CCEA AS 1 Government and Politics of Northern Ireland: a complete overview of the Agreement, the Assembly, the Executive and the parties

CCEA AS 1, the Government and Politics of Northern Ireland, is the first unit of the CCEA AS-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, the assessment, and how to study each part.

What AS 1 covers

The unit studies how Northern Ireland has been governed since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, through four connected topics.

• The Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements. The principle of consent, the three strands, power sharing, rights, policing and decommissioning, and how St Andrews, Hillsborough, Stormont House, Fresh Start and New Decade, New Approach changed the deal.
• The Northern Ireland Assembly. Election by single transferable vote, the three functions of representation, legislation and scrutiny, cross-community voting and the petition of concern, the committee system, and independence from the Executive.
• The Northern Ireland Executive. The Executive Office and the joint First and deputy First Minister, the d'Hondt formula, the special election of the Justice Minister, mandatory coalition and weak collective responsibility.
• Northern Ireland political parties. The backgrounds, strategies and policies of the DUP, Sinn Fein, the UUP, the SDLP and Alliance, and how dominance shifted since 1998.

The central themes

Two themes run across the whole unit and tie the topics together.

• Consent and power sharing. The settlement guarantees inclusion of both communities, but at the cost of stability, which is why the institutions have collapsed repeatedly.
• The shift in the party system. Dominance moved from the moderate UUP and SDLP to the formerly hardline DUP and Sinn Fein, with Alliance rising as a cross-community third force.

Assessment structure

AS 1 is assessed by a written examination on the government and politics of Northern Ireland.

• Shorter questions ask students to explain or analyse features of the Agreement, the institutions or the parties.
• Longer evaluation essays (to-what-extent questions) require a balanced, two-sided argument and a substantiated judgement.

How to study AS 1

This unit rewards precise institutional knowledge and balanced evaluation.

1. Learn the three strands cold. They structure the whole Agreement and are a frequent exam target.
2. Master the mechanics. STV, d'Hondt, cross-community voting and the petition of concern are technical and examiners reward accuracy.
3. Track change over time. Know how each party's fortunes and the institutions changed from 1998 to the present.
4. Argue both sides. Evaluation essays need genuine balance before a clear judgement.
5. Use current examples. The 2017 to 2020 and post-2022 collapses are powerful evidence of the system's instability.

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.