AS AQA GOVP2 June 4th 2015 Predictions

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Does anyone fancy using this as a platform to go over revision material? We could write out everything we know on a topic to help ourselves and each other?

Reply 21

Cam977

Original post by jtf1050

I think seeing as we've gone from a coalition to majority government they will do something along the lines of PM becoming presidential...

Last year was the civil service / minister relationship and I hope it's not on the civil service this year because it's so vague that it's difficult to put specific evidence in due to the anonymity of the CS.

Reply 22

Cam977

Original post by ellaissy

Does anyone fancy using this as a platform to go over revision material? We could write out everything we know on a topic to help ourselves and each other?

Yeah that's a good idea, just type out everything you know, I'll do the same.

Reply 23

arfah

Okay so from this thread and my own predictions it could be for topic 1-for and against a codified constitution topic 3-powers of the PM + the limits/ could also be cabinet functions topic 2- House of Lords/scrutiny of the executive

Reply 24

arfah

Original post by Cam977

I think it's unlikely to be on the civil service if you look at the past papers they've never repeated a topic they always like to change it up (as far as I know)

Reply 25

jtf1050

How awkward are they gonna be in terms of us incorporating 'relevant' material... Nothing on this Tory government to write about yet!

Reply 26

jtf1050

Original post by arfah

I think it's unlikely to be on the civil service if you look at the past papers they've never repeated a topic they always like to change it up (as far as I know)

I don't think they'll do CS- I think it's gonna be the change in prime-ministerial style...

Reply 27

ellaissy

Original post by Cam977

Yeah that's a good idea, just type out everything you know, I'll do the same.

doing it now

Reply 28

jtf1050

studyhistory.co.uk is such a good site for revision material! Go to the politics section- it has USA and UK politics

Reply 29

arfah

Original post by jtf1050

How awkward are they gonna be in terms of us incorporating 'relevant' material... Nothing on this Tory government to write about yet!

They've written the exam paper way before they knew about the election/election results. So I'm guessing they won't be too picky on recent examples from 2015 election.

Original post by jtf1050

I don't think they'll do CS- I think it's gonna be the change in prime-ministerial style...

do you mean like move from prime ministerial to presidential style??

Reply 30

jtf1050

Original post by arfah

They've written the exam paper way before they knew about the election/election results. So I'm guessing they won't be too picky on recent examples from 2015 election.
do you mean like move from prime ministerial to presidential style??

Yeah, I think it's a good topic to cover- quite a lot to say about it

Reply 31

ssamuelwatsonn

There will be very little questions-wise on the General Election this year; the exam is written months in advance. Saying this, it is important to include relevant examples for each of your points. Last year's paper was on the Judiciary for the Constitution section, so I'd focus on its sources, principles and success. For Parliament, last year's was on Backbenchers, so I think there's a high probability of the essay being about the House of Lords.

Reply 32

arfah

Original post by jtf1050

Yeah, I think it's a good topic to cover- quite a lot to say about it

Yea, that would be quite a good topic I guess! Not sure if I'll be answering on the executive though-completely depends on the questions for me haha :smile:

Reply 33

arfah

Original post by ssamuelwatsonn

This is really helpful thank you! :biggrin:

Reply 34

ellaissy

The Constitution

Uncodified constitution = rules relating to powers of political institutions of the state and rights of citizens are sourced from a number of written/unwritten documents. Found in UK, New Zealand, Israel.

Codified constitution = one in which all rules as mentioned above are found in one single, entrenched document. Seen in USA, Germany etc.

Unitary = power in the hands of central governments with few regional differences

Federal = power in the hands of smaller, regional divisions across the country, as seen in USA states

Sources of our constitution
- Statue Law (1969 Representation of the People Act, 1998 Scotland Act, 1998 Wales Act, 1998 Human Rights Act etc.)
- Common Law (law which erives from judicial precedent, decisions made by previous judges in similar cases)
-Conventions (i.e unwritten customs, ministerial responsibility etc. - European Union (since joining EU in 1973, European Law takes precedence over UK Law
- Written works of constitutional importance (Walter Bagehot's "The English Constitution"

Changes to the British Constitution since 1997: (Labour's strong win in 1997 with a majority of 179 seats brought about constitutional reforms which can be summarised as)

-Devolution, referendas in 1997 on the devolution of Scotland with it's own parliament and own tax-varying powers brought about the Scotland Act of 1998, along with the Welsh Assembly (with no tax-varying powers), Wales Act of 1998. Northern Ireland also now has it's own national assembly. EVALUATION: due to the fact that parliament is sovereign, these devolved bodies could technically be abolished by parliament if they so wished too. Additionally, there is the case of MP's being able to vote on matters that do not affect their constituencies (ie. 46 of the votes in favour of increasing tuition fees came from Scottish MP's)

-Civil Rights, the Human Rights Act of 1998 came into practice in 2000 and for the first time ensured citizens rights were protected clearly. Similarly, the Freedom of Information Act of 2000 which promoted citizen's rights to know was introduced.
EVALUATION: the Human Rights Act is only semi-entrenched, meaning it can be abolished by governments if they so wish to do (particularly relevant now). Similarly, the Freedom of Information Act can be bipassed by the Justice secretary who has the right to veto requests if he believes it threatens national security. This was the case in 2001 with Jack Straw and the Iraq War meetings.

- Decentralisation, elected mayors allocated to certain English authorities, the best example being the Greater London Authority.

-Participation, sought to hold more referendums and increase democracy, as of such there were referendums on the Scottish Parliament, Welsh national assembly and the Greater London Authority.Similarly there is an increase in E-petitions, road pricing tax was dropped after 1 million signatures against it.
EVALUATION: Referendums are still not legally binding, and the Party, Electoral and Referendum Act of 2000 allows for individuals to give up to £5000 a year to a political party, leading to scandals such as "Cash for Questions".

-Parliamentary Reform, saw the 600+ hereditary peers which sat in the House of Lords reduced to 92. EVALUATION: Unfortunately the second stage of the House of Commons Act of 1999 was never continued and fell into the long grass during 2003. Until the second chamber is either fully or partially elected the House of Lords, despite how much expertise they may have in their fields (Life Peers) remain to be socially unaccountable and therefore not politically legitimate.

-Electoral Reform, the devolved bodies in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff are all elected proportionately. EVALUATION: Labour would never allow the House of Commons to be elected proportionately because of the simple fact that they succeed under a FPTP system.

Should the UK adopt a codified constitution?
YES - it would remove uncertainty about certain roles, i.e the monarchy-it is outdated, inefficient and undemocratic. The fact it endorses hereditary House of Lords emphasizes this.-It would constrain the power of a ruthless executive, eg. Blair scrapping a session of Question Time- It would protect judicial independence and separation of powers - it would help identify who is responsible for what role, perhaps supporting sophisticated and educated votes-it would protect rights more clearly, unlike the Human Rights Act which can be amended through a simple claim of "Declaration of Incompatibility"

NO- it is flexible, an act of parliament is all that is required to amend the constitution. Following terrorist attacks of 2001, the UK government was able to change with relative ease the scope of the Human Rights Act to detain suspected terrorists.- Provides strong governments who can do things. Citizen's can expect to see a government fulfill it's pledged manifesto, a contrast to the US political system in which disagreements between Congress and the Executive can lead to periods of nothing happening- There is clear accountability for the UK government- It helps establish traditions and conventions which are hard to change

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 35

icanseethemoon

is anyone doing multi level governance? i think i've chosen the wrong one to pick to be honest, i'm so nervous. also it helps checking out the past paper from last year to see what they asked for the essay's as their least likely to ask it again! :afraid: