Contains essay plans that cover the entire a-level: every question type and every paper made by an A* student. A mixture of detailed essay plans and more rough essay plans that can be built on as a revision exercise. Particularly useful for Paper 3: US politics.
The Paper 2 ideology is nationalis...
Paper 1
(2019) Evaluate the view that think-tanks, lobbyists
and pressure groups have little impact on
government decisions.
Overall Argument = Think Tanks, Lobbyists and Pressure groups do have little impact on
government decisions
- PARA 1 = Think-Tanks - Arguably do have a large scale influence on government policies as
the government is likely to solicit their advice. Liz Truss worked with the Institute of
Economic Affairs in the creation of her Libertarian economic policies.
- BUT possibly can be argued they only have a narrow influence. Solicited only when
government needs them not necessarily used in all aspects COUNTER with argument that Ian
Duncan Smith create the Institute for Social Justice outside of economic remits
- PARA 2 = Pressure Groups - Likely have the greatest influence
- Inside Groups like the BMA have been solicited by the UK government in regards to matters
like handling COVID-19
- 2018 Surfers Against Sewage had success in the creation of a plastic deposit scheme
- BUT - this same success isn’t afforded to less mainstream outsider groups like Insulate Britain
and Just Stop Oil as their aims do not match those of the government
- Regardless - Pressure Groups in general can still wield major influence
- PARA 3 = Lobbyists wield a significant influence on government policy - 2017 the British
Federation of Plastic lobbied the government to make them cut their plastic targets which
were halved
- However in recent years lobbying and the revolving door effect have been increasingly
criticised (David Cameron and Owen Paterson) which suggests that its impact has been
minimised
- BUT Randox was awarded COVID contracts of about 5m because of the lobbying of Owen
Paterson who directly lobbied Matt Hancock. Randox became a centre of the Govt’s COVID
policy - has influence
(2021) Evaluate the view that the emergence of
multiple parties in the UK means that the
Westminster electoral system must be changed
Overall Argument = Westminster’s electoral system must be changed
- Para 1 FPTP does not facilitate the growth of smaller parties
- As of the 2019 election the Green Party would’ve needed 800,000 votes for one seat
compared to the Labour party who need 50,000 votes
, - UKIP 12.5% of the vote (3rd largest vote share) no seats
- Seeing a growth in the role of minor parties, role of the SNP in the UK Parliament has
increased now that has traditionally become the third party which shows how FPTP
does not entirely limit smaller parties
- One example out of many, parties like the Lib Dems still struggle to dominate
Parliament despite the popular support they may still have (Local Elections)
- PARA 2 FPTP enforces Labour-Conservative dominance
- 2019 - Labour and Conservatives together held 75% of the vote and 567/650 of the
seats showing how they have a strong duopoly over Parliament
- Since the 21st century with the exception of the coalition government either Labour
or the Conservatives have been the party in charge with the other party serving as
the opposition
- Umbrella parties that tend to divide into two and for positions
- IT CAN BE ARGUED THAT this hasn’t been created by the electoral system but
because of the opinions of the electorate which split in regards to Labour and the
Conservatives
- HOWEVER, there’s a growing dissatisfaction with the parties as they have drifted
from traditional values and are beginning to be regarded as sharing similar ideals
suggesting it is the fault of the electoral system
- PARA 3 Other electoral systems (proportional) proven to facilitate the growth of minor
parties
- Scottish Parliament → Green Party have 8 seats compared to in the UK where they
only hold 1 seat in Parliament
- Northern Irish Assembly → Power-sharing coalition government that features parties
like the Alliance Party which has 17 seats
- HOWEVER Labour dominates the Welsh Assembly with 30 seats and the
Conservatives are the traditionally opposition of the SNP in the Scottish Parliament
with over 30 seats
- BUT this is a weaker argument than the argument that Devolved assemblies show
how different electoral systems can stimulate the growth of minority parties
(2019) Evaluate the view that the only political
parties that matter in our political system are the
Labour and Conservative parties
Overall argument = Labour and Conservative parties ARE NOT the only political parties that matter
- Para 1 = Devolved Assemblies
- In the devolved assemblies nationalist parties are far more likely to dominate with
the SNP being the major force in Scottish Politics at the moment which has allowed
them to pass unique legislation that benefits Scotland abolishing of Uni tuition fees
in Scotland, etc and has allowed them to promote unique Scottish policies (dominant
force)
- HOWEVER Labour still dominates the Welsh Assembly as Plaid Cmyru only has 12
seats
- BUT the increased prominence of the SNP shows how they too are a party that
, matters as much as Labour and the Conservatives
- Para 2 = Policy Development
- Minority parties can help influence the legislation of the government.
- 2016 Scotland Act was passed in response to the Scottish Referendum of 2014,
devolving more power to them in order to reduce calls for independence
- Influence of UKIP in the Brexit referendum as well as the increased role of the DUP
due to the Supply and Demand agreement
- HOWEVER ultimately it is Labour and Conservatives who have the most influence in
policy having been the two parties that tend to hold the majority in Parliament in the
21st century
- REGARDLESS the role of minority parties in shaping these legislation cannot be
denied
- Para 3 = Increasing role of minority parties in opposing government
- Minority parties are increasingly becoming a challenge to the traditional dominance
Labour and the Conservatives have held
- Lib Dems have won many previous Conservative seats in by-elections e.g. Tiverton
and Hoverton
- In the Local Elections, Conservatives lost over 1000 seats many of which were taken
by the Lib Dems who won the second largest share of the seats after Labour
- HOWEVER no evidence to suggest that the Lib Dems are acting on a challenge on the
dominance of the Labour Party
- BUT it cannot be denied that they show the influence a minority party can wield on a
majority party
(2021) Evaluate the view that the influence of the
media in politics is exaggerated; it is not heavily
biased and has little power of persuasion
Disagree - Media plays a vital role in determining how a person votes due to factors like partisan
dealignment and class dealignment
- PARA 1 = TV broadcasting plays a vital role in portraying the type of leader a person can be
- Role of the leader can play a vital role in determining how a person votes. 2019
Labour vote share significantly decreased due to the dislike of Corbyn as a leader and
instead Johnson came across as a more charismatic leader in the leadership debates
- Similarly Blair also won over 400 votes because he was a charismatic leader and this
was shown through TV debates (role of Alistar Cambpell) etc
- BUT this could be attributed more to the importance of political context etc
HOWEVER it still shows the vital role the media plays in defining what makes a
charismatic leader or not
- PARA 2 = Traditionally print media has played a significant role in shaping the way people
vote
- 1997 Sun and all Murdoch related papers switched their traditional support from the
Conservatives towards Blair’s Labour, 52% of Sun voters voted for Blair and the Sun
claimed to have won the election for Labour ‘The Sun Swung It’
- 2019 Press’ villainisation of Corbyn played a significant role in Labour loss in 2017
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