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Edexcel Unit 5: Representation and Democracy in Britain, 1830-1931. Essay Questions

Here below i have listed possible essay questions that are liekly to come up on monday, i figured it would help people who are unsure of the questions. If anybody would like to post plans for these essays that would be brilliant thanks!

1) To what extent was the declining power of aristocracy inhibiting factor on the reform of the political system in Britain 1830-1931? (60)

2) How significant was the desire for political advantage in the development of a more democratic system of government 1830-1931? (60)

3) '1867 marked a turning point in the development of a more representative system of government' How far do you agree? (60)

4)To what extent were external factors significant in the development of a more democratic system of government? (60)

5) To what extent was redistribution of parliamentary seats key in the development of political parties in Britain 1830-1931? (60)

6) To what extent did the period 1830-1931 see the development of a completely representative system of government? (60)

7) ' the reluctance of those in power to create a more representative system of government was the key barrier to reform during the period 1830-1931' how far do you agree?

8) To what extent was the political reform motivated from events outside Britain during the period 1830-1931?

9) To what extent was 1911 a turning point in the development of political parties?

I hope thsi helps people so they can base their revision around something. And any plans posted will be very helpful to us all!
GL all for monday!

Reply 1

tissue shoulders

You are a life saver! I was about to come on here and post a thread saying HELP I DONT KNOW ANY QUESTIONS and then i saw this :smile:

So the main themes are:

why change WAS brought about
why change was hindered
effects to political parties
turning points

... is that it?

Reply 2

Adolfs_Brother

OP

Yea pretty much i think turning points is unlikely but possible so our teacher covered it just in case he called it CYA cover your arse! hehe

Reply 3

tissue shoulders

that's great because turning points is my weakest.
does that mean effectively you could just revise motivation for change and be pretty much covered........ ?

Reply 4

k007

u'll get 2 questions either about- causes of change or effects on political parties..so yh, turning points is really unlikely..im jus gonna revise the causes of change section because thats a deffo for cumin up this yr plus its quite short..
btw, does anyone understand why disraeli passed the 2nd reform act?? im just lukin over my notes and it says he wanted to take advantage of gladstone's losses because the right-wing liberals had joined the conservatives and therefore gladstone was left weak, but wen disraeli's bill was turned into a more radical one how comes the right-wing liberals accepted wen they feared too much reform and which is why the reason they left gladstone in the first place???

Reply 5

tissue shoulders

k007

u'll get 2 questions either about- causes of change or effects on political parties..so yh, turning points is really unlikely..im jus gonna revise the causes of change section because thats a deffo for cumin up this yr plus its quite short..
btw, does anyone understand why disraeli passed the 2nd reform act?? im just lukin over my notes and it says he wanted to take advantage of gladstone's losses because the right-wing liberals had joined the conservatives and therefore gladstone was left weak, but wen disraeli's bill was turned into a more radical one how comes the right-wing liberals accepted wen they feared too much reform and which is why the reason they left gladstone in the first place???

i have written that he won over the radical liberals, rather than the right-wing liberals because disraeli was determined to split the liberal party.
so he'd gain support of the radical libs and alienate the right-wing libs to split the party.
i've also got that his first bill was more moderate than gladstone's had been, but in his parliamentary 'duel' with gladstone, and in order to win over some liberal MPs, disraeli's bill changed out of all recognition and became more radical than he had originally intended.
disraeli now made an alliance with the radical wing of the liberal party and was willing to accept their proposals so that the bill would succeed.

so maybe it was the radical libs that accepted and not the right-wing ones?

this is only from a brief look-over of my notes though, so still not sure.

hope that helps!

Reply 6

k007

thanks that makes absolute sense but for sum strange reason my notes say he won over the right-wing liberals..but it wud make so much more sense if he won the radical liberals over so im guessin ur ryt! also, was gladstone whig or liberal? if he was liberal then where on earth were the whigs?

Reply 7

tissue shoulders

the whigs are the liberals... they just changed their name later on. thats all the party structure stuff that i am REFUSING to revise because its just silly :tongue:

Reply 8

bored*star

k007

thanks that makes absolute sense but for sum strange reason my notes say he won over the right-wing liberals..but it wud make so much more sense if he won the radical liberals over so im guessin ur ryt! also, was gladstone whig or liberal? if he was liberal then where on earth were the whigs?

Whigs became Liberals after 1835 Litchfield House Agreement... the Tories also became Conservatives some time after 1832 reform act but can't recall the date.
Disralei worked with the RW Liberals at first to defeat Gladstone's Reform Billl, then with the more radical liberal backbenchers to pass his own reform Bill....
Oh and Disralei is a Conservatie/Tory

Reply 9

NickEM

k007

u'll get 2 questions either about- causes of change or effects on political parties..so yh, turning points is really unlikely..im jus gonna revise the causes of change section because thats a deffo for cumin up this yr plus its quite short..

Why is it a "deffo for cumin up this yr"? Yes, it may well come up, but just because it wasn't asked last year, does not mean that it automatically will be this year. The papers are never that predictable!

I think your list of questions is good; you missed out a key section, the "pace of change".

I.e. "How far do you agree that the development of democracy in Britain between the years 1830-1931 was a gradual process?"

"How far do you agree that the development of political parties in Britain in the period 1830-1931 was steady?"

Reply 10

NickEM

Adolfs_Brother

8) To what extent was the political reform motivated from events outside Britain during the period 1830-1931?

In addition, this question will not be asked, because it is not on the syllabus. You may learn about outside factors (e.g. the unification of Italy), but it's not on their "key reasons" list. The reason for this is that it was seldom of any importance whatsoever.

Reply 11

stacey4415

2

NickEM

Why is it a "deffo for cumin up this yr"? Yes, it may well come up, but just because it wasn't asked last year, does not mean that it automatically will be this year. The papers are never that predictable!

I think your list of questions is good; you missed out a key section, the "pace of change".

I.e. "How far do you agree that the development of democracy in Britain between the years 1830-1931 was a gradual process?"

"How far do you agree that the development of political parties in Britain in the period 1830-1931 was steady?"

I'm really confused as to how one would answer that question, because, it obviously wasn't instant, as, if it was, then there wouldn't have been so many following acts would there? I'm so confused, how would you answer a question like that?

Would you just go through each act and say how that aided the whole gradual process?!

Reply 12

NickEM

Well, yeah, kinda. It's not quite as bad as it looks, because "the development of democracy" incorporates:

-extension of the franchise
-redistribution of parliamentary seats
-changing nature of political parties
-decline of the aristocracy
-improved voting conditions

So you can say how all of them were a gradual process, indicate change all throughout the era, but then perhaps say that there were given "turning points": for example, you could say the development was not steady because voting conditions only genuinely improved after the First World War.

Reply 13

stacey4415

2

Sorry for all the questions, for this type of question would it be a straight forward answer, or would you have to argue that in some ways it wasn't gradual, and thus instant?

a two sided type answer?

Also, would you answer with a chronological response

e.g

1832...
1867....

or would you say answer,

the extension of the franchise was gradually transformed with.....
development in parties....

etc

thanks for your help!

Reply 14

NickEM

That's ok!

I'd do the second one, split it into categories. Naturally if you're arguing it was gradual, you'll cover the whole chronology. :wink:

And, yeah, it's a simple for/against structure!

Reply 15

ahijaw

11

NickEM

Well, yeah, kinda. It's not quite as bad as it looks, because "the development of democracy" incorporates:

-extension of the franchise
-redistribution of parliamentary seats
-changing nature of political parties
-decline of the aristocracy
-improved voting conditions

So you can say how all of them were a gradual process, indicate change all throughout the era, but then perhaps say that there were given "turning points": for example, you could say the development was not steady because voting conditions only genuinely improved after the First World War.

What other turning points that can be mentioned apart from WW1?

Reply 16

k007

NickEM

Why is it a "deffo for cumin up this yr"? Yes, it may well come up, but just because it wasn't asked last year, does not mean that it automatically will be this year. The papers are never that predictable!

I think your list of questions is good; you missed out a key section, the "pace of change".

I.e. "How far do you agree that the development of democracy in Britain between the years 1830-1931 was a gradual process?"

"How far do you agree that the development of political parties in Britain in the period 1830-1931 was steady?"

Causes always cum up..and last yr - june 2007 the cause was the reduction of powers of the aristocracy..so yh causes is a DEFFO every single yr

Reply 17

NickEM

No, actually, there wasn't a cause question last year. It was a judgement question.

The question did not ask you to establish the role of the decline of the aristocracy in parliamentary reform, but in the development of parliamentary government. This means it must be put against other factors, including parliamentary reform.

They are 2 different questions which are often confused by candidates.

Reply 18

NickEM

Also the structure of the course changed last year. So far, on our issue, there hasn't been a single reform causal question.

There may well be one this year (I would expect one), but to say that it's definite would be misleading.

Reply 19

fleur de lis

15

Locked because of Edexcel 12 hour rule - see announcement.

Edexcel Unit 5: Representation and Democracy in Britain, 1830-1931. Essay Questions

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