AQA A-Level Politics 7152 — Complete Specification Notes

Assessment

• Paper 1: Government and politics of the UK — 2h, 77 marks, 33⅓%
• Paper 2: Government and politics of the USA + comparative politics — 2h, 77 marks, 33⅓%
• Paper 3: Political ideas — 2h, 77 marks, 33⅓%

Question types include 9-mark explain/analyse, 25-mark extract, and 25-mark essays.

PAPER 1 — GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF THE UK

1. British Constitution

Key concepts:

• uncodified constitution
• statute
• common law
• conventions
• authoritative works
• royal prerogative
• rule of law
• parliamentary sovereignty
• individual and collective rights

Important documents:

• Magna Carta 1215
• Bill of Rights 1689
• Act of Settlement 1701
• Parliament Acts 1911/1949

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Parliament can make or unmake any law and cannot legally bind future Parliaments.

Challenges/constraints:

• devolution
• courts and Human Rights Act
• political pressure
• referendums
• international commitments
• constitutional conventions

Constitutional Reform Since 1997

Know at least two in detail:

• devolution
• Human Rights Act
• Freedom of Information
• House of Lords reform
• Supreme Court creation

Evaluation:

• flexibility vs weak entrenchment
• executive power vs adaptability
• democratic responsiveness vs constitutional uncertainty

2. Parliament

Commons

Functions:

• legislation
• scrutiny
• confidence/supply
• representation
• constituency work

Lords

Functions:

• revision
• scrutiny
• expertise
• delay

Scrutiny

• PMQs
• ministerial questions
• select committees
• opposition days
• urgent questions
• debates

Select committees: strengths — expertise, cross-party work, evidence taking. weaknesses — limited enforcement, government can reject recommendations.

Executive Dominance

Government is strongest with:

• large majority
• strong party discipline
• control of timetable
• patronage

Parliament stronger with:

• narrow/no majority
• party rebellion
• Lords resistance
• committee pressure
• media/public scrutiny

3. Prime Minister and Cabinet

PM powers:

• patronage
• appointments
• party leadership
• agenda setting
• prerogative powers
• media visibility

PM constraints:

• Cabinet
• party
• Parliament
• judiciary
• events/crises
• public opinion
• devolution

Collective ministerial responsibility: ministers publicly support agreed policy or resign.

Individual ministerial responsibility: minister responsible for personal conduct and departmental performance.

Presidentialisation debate: for — personalised leadership, advisers, media. against — PM still depends on party, Commons, Cabinet and political support.

4. Judiciary

Judicial independence:

• security of tenure
• institutional separation
• appointments procedures

Supreme Court:

• final appeal
• constitutional cases
• judicial review

Judicial review examines legality of executive action.

Human Rights Act: courts may interpret compatibly and issue declarations of incompatibility but do not normally strike down Acts of Parliament.

Debate: judicial activism vs democratic legitimacy.

5. Devolution

Scotland

Scottish Parliament/Government; major powers include health, education, justice.

Wales

Senedd/Welsh Government.

Northern Ireland

Power-sharing institutions under peace settlement framework.

England

No equivalent national devolved legislature; metro mayors/local government.

Key concept: asymmetrical devolution.

Evaluation:

• local responsiveness
• national recognition
• dispersal of power versus
• constitutional complexity
• funding disputes
• independence pressures
• English question

6. Democracy and Participation

Direct democracy: referendums and direct votes.

Representative democracy: elected representatives make decisions.

Participation includes:

• voting
• parties
• pressure groups
• protest
• petitions
• digital campaigning

Evaluate turnout, trust, political inequality and civic engagement.

7. Elections and Referendums

FPTP

Strengths:

• simple
• constituency link
• can produce decisive government

Weaknesses:

• disproportionality
• wasted votes
• safe seats
• regional distortion

Other systems:

• AMS
• STV
• relevant supplementary/alternative systems

Criteria:

• proportionality
• representation
• accountability
• voter choice
• government stability

Referendums: strength — direct mandate. weakness — binary simplification, misinformation, unequal campaigns.

8. Political Parties

Functions:

• representation
• policy
• recruitment
• government/opposition
• political education

Know traditions and factions within:

• Conservatives
• Labour
• Liberal Democrats

Also know role of:

• Greens
• nationalist parties
• populist/minor parties

Party funding: donations, membership, transparency, public-funding debate.

9. Pressure Groups

Types:

• sectional
• cause/promotional
• insider
• outsider

Methods:

• lobbying
• consultation
• media
• litigation
• protest
• petitions
• direct action

Success depends on:

• resources
• membership
• public support
• insider access
• compatibility with government
• issue salience

Pluralist view: groups disperse power. Elite critique: business/wealth can create unequal access.

10. EU and UK Politics

Understand:

• historical significance of EU membership
• sovereignty debate
• reasons for withdrawal
• post-Brexit UK-EU relations
• effects on Parliament, executive and territorial politics

PAPER 2 — USA AND COMPARATIVE POLITICS

1. US Constitution

Features:

• codified
• entrenched
• federal
• separation of powers
• checks and balances
• Bill of Rights

Amendment process: deliberately difficult.

Federalism: division between federal and state governments.

Evaluate: rigidity vs stability; rights protection vs democratic adaptability.

2. Congress

House:

• 2-year terms
• population-based representation

Senate:

• two per state
• 6-year terms

Powers:

• lawmaking
• budget
• oversight
• impeachment
• confirmations
• treaty role

Gridlock may arise from:

• divided government
• bicameralism
• polarisation
• procedural rules

3. Presidency

Formal powers:

• veto
• commander-in-chief
• appointments
• treaties
• executive authority

Informal:

• persuasion
• media
• party leadership
• agenda setting

Constraints:

• Congress
• Supreme Court
• federalism
• elections
• public opinion
• bureaucracy

Imperial presidency debate: powerful foreign/security executive vs constitutional checks.

4. Supreme Court

Appointment: President nominates, Senate confirms.

Judicial review: Court can invalidate unconstitutional acts.

Key themes:

• civil liberties
• civil rights
• federalism
• activism vs restraint
• ideological appointments

5. US Elections and Voting

Presidential process:

• primaries/caucuses
• conventions
• general election
• Electoral College

Electoral College strengths:

• federalism
• constitutionally clear outcome

Weaknesses:

• popular vote winner can lose
• swing-state focus
• unequal vote weight

Campaign finance:

• fundraising
• PACs
• Super PACs
• outside spending

Voting behaviour:

• party ID
• race
• religion
• region
• gender
• age
• education
• economy
• candidate image

6. US Political Parties

Democrats and Republicans: know ideological coalitions, voter bases and internal factions.

US parties are:

• decentralised
• candidate-centred but increasingly polarised.

7. US Pressure Groups

Methods:

• lobbying
• campaign finance
• litigation
• endorsements
• grassroots mobilisation

Why influential:

• fragmented institutions
• federalism
• multiple access points

8. Civil Rights

Study rights through:

• Constitution/Bill of Rights
• Congress
• Supreme Court
• federalism
• social movements

Apply to debates such as:

• racial equality
• voting rights
• speech
• religion
• guns
• abortion
• LGBTQ+ rights

COMPARATIVE POLITICS

Constitution

UK:

• uncodified
• flexible
• parliamentary sovereignty

USA:

• codified
• entrenched
• constitutional supremacy

Executive

UK PM:

• fusion of powers
• normally Commons majority

US President:

• separate election
• separation of powers

Legislature

UK Commons: government often dominates with majority.

US Congress: greater institutional independence.

Judiciary

UK: courts do not normally strike down Acts of Parliament.

USA: Supreme Court can invalidate unconstitutional laws.

Territorial Power

UK: devolution.

USA: constitutionally protected federalism.

Parties

UK: more disciplined/centralised.

USA: more decentralised/candidate-centred.

Elections

UK: parliamentary FPTP.

USA: Electoral College + separate congressional elections.

Comparative essay rule: every developed paragraph should compare both systems directly.

PAPER 3 — POLITICAL IDEAS

Liberalism

Core:

• individualism
• freedom
• rationalism
• equality
• toleration
• limited government

Classical: negative freedom, minimal state, free market.

Modern: positive freedom, enabling state, welfare/social justice.

Thinkers:

Locke

natural rights, consent, limited government.

J.S. Mill

harm principle; self-/other-regarding actions; individuality.

Rawls

justice as fairness; veil of ignorance; equal liberties; difference principle.

T.H. Green

positive freedom; self-development; enabling state.

Wollstonecraft

reason, equal rights, critique of patriarchy/aristocracy.

Friedan

equal rights and critique of domestic confinement.

Debates: negative vs positive liberty; minimal vs enabling state.

Conservatism

Core:

• tradition
• authority
• hierarchy
• property
• pragmatism
• imperfect human nature

Traditional conservatism vs New Right.

Thinkers:

Hobbes

pessimistic human nature; strong sovereign.

Burke

tradition, organic society, cautious change.

Oakeshott

anti-rationalism and practical knowledge.

Ayn Rand

rational egoism, individual rights, anti-collectivism.

Nozick

minimal state, entitlement, market inequality.

Debates: paternalism vs individualism; tradition vs free-market disruption.

Socialism

Core:

• equality
• community
• cooperation
• class
• social justice

Revolutionary socialism vs social democracy vs Third Way.

Thinkers:

Marx and Engels

class struggle, historical materialism, capitalism/exploitation.

Rosa Luxemburg

mass action and revolutionary socialism.

Beatrice Webb

gradual reform and cooperatives.

Anthony Crosland

revisionism; equality/welfare over nationalisation.

Anthony Giddens

Third Way; social investment; rights/responsibilities.

Debates: revolution vs reform; equality of outcome vs opportunity; common ownership vs markets.

Optional Ideology — Nationalism

Core:

• nation
• sovereignty
• self-determination
• civic/ethnic
• minority/state nationalism

Thinkers:

• Rousseau
• Herder
• Mazzini
• Marcus Garvey
• Charles Maurras

Optional Ideology — Feminism

Core:

• patriarchy
• sex/gender
• public/private divide
• equality/difference

Strands:

• liberal
• radical
• socialist
• difference/intersectional

Thinkers:

• Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Kate Millett
• Sheila Rowbotham
• bell hooks

Optional Ideology — Multiculturalism

Core:

• diversity
• minority rights
• recognition
• integration
• assimilation
• anti-discrimination

Thinkers:

• Isaiah Berlin
• Will Kymlicka
• Charles Taylor
• Tariq Modood
• Bikhu Parekh

Optional Ideology — Anarchism

Core:

• autonomy
• anti-statism
• voluntary cooperation
• opposition to coercive authority

Thinkers:

• Max Stirner
• Mikhail Bakunin
• Emma Goldman
• Peter Kropotkin
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Optional Ideology — Ecologism

Core:

• sustainability
• intrinsic value of nature
• limits to growth
• light/dark greens

Thinkers:

• Aldo Leopold
• Rachel Carson
• E.F. Schumacher
• Carolyn Merchant
• Murray Bookchin

EXAM TECHNIQUE

9 Marks

Use 3 developed analytical points: Point → explain → example → significance.

25-Mark Extract

• identify extract argument
• use own knowledge
• test claim
• balance
• reasoned conclusion

25-Mark Essay

Argument → evidence → counterargument → judgement.

Comparative Essay

Make explicit UK/USA comparison in every paragraph.

Ideology Essay

Organise by:

• human nature
• state
• society
• economy
• freedom/equality and compare thinkers/strands.

COMMON LOST MARKS

• calling UK constitution simply "unwritten"
• saying UK Supreme Court can strike down Acts like US Court
• confusing devolution and federalism
• treating PM as unconstrained
• confusing collective and individual ministerial responsibility
• saying FPTP is proportional
• comparing UK and USA in separate blocks
• confusing federalism with separation of powers
• ideology thinker name-dropping without argument
• confusing negative freedom with "bad freedom"
• treating socialism as one unified doctrine
• optional thinkers placed under wrong ideology