Please note: This is a new course launching in September 2027. Further information will be available soon.

Politics

GCSE Entrance Requirements:

  • History - Grade 5 OR Citizenship - Grade 5 (if studied) OR Humanities Subject - Grade 5

  • English Language - Grade 5

  • Mathematics - Grade 5

More info:

Combines well with:

Head of Department:

Miss J Tappenden - jtappenden@hswv.co.uk

WHAT YOU STUDY

Follow current affairs in the UK and the USA and learn to argue your case with confidence. You will build skills in research, analysis, writing and debate that are valued by universities and by employers in government, the civil service, the media and international organisations.

Paper 1 - Government and politics of the UK

  • The British constitution and rights

  • Parliament: the Commons and the Lords

  • The Prime Minister and cabinet

  • The judiciary and devolution

  • Democracy, elections and referendums

  • Political parties, pressure groups and the EU

Paper 2 - Government and politics of the USA, and comparative politics

  • The US Constitution and federalism

  • Congress, the President and the Supreme Court

  • US elections, parties and pressure groups

  • Civil rights in the USA

  • Comparing the UK and US political systems

Paper 3 - Political ideas

  • Liberalism, Conservatism and Socialism

  • One further ideology: nationalism, feminism, multiculturalism, anarchism or ecologism

  • Key thinkers, from Locke and Burke to Marx and Rawls

  • Their ideas on human nature, the state, society and the economy