A-level POLITICS

A-level POLITICS Paper 2 Government and politics of the USA and comparative politics Wednesday 5 June 2024 Afternoon Time allowed: 2 hours Materials For this paper you must have: • an AQA 12-page answer book. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. • Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is 7152/2. • Answer all questions from Section A and Section B. • Answer either Question 5 or Question 6 from Section C. • Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked. • Do not tear out any part of the book. All work must be handed in. • If you use more than one answer book, check that you have written the information required on each book. Information • The marks for questions are shown in brackets. • The maximum mark for this paper is 77. Section A – US Government, Politics and Comparative Theory Answer questions 1, 2 and 3. Explain and analyse three factors that can influence the outcome of a presidential election. [9 marks] Explain and analyse three functions of the US Congress. [9 marks] Explain and analyse three ways that structural theory could be used to study how civil liberties and rights are protected in the US and the UK. [9 marks] Section B – Extract Question Read the extracts below and answer question 4 that follows. Do initiatives enhance US democracy? Extract 1 Expanding direct democracy won’t make Americans feel better about politics Recent polls show that Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with their system of representative democracy. Some advocate for the greater use of direct democracy. Based on 15 years of our own research, we believe that the commonly held view that initiatives are good for democracy is wrong. Initiatives bypass the normal legislative process. They can be written by anyone and receive a public vote without input from lawmakers, provided enough petition signatures are obtained to get the initiative on the ballot. Initiatives encourage voting based on fear without making people more generally knowledgeable or engaged. Initiatives can also be a tool for ideological extremists and opportunists. This has been the case with attempts to limit the rights of immigrants and curb affirmative action. The frequent use of initiatives makes citizens trust government less, not more. This is because initiative campaigns often stress that government is broken. Extract taken from an article on the website of The Conversation, September 2019, by Joshua J. Dyck and Edward L. Lascher Jr. The Conversation is an independent source of news analysis and comment written by academic experts. Extract 2 Republicans want to make it harder to pass initiatives – that should alarm us On election day in 2018 and 2020, citizens voting in initiatives scored overwhelming victories for popular proposals that had gone nowhere in state legislatures such as a higher minimum wage in Florida and higher teacher salaries in Arizona. Republican lawmakers in 24 states have introduced bills that would make it tougher for citizens to push initiatives onto the ballot. The Republican bills tend to take two general approaches. First, they increase the number of signatures necessary to qualify an initiative. Then, they require majorities greater than 60% to pass. President Theodore Roosevelt, who helped expand the use of initiatives at the beginning of the last century, said: “I believe in the initiative and referendum, which should be used not to destroy representative government, but to correct it whenever it becomes misrepresentative.” Extract taken from The Guardian newspaper, published in March 2021, by David Daley, senior fellow at FairVote. FairVote is a nonpartisan organisation that researches and supports voting reforms. Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments in the above extracts for and against the view that initiatives enhance US democracy. [25 marks] Turn over for Section C Turn over ► Section C – Comparative Government and Politics Essay Questions Answer either question 5 or question 6. In your answer you should draw on material from across the whole range of your course of study in Politics. Either 0 5 ‘The major political parties in the UK are more internally united than those in the US.’ Analyse and evaluate this statement. [25 marks] or ‘Within the executive the US president is able to dominate, whereas the UK prime minister shares power.’ Analyse and evaluate this statement. [25 marks] END OF QUESTIONS Copyright information For confidentiality purposes, acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after each live examination series and is available for free download from Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team. Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.