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 which 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:
  • Are political parties still fit for purpose?
  • Does the party funding system need reform?
  • What is needed for a political party to succeed?
  • Is there a one-, two-, or multi-party system at play in the United Kingdom?
  • Is there any difference between the political parties in the United Kingdom?
• Electoral Systems:
  • Do the advantages of First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)/Additional Member System (AMS)/Single Transferable Vote (STV)/Supplementary Vote (SV)outweigh the disadvantages?
• 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