Blog Posts by Category

If you’d like to be emailed each time a post is published, please add your email below!

Exemplar Essays can be founder here

Exam Skills

17.10.2022 – What are the Assessment Objectives in Edexcel A-Level Politics?

17.10.2022 – How to answer the 30 Mark Essay Question (Edexcel)

17.10.20 – How to answer the 30 Mark Source Question (Edexcel)

27.10.2022 – How to answer the 24 Mark Ideologies Question (Edexcel)

27.10.2022 – What are the most likely questions for the 24 Mark Ideologies Question? (Edexcel)

01.01.2022 – How to answer the 12 Mark Examine Question for Global Politics (Edexcel)

16.03.2023 – What is AO1 and how do you achieve it? (Edexcel) | Politics Teaching

19.03.2023 – What is AO2 and how do achieve it? (Edexcel)

20.03.2023 – How to answer the 12 Mark Analyse question for Global Politics (Edexcel)

Democracy and Participation

21.02.2023 – Does Britain suffer from a ‘participation crisis’? | Politics Teaching

17.02.2023 – What are the arguments for and against lowering the voting age to 16? | Politics Teaching

16.02.2023 – What is lobbying and how significant is it in the UK? | Politics Teaching

16.02.2023 – What are Think Tanks and what are their strengths and weaknesses? | Politics Teaching

25.09.2022 – Are Referendums good for democracy in the UK?

31.07.2022 – Was the AV Referendum a good exercise in democracy?

30.07.2022 – What is Liberal Democracy?

28.07.2022 – Why did Citizens Juries never take off in the UK?

23.05.2022 – How effectively are Human Rights and Civil Liberties protected in the UK?

26.04.2022 – Has the use of E-Petitions enhanced democracy in the UK?

25.04.2022 – How significant is the power of recall in the UK?

Political Parties

28.10.2022 – What was Clause IV and what did Labour do to it?

05.09.2022 – How does a Conservative Leadership Election work and what happened in 2022?

17.04.2022 – What are Short Money and Cranborne Money and should political parties be entirely publicly financed?

Electoral Systems

22.05.2022 – What are the strengths and weaknesses of different voting systems?

18.04.2022 – What is the significance of by-elections?

Constitution

08.01.2022 – Why is Statute Law the most important source of the UK Constitution?

01.01.2022 – What does the Brown Commission recommend as regards constitutional reform in the UK?

27.11.2022 – Why did the Supreme Court rule the Scottish Parliament cannot hold a referendum on independence?

26.11.2022 – The House of Lords and the Article 50 Bill: Why is it a good example of the Parliament Acts and the constitutional limits of the House of Lords?

21.10.2022 – What is the Freedom of Information Act and why did Tony Blair call it “stupidity”?

31.10.2022 – What are Works of Authority?

31.10.2022 – What is the Rule of Law and why is it an important principle of the UK Constitution?

30.08.2022 – What are the advantages of having a constitutional monarchy in the UK?

13.08.2022 – The Bill of Rights (1689) – What did it do?

07.06.2022 – Has devolution to England been successful?

05.06.2022 – Has Devolution to the nations of the UK been successful?

04.04.2022 – Who are the Hereditary Peers and why do only 92 sit in the House of Lords?

03.04.2022 – Was the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act (2011) always doomed to be a failed constitutional reform?

Parliament

31.10.2022 – What is the significance of Ten-Minute Rule Bills?

19.10.2022 – Primary Legislation, Secondary Legislation, Statutory Instruments and Orders-in-Council. What are the and what are the differences between them?

27.10.2022 – Should Parliament vote electronically in divisions?

26.10.2022 – What is the significance of the withdrawal of the whip and deselection?

20.10.2022 – How did the Wright Reforms change the House of Commons and did the changes go far enough?

12.09.2022 – Why are Private Members Bills unlikely to become Acts of Parliament?

01.06.2022 – What is the difference between a party and parliamentary motion of no confidence?

27.04.2022 – A guide to the legislative process in the UK

27.04.2022 – Urgent Questions and Emergency Debates – What are they and how important are they as a mechanism of parliamentary scrutiny?

24.04.2022 – The MPs Expenses Scandal – How much did it damage the reputation of Parliament?

18.04.2022 – Why did English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) not solve the West Lothian Question?

17.04.2022 – What is a Motion of No Confidence, why is it important and when was the last successful one?

10.04.2022 – What is Parliamentary Privilege and why is it an important principle to the operation of Parliament?

09.04.2022 – How have humble address motions increased the effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny?

09.04.2022 – Why is the Parliament Act so important despite being so rarely used?

07.04.2022 – How effective is Parliament at scrutinising the Executive?

05.04.2022 – A Brief History of House of Lords Reform

05.04.2022 – What is the role of the Speaker of the House of Commons and what is the Denison Convention?

05.04.2022 – What is the Salisbury Convention and why was it so significant?

05.04.2022 – What was the Carswell Convention and why was it so short-lived?

Executive

25.10.2022- ‘Bigotgate’ – Why is it an example of the difficulties of campaigning in the age of 24/7 News Media?

14.10.2022 – What is a ‘confidence and supply agreement’?

10.09.2022 – What are the differences between the US and UK ‘Order of Succession’?

08.09.2022 – What are the great offices of state?

04.08.2022 – How did Boris Johnson (eventually) ‘Get Brexit Done’?

03.08.2022 – Theresa May and Brexit – An example of a lack of Prime Ministerial Control?

29.07.2022 – What is the Government and how is it made up?

23.04.2022 – Why do Cabinet Reshuffles take place and why is the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ so famous?

Relations Between Branches

01.01.2022 – Why Britain’s membership of the EU unique before Brexit?

22.10.2022 – Why was Miller vs Prime Minister so significant?

18.10.2022 – Who were the Law Lords?

03.05.2022 – How significant are public inquiries in the UK?

28.04.2022 – How does the UK judicial system work?

28.04.2022 – What are some prominent examples of Judicial Review?

18.04.2022 – The ECHR and the ECJ: What is the difference?

17.04.2022 – What is a Motion of No Confidence, why is it important and when was the last successful one?

17.04.2022 – HM Treasury v Ahmed (2010) – Why such a good example?

Global Politics – Human Rights

17.03.2023 – What are the strengths and weaknesses of the ICC and what might happen to Vladimir Putin? | Politics Teaching

Global Politics – Power and Developments

20.09.2022 – What is the so-called ‘Dictator’s Club’?

24.08.2022 – How are the deaths of Qassam Soleimani and Ayman Al Zawahiri examples of US Hard Power?

Global Politics – Political and Economic Governance

01.01.2022 – Can the Russian invasion of Ukraine be linked to the realist concept of the Security Dilemma?

29.08.2022 – Britain, the UN and the Chagos Islands – An example of the Soft nature of international law

Global Politics – Regionalism

21.10.2022 – A new IGO – what is the purpose of the European Political Community?

Book Reviews

27.04.2022 – Book Review – Unspeakable by John Bercow

03.10.2021 – Book Review – Book Review: The Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume 1 Prelude to Power 1994-1997

07.06.2020 – Book Review – No.10: The Geography of Power at Downing Street

01.06.2020 – Book Review – Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics

23.05.2020 – Book Review – Punch and Judy Politics: An Insiders’ Guide to Prime Minister’s Questions