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A-Level UK politics essay plans
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All past essay questions for A-Level edexcel politics unit 1 UK politics, all topics
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***Important information about this document****Essay structure:
The way I structure my essays is as following
● Introduction
● Body paragraphs
○ Introduce point
○ Argue opposing view to what you are arguing overall with evidence
○ Some version of ‘however, this view is weak/ invalid because…’
○ Point that you are arguing, with evidence explaining why it is the stronger view
○ Interim judgement/ short sentence summarising, ‘therefore it is clear that…
● Overall conclusion
This is just one way and can be tweaked to your own preference.
Colour coding:
Green is essentially a full essay, formatted into a plan. Very detailed and long.
Orange is less detailed, often without intros and conclusions, sometimes only 2 points rather
than 3
Red is a very brief plan, can include just paragraph points or even just brainstormed ideas
regarding the essay. These are helpful as prompts
No colour are questions which have no plans at all, helpful as extra essays to plan yourself.
Disclaimer:
These are the notes I made during my own studies so are bound to include some typos and
shortened version of words.
Nevertheless they should still be legible.
Paper 1
Democracy and participation
‘Referendums have not brought the benefits which were desired by political
parties and the voting public.’2023
Intro-
,Referendums have seen a rise in recent years and are seen as a method for resolving divisive
or popular issues that concern the public greatly. They are an example of direct democracy
involving the electorate to make decisions first hand. Despite this, their results are not always
desired by parties and the public and this has become apparent in recent years.
1.
● Result is democratically chosen more than 50% majority
● Legitimacy 51% leave eu= enacted on
● Allow electorate to have say and encourages participation
● High turnout brexit 72% scottish 85%
● 2019 67% general election
● Shows that legitimate way of enacting on public’s views
HOWEVER
● Close majority= large amounts of people dissatisfied brexit
● Although participation, voter apathy from too many
2.
● Settle long standing disputes av ref
● Called on public pressure at times 2014 snp public pressure
● Resolve dividing issues- hold public
● HOWEVER
● Cause divides within parties-> brexit
● pressured= govt may not support themselves cons brexit
● Cause more issues than solution
● Often called through manifesto promises
● Allows involvement eg informed electorate
HOWEVER
● Complex decisions in yes no vote
● Oversimplify result is more complicated
● Brexit deal no deal= compromise and create more challenging issues
Evaluate the view that think-tanks, lobbyists and pressure groups have little
impact on government decisions.
Policy directly affected lobbying cps
pressure groups= media uprise= attention high profile
strike action, bma largest strike, affect daily lives, urge gov to respond
, Evaluate the view that the actions of pressure groups have been more
significant than government legislation/ political parties in defending and
promoting rights in the UK
Evaluate the view that pressure groups enhance democracy
Pressure groups as organisations representing particular views or people in society aim to be
able to influence government through many different means. Their impact through organised
protests, research role in policy making, and ability to meet with government ministers,
demonstrates that they are succsessfully able to influence government and therefore ultimately
be a source of democracy to many within society.
1. represent= peoples voice
● It could be argued that pressure groups that amass widespread support often do so
through generating negative attention. EG just stop oil, highly disruptive methods,
extinction rebellion superglue to mic
● =deter people from actual cause= unlikely to get heard, Lord Walney report by
independent political adviser argues that necessary to ban such extremist protests
● Therefore, instead of promoting democracy where important issues are heard, the
methods= separate further
● HOWEVER, forgets that despite some such methods, pressure groups in actuality still
represent peopl’e voice
● Many pressure groups= peaceful methods, other methods to generate influence,
● Despite such claims that disruptive methods cause disillusionment within people, the
argument fails to take into account the fact that all such methods are done so in an
attempt to gather media attention. Which they are successful in achieving and provoking
discourse and conversation on such topics.
● An example of a pressure group being effective due to it being high profile and gathering
much media support is Fare Share, which was endorsed by Rashford= social media
hashtag make the U turn. Success of voucher scheme lockdown school meals.
2. Policy influence, think tanks
● Not all pressure groups are equal, some are in the interests of wealthy organisations and
businesses which unfairly impacts amount of influence able to have
● EG NFU lobbied DEFRA against transparency on food waste in october 2023
● Show how unfair and undemocratic it is for unelected groups to have so much say
● HOWEVER, ignores the fact that ultimately think tanks and such groups are able to
contribute to great extents to policy and research holding government accountable.
● Eg Institute for fiscal studies= independent think tank thats research is highly influential
in government policy making.
● The Covid inquiry another example of an organisation which is able to use its research/
academia in positively enhancing democracy.
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