Making Your Mind Up: Key Debates in A-Level Politics

Key Debates

You need to pick a side in each debate (no fence-sitting allowed) and know how the reasons you will use to justify your position.

Paper 1: UK Politics & Core Political Ideas

• Democracy & Participation.
  • Is direct democracy better than representative democracy or vice versa?
  • Is our representative democracy in need of reform?
  • Has the franchise been extended far enough?
  • Do pressure groups or collective organisations (including think tanks, lobbyists and corporations) succeed in their attempts to influence policy makers?
  • Are our rights sufficiently protected in the United Kingdom?
• Political Parties.
• Electoral Systems.
• Voting Behaviour & the Media.
• Core Political Ideas: Conservatism; Liberalism; Socialism.

Paper 2: UK Government & Non-Core Political Ideas

• The Constitution.
• Parliament.
• The Prime Minister & the Executive.
• The Relationship between the Branches of the Government.
• Non-Core Political Ideas: Anarchism.

Paper 3: Comparative Politics - the Government & Politics of the USA

• The Constitution.
• Congress.
• The Presidency.
• The Supreme Court & Civil Rights.
• Democracy & Participation.

Return to "Politics"

• Politics