The A-Level Politics specification gives students a lot of information, such as political parties, their ideologies, and how they work together. To make sense of it all, AQA and Edexcel curricula encourage studying these parties from their historical perspective. Cooperation, political reforms, alliances, and the public's civic participation: this article discusses these political aspects.
Below are some key A-level politics terms that you'll need to master for your exams and which will be discussed in greater detail throughout the article:
| 📝Term | 📙Meaning |
|---|---|
| Accountability | Ministers and other officials' obligation to explain and justify their actions and decisions. |
| Cabinet | A group of government ministers the Prime Minister chooses to run various departments. |
| Collective rights | Rights granted to groups, such as workers, or communities. |
| Devolution | The delegation of power from Parliament to to regional governments. |
| Ideology | A set of beliefs and values that guide political parties' actions and policies. |
| Interest groups | Groups that represent a specific segment of the population, and advocate for their interests. |
| Majoritarian system | An electoral system wherein the winner typically wins a majority of seats in legislature. |
| Parliamentary sovereignty | The doctrine that Parliament has supreme legal authority. |
| Party systems | The way political parties operate and compete within a political system (two-party system, multi-party system, etc.) |
| Political agenda | The policies that a political party promotes to influence decision-making. |
| Primus inter pares | From Latin: first among equals. This describes the Prime Minister |
| Representative democracy | An election system that permits citizens to vote for representatives, to make political decisions on their behalf. |
| Separation of powers | The division of US government power and responsibility into executive, legislative, and judiciary. |
| Statute law | Acts of Parliament |
| Suffrage | The right to vote in elections. |
Democracy and the UK Political System
When people think of 'monarchy', the United Kingdom (UK) is generally the first to come to mind. Indeed, the idea that a monarchy can also be a democracy boggles the mind for some. But only for those who don't know British history.
Citizens began reducing the monarchy's power more than 800 years ago. Little by little, a series of revolutions chipped away at what the king could have and/or do. For instance, the King acknowledged Parliament's role in law-making in 1414.
From then on, the monarchy could no longer issue decrees, without the people's consent. At least, those people who had political representation. For centuries, only a small segment of the population could exercise political power. The timeline for full inclusion spans nearly 400 years.
1536
King Henry VIII issues the Act of Union
England and Wales now have representation in Parliament
1649
The English Civil War begins
The monarchy attempts to reassert dominance.
1653
Oliver Cromwell installs himself as a totalitarian dictator
Elections are done away with, political anarchy ensues
1688-89
The monarchy in turmoil
Results in the Bill of Rights, and Parliament forever recognised as the seat of political power.
1707
The Act of Union to incorporate Scotland
Increases the pool of eligible voters
1832
The start of voting reforms
Acts are written into law that decide who may vote
1918
Female property owners more than 30 years old get the vote
1928
All women, aged 21 and older, allowed to vote.
People paying taxes, while having no political representation, was among the issues the Civil War meant to resolve. This timeline shows that, despite knowing that more voters makes for a fairer representative system, the power structures were slow to include everyone. It also reveals the preference for the wealthy vote, as land ownership was a main criterion to gain voting rights.
Among other concepts, this exam board aims to "develop knowledge and an informed understanding of contemporary political structures and issues in their historical context, both within the United Kingdom (UK) and globally".
So, seeing UK politics through the lens of history is essential to exam success. This timeline helps, by adding to your knowledge base. It also proves that the UK struggled to establish the type of democracy that strives for fairness, and encourages citizen participation.
It's still a work in progress, and it has its pitfalls, of course. In a majority-rule - or even a plurality-win system, at least half of the electorate will be dissatisfied with the political state of affairs. As the clip below shows, you may have to express your ideas on that subject.
The Party System and UK Political Parties
Political parties form to represent the interests of a particular constituency. For instance, the Labour Party should advance and support legislative issues important to the working class. This party was born from support from union workers, after all.
However, the Conservative Party, the Tories, realised they were losing out on votes from an important constituency. So, in 1912, they expanded their platform to include labour union members.
This rebranding, from Conservative to Conservative and Unionist, often made it hard for voters to decide which party would best address their interests. In fact, it still does.
The breadth of politically acceptable topics for discussion.
Political parties targeting the same constituencies limit the window of discourse.
Having diverse political representation serves the greatest number of citizens. It also allows for the greatest number of political ideas, concepts, and initiatives.
Obviously, the Conservative party tapping into a large and important constituency is a smart political move. Unfortunately, it narrows the range of political ideas voters can choose from. This has the unfortunate consequence that voters more often vote against a party's agenda, rather than in support for the other party's.
A Level Politics Past Paper Questions
Using the source [text], evaluate the view that in 1997, the election was lost by the governing party rather than being won by the Labour opposition.
This question suggests that voters were not swayed by either party's agenda. As Labour and Tory platforms are so similar, voters believed it hardly mattered who held power. So, they voted for their 'least-bad' option in that election.
When addressing this question, remember that the UK Parliament's House of Commons has seats for 11 political parties. Each has different ideologies, agendas, and goals. You may even reflect on the fact that power mostly switches between Labour and Tories, practically excluding all other UK political parties.
Sometimes, parties work together for a specific gain, but more often, they oppose one another. However, the UK also has many political parties with no representation in Parliament. This podcast explains party dynamics in Parliament.
Parliament, Prime Ministers, and Political Power
Edexcel states one of its objectives as: "students will master the relationship dynamics between political ideas, institutions, and processes". Nowhere is that dynamism more obvious than the workings of Parliament, and its coordination with the UK government and the monarchy.
Fundamentally, voters grant the House of Commons the power to direct our country's policy. We do so by casting votes for candidates.
The elected Members of Parliament (MPs) select the Prime Minister, who, in turn, selects cabinet members. Note that voters have no direct influence over who runs the UK government.
Analyse and evaluate: ‘There are many factors that can give the prime minister power over cabinet colleagues.’
Among those factors, we count:
Managing the cabinet
- hiring and firing members
- setting the agenda
- mediating discussions
Media presence
- controlling information flow
- controlling information presentation
- delegating cabinet members as media representatives
Parliament connection
- party leader as PM
- direct association with MPs
- setting and guiding the party's agenda
Citizens have little power to influence the Prime Minister, outside of registering complaints and protesting. Likewise, we've little recourse if/when our elected representatives fail to act in our interest.
Furthermore, despite having two Houses in Parliament, Lords and MPs have different functions and levels of power. Where the House of Commons should act as a brake on government, the House of Lords is more of a 'revising chamber'. It focuses more on the finer details of law and government, which helps orient policy in more advantageous directions.
Citizens' Political Participation: The Voting System
Above, you read that citizens' political power mainly rests on their vote. Once elections are over, contacting government and Parliament representatives is the prescribed way for voters to remain politically engaged.
Furthermore, as voting is our primary political tool, we may consider more effective voting systems. First-past-the-post (FPTP) is our country's most-used voting system. FPTP system gets - and deserves, a lot of criticism.
Indeed, we might be better served with other election systems:
- Single transferable vote: also called proportional ranked-choice voting, it allows candidate selection in order of preference. This system is used in Northern Ireland elections.
- Supplementary vote: voters choose two candidates by order of preference to elect mayors and police commissioners. Typically, it's only used in England.
- Additional member system: voters choose a candidate and a party, from which another candidate may be drawn.
These various electoral systems in use across the UK, prove that we're not stuck with one voting method. This is an important point that Edexcel and AQA A-Level curriculum bring up, particularly when contrasting United States' citizens' rights with those of UK citizens.
Analyse / evaluate: Citizens’ rights are better protected by the judiciary in the USA than in the UK.’
This question doesn't focus on voting rights, but on civil rights, as a whole. The right to vote is an essential component of civil life, and so, must feature in students' answers. They might also consider how interest groups (gender rights groups, for example) influence voters' decisions.
Granted, this article does not address citizens' rights in the United States or that country's political systems. However, your A-Level Politics specification does.
Still, you can only answer this question if you know about British citizens' political participation. And, if you keep up with current events, as the video above suggests.
To reiterate: at this moment in the UK's electoral history, citizens' participation revolves around voting. Such may be in general elections - voting representatives into Parliament. For these elections, the FPTP voting system rules.
We may also cast ballots for local council members, for mayor, and for the police commissioner. For these elections, we use different voting systems, such as the ones above. Occasionally, we vote in referendums, as happened to decide the Brexit vote. Those are often 'majority win'
Beyond those exercises in political participation, we must stay politically engaged. Studying the current issues and exercising our political rights helps. And, knowing the vocabulary to understand and express political ideas works to your benefit, too.
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