What is Government & Politics?
Wikipedia links Government & Politics
Find out your political position at: politicalcompass.org
The AS level is all about how British government and politics works. It is examined in two units.
Unit 1 is called People & Politics. This considers the whole idea of democracy and how people participate in politics. It focuses on how political parties and pressure groups operate. What are they? How do they affect decisions and the use of power? How well do parties and pressure groups reflect the views of the ‘people’? It also considers how and why we use elections and referenda to choose our representatives and find out the views of the people. It is taught by Mr Archer.
Unit 2 is called Governing the UK. This looks at the different parts of government in the UK – what they are supposed to do, what they actually do and where different types of power are applied. It focuses on the constitution (the rules behind governing the country); the roles of Parliament, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister; and on how judges can influence the way that the country is run. It is taught by Mr McNaughton.
The exact specification is Edexcel AS GCE in Government & Politics. The exam board page about this qualification is here.
Use these sites every week!
These three sites have detailed notes directed at AS courses in government and politics. You should use at least one of these each week to check and add to your understanding of each topic we cover.
www.tutor2u.net
www.historylearningsite.co.uk
www.igshistoryonline.co.uk
Keep up to date at the tutor2u politics blog.
Much more detail here!
Links to almost any resource about British government and politics on the following two sites from the University of Keele. Use these as your first port of call for more detailed information on specific topics for AS.
www.keele.ac.uk
www.psr.keele.ac.uk
The British Government's guide to the British Government is useful to help you study British Government: GuideToGovernment
Links for each part of the course...
Unit 1: People & Politics - Democracy
The BBC on democracy and participation.
An Australian site about the meaning of democracy and the various ways it operates here.
What is direct democracy? wikipedia.org
What is participatory demoncracy? wikipedia.org
What is representative democracy? wikipedia.org
Unit 1: People & Politics - Pressure Groups
The basics: www.modernstudies.org.uk
The BBC on pressure groups.
Revision notes on types of pressure groups and their effect on democracy: www.historylearningsite.co.uk and www.tutor2u.net
Examples of pressure groups: www.uknetguide.co.uk and www.solent.ac.uk
Unit 1: People & Politics - Elections
The BBC on elections and democracy.
The 2005 General Election research project
Is the first-past-the-post system fair? britcoun.org
BBC guide to the 2005 General Election: news.bbc.co.uk
Keele University 2005 Election election links: www.psr.keele.ac.uk
Election results since 2001: www.electoralcommission.org.uk
The 2004 European Parliament elections: www.europecounts.org.uk
Find a constituency: www.election-maps.co.uk
The Electoral Commission’s website: www.electoralcommission.org.uk
Unit 1: People & Politics - Parties
The BBC on the role of political parties.
Links to British political party sites: www.mondopolitico.com/parties
Labour Party election manifestos 1990 – 2001: www.labour-party.org.uk
Labour Party manifesto 2005: www.labour.org.uk
Conservative Party election manifestos 1900 – 2001: www.conservative-party.net
Current Conservative Party policy debates: www.conservatives.com
Conservative Party manifesto 2005: www.conservatives.com
Liberal / SDP / Liberal Democrat election manifestos 1900-2001: www.libdemmanifesto.com
Liberal Democrat Party manifesto 2005: www.libdems.org.uk
Unit 2: Governing the UK - The Constitution
The BBC on the Constitution.
The basics of our constitution:
www.historylearningsite.co.uk
and www.thinkhistory.btinternet.co.uk
Views on the Human Rights Act
What does the Lisbon Treaty do?
The Department for Constitutional Affairs summary of constitutional reform: www.dca.gov.uk
Unit 2: Governing the UK - Parliament
BBC A-Z of Parliament .
The BBC on the role of Parliament.
The workings of the British Parliament at: www.explore.parliament.uk/ and www.parliamentlive.tv/ (particularly Parliament Uncovered and Scrutiny Uncovered - thanks to Ross Richardson for this link)
Revision notes on Parliament.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs summary of House of Lords reform: www.dca.gov.uk
New reforms of the House of Lords (Feb 2007) news.bbc.co.uk
Unit 2: Governing the UK - The Prime Minister & Cabinet
The BBC on the executive.
Revision notes on the PM & Cabinet.
The powers of the Prime Minister: www.historylearningsite.co.uk
The Cabinet who’s who: news.bbc.co.uk
The Shadow Cabinet who’s who: news.bbc.co.uk
The Cabinet Office website: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Listing of all current Ministers: www.knowledgenetwork.gov.uk
The Ministerial Code: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Tessa Jowell and the Ministerial Code here: news.bbc.co.uk
The ministerial responsibilities in the Department of Health at: www.dh.gov.uk
and at the Department of Education & Skills here: www.dfes.gov.uk
Detailed analysis of individual ministerial responsibility at: www.parliament.uk
Unit 2: Governing the UK - The Judiciary
The BBC on the judiciary.
The British Government's Guide to the Judiciary: GuideToGovernment/Judiciary
Details of the English & Welsh legal system: englandcourts.shtml and here www.llrx.com
Download a factsheet on the Scottish legal system here: Legal-System-Factsheet
The European Court of Justice: ecj.shtml
The European Court of Human Rights: echr.shtml
Judicial Appointments Committee: www.judicialappointments
Greenpeace judicial review over nuclear power: news.bbc.co.uk
A2 Government & Politics: Ideology
The A2 course is all about the different ways that thinkers believe government and politics should work.
Useful starting points
Wikipedia key concept link: Ideology
The Keele Guide to Political Thought & Ideology on the Internet
University of Essex course notes
User friendly links to many parties and ideologies: www.mondopolitico.com
The Mondo Politico Library - full text of some of the world's most important political thought: Library
The detailed specification is Edexcel A2 GCE in Government & Politics (9068). Download a copy here.
Unit 4B: Introducing Political Ideologies
Wikipedia key concept links: Conservatism; Tradition; Organic Society; Hierarchy; Authority; and Toryism; One Nation Conservatism; Neo-conservatism; Libertarianism.
One view of the basics of conservatism: www.kirkcenter.org
Who was Thomas Hobbes?
Who was Edmund Burke?
What is one-nation conservatism? conservativehome.blogs.com
What is neoconservatism? www.neoconservative.net
What is libertarianism? www.mondopolitico.com
Conservative Party manifestos
Conservative Party Manifesto 2005 General Election
2008 Conservative Party Conference
BBC News on David Cameron
The Centre for Social Justice
Wikipedia key concept links: Liberalism; Human Nature; Individualism ; Freedom; Justice; Equality; Democracy; Rights; and Toleration.
Liberalism FAQ: http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk
Libertarian view of liberty: www.isil.org
Who was John Stuart Mill? www.philosophypages.com
Who was John Locke? www.philosophypages.com
Who was Jeremy Bentham? www.utilitarianism.com
Who was Adam Smith? www.adamsmith.org
What were the ideas of John Rawls? rawls.htm
Who was John Maynard Keynes? economists/keynes.htm
Why did Francis Fukuyama think liberal democracy marked the 'the end point of mankind's ideological evolution'?
Wikipedia key concept links: Socialism; Co-operation; Fraternity; Collectivism; Social Equality; Social Justice; Democratic Socialism; Social Democracy; Marxism.
Red Vocabulary - definitions of left-wing terms
A defence of capitalism: www.telegraph.co.uk
Capitalism: wikipedia
Marxist Internet Archive
"Home to Communists, Socialists and Social Democrats of the World" Red Square
Nineteenth century socialism: www.wsu.edu
What is the Third Way?
Unit 5B: Other Ideological Traditions
Wikipedia key concept links: Nationalism; Nation; Race; Patriotism; Self-determination; and Internationalism.
BBC introduction to Nationalism.
Open University resources about nationalism: openlearn.open.ac.uk
Wikipedia key concept links: Anarchism; Autonomy; Utopianism; Mutualism; and Egoism.
Anarchism FAQ
One view on types of anarchism: www.mondopolitico.com
A libertarian’s view of anarchy: www.chaospark.com
How might anarcho-capitalism work? stason.org
How might ‘left anarchism’ work? stason.org
Anarchy FAQs: www.geocities.com
Anarchist links: www.geocities.com
Wikipedia key concept links: Fascism; Racialism; Totalitarianism; and Nazism.
What is fascism?
Fascism and Nazism
Shared features of fascism?
Ten steps towards fascism
Wikipedia key concept links: Feminism; Patriarchy; and Essentialism.
Unit 6B: Ideological Development in the UK
BBC Guide to this unit.
Is British politics ideology-free?
Conservative Party manifestos
Conservative Party Manifesto 2005 General Election
2008 Conservative Party Conference
BBC News on David Cameron
The Centre for Social Justice
Liberal Democrats home page
Labour Party's history of the Labour Party
What does the Labour Party say it is?
What is the Third Way?
Powerpoint lecture on New Labour and the Third Way
Academic article on third ways in political ideology
Communitarianism and liberalism
A view from the left about what Labour should now do.
What happened to the British working class?
Wikipedia key concept links: Civil liberties; Constitutionalism; Checks and balances; Representation; Neo-liberalism; Thatcherism; Toryism; One Nation Conservative; Neo-conservatism; Social democracy; Third way; and Communitarianism.
