CCEA A2 2 Political Power and Political Ideas: a complete overview of the theories of power and the political ideologies

CCEA A2 2, Political Power and Political Ideas, is the second A2 unit of the CCEA A-Level Government and Politics course, set and marked by CCEA in Northern Ireland. This page is the index: below is a map of the unit's two options, the assessment, and how to study each part.

What A2 2 covers

A2 2 is the theoretical unit and offers two options, chosen by the centre.

Option A: Political Power. Four theories of the origin, nature and distribution of power.

• Pluralism. Power dispersed among competing groups, with the state as a neutral arbiter, and elite pluralism.
• Elitism. Power concentrated in a ruling minority; classical elitism, the power elite and democratic elitism.
• Marxism. Power rooted in economic class and ownership; the state as an instrument of the ruling class; ideology and false consciousness.
• Feminism. Power as patriarchy; the personal is political; the liberal, radical and socialist strands.

Option B: Political Ideas. Four major ideologies and their internal strands.

• Liberalism. The individual and freedom; classical versus modern liberalism.
• Conservatism. Tradition, human imperfection and organic society; traditional conservatism versus the New Right.
• Socialism. Community, equality and common ownership; revolutionary socialism, social democracy and the Third Way.
• Nationalism. The nation and self-determination; civic and ethnic conceptions; liberal, conservative, expansionist and anti-colonial types.

The central themes

Two themes run across whichever option is studied.

• Internal division. Every theory and ideology contains rival strands (elite pluralism, democratic elitism, modern liberalism, the New Right, the Third Way), and analysing these divisions is central.
• Evaluation against rivals. The theories of power are best understood against one another, and the ideologies are sharpened by comparison, so evaluation is the core skill.

Assessment structure

A2 2 is assessed by a written examination on the chosen option.

• Shorter questions ask students to explain or analyse a theory, ideology or concept.
• Longer evaluation essays (to-what-extent questions) require a balanced argument and a substantiated judgement.

How to study A2 2

This unit rewards conceptual depth and disciplined evaluation.

1. Learn the core concepts precisely. Patriarchy, false consciousness, the iron law of oligarchy, negative and positive freedom and the rest are the building blocks.
2. Know the key thinkers. Associate each theory or ideology with its main figures and their arguments.
3. Distinguish the strands. Every theory and ideology divides internally; the divisions are heavily examined.
4. Evaluate, do not describe. Set each theory against its rivals and each ideology's strands against each other.
5. Reach a judgement. Conclude with a substantiated verdict on the question set.

The modules, dot point by dot point

Each topic has a specification-level dot-point page with worked questions and cross-links, plus this overview and a quiz. Browse the full set at /ccea-a-level/politics/syllabus.

For the official specification

CCEA publishes the full specification, past papers and mark schemes at ccea.org.uk. Always revise from the current CCEA specification and CCEA's own past papers, because question style is board-specific.