A-level
POLITICS
Paper 2 Government and politics of the USA and comparative
politics
Thursday 5 June 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours
7152/2
, 2
Section A – US Government, Politics and Comparative Theory
Answer questions 1, 2 and 3.
0 1 Explain and analyse three informal powers of the president.
[9 marks]
0 2 Explain and analyse three factions within the Democratic Party.
[9 marks]
0 3 Explain and analyse three ways that rational theory could be used to study the
relationships that US presidents and UK prime ministers have with their respective
legislatures.
[9 marks]
IB/G/Jun25/7152/2
, 3
Section B – Extract Question
Read the extracts below and answer question 4 that follows.
Congress; the broken branch of government?
Extract 1
Is Congress broken?
The idea that Congress is ‘broken’ is misleading. Congress is the national government’s most
democratic political institution. Some may wish to award this distinction to the president, who, of
course, can claim to be the only official elected by the people as a whole. Nevertheless, it is
Congress that collectively reflects the diversity of the nation. At its core, the congressional
policy-making process and its committees and subcommittees hearings are open to the public
and to the press. In the contemporary Congress, floor debate is not an empty exercise.
Many of the characteristics of Congress with which Americans are so impatient stem directly
from the institution’s democratic nature. Members of Congress are elected individually and are
likely to bicker, delay, and compromise because they represent a variety of different groups and
interests that demand that their perspectives be voiced.
Extract taken from the website Yale University Press blogs, December 2019.
Benjamin Ginsberg and Kathryn Wagner Hill are academics from Yale University.
Extract 2
Our democracy can’t work without a functioning Congress.
Congress is broken. In the Senate, filibuster abuse has repeatedly allowed a minority of
senators to frustrate congressional efforts to address the serious issues facing our country. At
the same time, Congress as a whole has fallen short in providing strong oversight of the
executive branch. When Congress is controlled by the president’s party, it often fails to use its
authority, looking the other way in the face of potential abuses of power. And when it is
controlled by the opposition, partisan investigations often focus more on scoring political points
than on uncovering the truth.
The Brennan Center for Justice is urging reforms to create a Congress that works. Senate
dysfunction undermines the proper operation of our government – which was meant to function
with three branches, not two. We promote reforms to the filibuster rule so that legislative
minorities can’t paralyse the Senate indefinitely. And we urge Congress to bolster its oversight
role.
Extract taken from an article that appeared on the website of the Brennan Center for
Justice, published in October 2020. The Brennan Center is an independent, non-partisan law
and policy organisation.
0 4 Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments in the above extracts regarding the extent
to which Congress is broken.
[25 marks]
Turn over for Section C
Turn over ►
IB/G/Jun25/7152/2
POLITICS
Paper 2 Government and politics of the USA and comparative
politics
Thursday 5 June 2025 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours
7152/2
, 2
Section A – US Government, Politics and Comparative Theory
Answer questions 1, 2 and 3.
0 1 Explain and analyse three informal powers of the president.
[9 marks]
0 2 Explain and analyse three factions within the Democratic Party.
[9 marks]
0 3 Explain and analyse three ways that rational theory could be used to study the
relationships that US presidents and UK prime ministers have with their respective
legislatures.
[9 marks]
IB/G/Jun25/7152/2
, 3
Section B – Extract Question
Read the extracts below and answer question 4 that follows.
Congress; the broken branch of government?
Extract 1
Is Congress broken?
The idea that Congress is ‘broken’ is misleading. Congress is the national government’s most
democratic political institution. Some may wish to award this distinction to the president, who, of
course, can claim to be the only official elected by the people as a whole. Nevertheless, it is
Congress that collectively reflects the diversity of the nation. At its core, the congressional
policy-making process and its committees and subcommittees hearings are open to the public
and to the press. In the contemporary Congress, floor debate is not an empty exercise.
Many of the characteristics of Congress with which Americans are so impatient stem directly
from the institution’s democratic nature. Members of Congress are elected individually and are
likely to bicker, delay, and compromise because they represent a variety of different groups and
interests that demand that their perspectives be voiced.
Extract taken from the website Yale University Press blogs, December 2019.
Benjamin Ginsberg and Kathryn Wagner Hill are academics from Yale University.
Extract 2
Our democracy can’t work without a functioning Congress.
Congress is broken. In the Senate, filibuster abuse has repeatedly allowed a minority of
senators to frustrate congressional efforts to address the serious issues facing our country. At
the same time, Congress as a whole has fallen short in providing strong oversight of the
executive branch. When Congress is controlled by the president’s party, it often fails to use its
authority, looking the other way in the face of potential abuses of power. And when it is
controlled by the opposition, partisan investigations often focus more on scoring political points
than on uncovering the truth.
The Brennan Center for Justice is urging reforms to create a Congress that works. Senate
dysfunction undermines the proper operation of our government – which was meant to function
with three branches, not two. We promote reforms to the filibuster rule so that legislative
minorities can’t paralyse the Senate indefinitely. And we urge Congress to bolster its oversight
role.
Extract taken from an article that appeared on the website of the Brennan Center for
Justice, published in October 2020. The Brennan Center is an independent, non-partisan law
and policy organisation.
0 4 Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments in the above extracts regarding the extent
to which Congress is broken.
[25 marks]
Turn over for Section C
Turn over ►
IB/G/Jun25/7152/2
