My Revision Notes: UK Government & Politics

My Revision Notes: Pearson Edexcel A-level Politics

These revision notes are designed to help students review and test their understanding of Pearson Edexcel A-level Politics, covering UK Government and Politics, Political Ideas, and Global Politics.

General Revision Strategies

  • Review work, learn it, and test understanding topic by topic.

  • Use the book as a cornerstone and personalize notes within it.

  • Track progress by ticking off each section after revision, testing, and practicing exam questions, utilizing online resources for answers and quizzes.

Revision Planner

The revision planner includes topics from:

  • UK government and politics.

  • Political ideas.

  • Global politics.

Exam Preparation

  • 6–8 weeks to go:

    • Review the specification and examination style.

    • Organize notes by topic.

    • Create a realistic revision plan.

    • Focus on 40-minute sessions with breaks.

  • 2–6 weeks to go:

    • Read through the book, referring to exam tips, summaries, and key terms.

    • Test understanding with ‘Now test yourself’ questions.

    • Identify and review problem areas with a teacher.

    • Look at past papers and plan answers to exam questions.

    • Use revision activities like mind maps or flash cards.

  • One week to go:

    • Complete a timed practice paper and get feedback.

    • Review the revision planner and address any missed topics.

  • The day before the examination:

    • Flick through the Revision Notes.

    • Check the time and place of the examination.

    • Ensure you have all necessary materials.

    • Relax and get an early night.

Core Themes and Topics

1 Democracy and Participation

  • Types of Democracy in the UK:

    • Direct democracy: people make decisions themselves (e.g., referendums).

    • Representative democracy: elect representatives to make decisions.

    • Similarities of both systems: engage the population, recognize people as the source of political power, balance competing interests.

  • Advantages of direct democracy:

    • Everyone is heard.

    • Encourages engagement and political education.

    • Decisions have greater legitimacy.

    • Can solve controversial issues.

  • Disadvantages of direct democracy:

    • Difficult to use frequently in large countries.

    • Removes accountability for politicians’ decisions.

    • Can lead to tyranny of the majority.

    • Referendums can be on complex issues that citizens don't understand.

  • Advantages of representative democracy:

    • Works on a large scale.

    • Representatives are held accountable.

    • Avoids tyranny of the majority.

    • Elected representatives have time to understand complex issues.

  • Disadvantages of representative democracy:

    • Representatives can not make the voice of each of their constituents heard.

    • Can encourage political apathy.

    • Decisions can lack legitimacy due to differing national circumstances.

  • Other Types of Democracy: Liberal, Pluralist, Elitist.

  • Reforming UK Democracy:

    • Concerns: Falling voter engagement, the extent of the franchise, lack of engagement between elections, representatives can only be held to account at election time.

  • Possible Reforms:

    • Compulsory or online voting could increase turnout but doesn't necessarily increase political education or security.

    • Lowering the voting age could encourage young people to vote, but questions remain about whether 16-year-olds are mature enough to vote.

    • Increase the use of referendums or e-democracy such as e-petitions, but can undermine representative democracy.

  • The Franchise: Expanded over time but with limits (e.g., under-18s, prisoners, House of Lords members cannot vote).
    *E-democracy: The use of ICT to improve citizen's education and access in the political system.

  • Participation in Democracy: Voting, standing in an election, joining a political party or a pressure group, signing an e-petition.

  • Participation Crisis: Debatable whether the UK has one or not. Arguments 'for yes' state such as low youth voter turnout, arguments 'for no' state public demand social media engagement.

1.3 Pressure Groups:

  • Seek to influence those in power.

  • often classified as sectional (represent specific groups, e.g. trade unions) or causal (represent a wide cross-section, e.g. Liberty).

  • Insider groups often influence the government directly, outsider groups seek alternative methods to gain influence.
    *Think tanks and lobbyists seek to influence the government.
    *Pressure groups and movements can use a range of methods including.

  • Direct action (protests), mobilizing the public and using legal action.

  • Success depends on the support of a wide variety of factors including methods.

1.4 Rights in the UK

  • Common rights Citizens have include the right to vote, the right to life and the right to education.

  • Key Rights: outlined in Magna Carta 1215, Human Rights Act 1998, Freedom of Information Act 2000, Equality Act 2010. They can be protected by the judiciary, Parliament, devolved parliaments, pressure groups and the ECtHR.

  • Democracy healthy: increased participation (but participation form party membership is broadly declining too), citizen rights have increased etc.

Exam Skills

  • Source Questions: Highlight relevant arguments, sort them, pair for and against arguments.

  • Exam Tips: Pay attention to exam tips throughout the book, Now test yourself questions, summaries, revision tasks, and key terms.
    *Determining factors: Many questions will have a range of factors that could be discussed in the answer, however it is essential that you decide at the start what factors you are going to discuss and ensure that you have not chosen to cover too many. Furthermore, factors can be discussed from differing viewpoints.
    *Introductions are crucial as they are the first time your
    examiner will "meet" you, and it is your chance to lay out your argument.

2 Political parties

  • Left-wing support increased social and economic equality. Right-wing support individual rights and capitalism.

Party function They fight election, form government and represent electorates

Parties and democracy They help to ensure those who take office have experience and training

Party finance

Consist of Party membership fees, donations and some public funding called short money.
There is debate if we will increase or decrease state funding for political parties..

2.2 Main political parties in the UK The Conservative Party

Higt general beliefs: individual rifhts, free markets, lower taces and capitalism
Main factions: One-nation conservatism and New Right
The Labour Party
The manifesto: equality, government intervention. Common ownership support for workers and rights'
Main factions: Old Labour and New Labour
Liberal Democrats
Liberty, a focus on individual rights and freedoms,