successful are they. Do they ever force the government to change its mind? Finally, political parties. What are their functions and their ideologies? Are the Conservatives conservative anymore? Is Labour a socialist party anymore?
Unit Two
This unit is called “Governing the UK”. The four topics are: The UK constitution. How is our constitution so different from most others? What influence does the EU have on our constitution? Secondly, Parliament. What does our Parliament do? How powerful are the Lords? Do MPs really have any power? Does Parliament hold Blair to account? Thirdly, the executive. The “executive” of a country are the people who run the country. Who is this in the UK? How powerful is the executive? What do civil servants do? Finally, the judiciary. What is the role of judges? Do they have any actual power? Are they truly independent?
The examinations
As with most AS subjects, you will have two exams assessing the two units. There will be no coursework. You will take unit one in January and then unit two in June. The structure of the exams is as follows:
Unit 1 A written exam – two structured questions from a choice of four. You will see that there are, broadly, four sections to unit one. The examiners tend to set one question on each of the four sections above (although not always). Each question has three parts worth 5, 15 and 30 marks.
Unit 2 A written exam – two structured questions from a choice of four. In terms of structure, this exam is exactly the same as unit one. Again, there are four questions which will, usually, represent the four sections of the syllabus. Again each question has three parts (see above).