SACE Stage 2 Politics, Power and People study plan

Define and distinguish the core concepts of power, authority, legitimacy and sovereignty in your own written notes

Map the main ideological families (liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism) by comparing their views on human nature, the state and equality in a comparison table

Explain how political ideas shape institutions, using two contrasting examples you construct yourself

Identify five key terms per ideology and write a one-sentence definition for each without consulting notes

Differentiate classical from modern liberalism and outline the tensions between them

Trace how socialist thought developed from its early critics of industrial capitalism to later social-democratic positions

Compare authoritarian and democratic justifications of state power and evaluate their internal logic

Construct three short essay plans that take a position on an ideological debate and list counterarguments

Describe the structure and functions of the three branches of government in a system you choose and contrast it with one other

Explain how constitutions distribute and limit power, distinguishing written from unwritten arrangements

Outline the stages of the policy cycle and locate where public input can enter it

Compare how two electoral systems translate votes into seats and predict their effects on party systems

Explain the role of political parties, interest groups and the media as intermediaries between citizens and the state

Analyse the mechanisms of accountability such as question time, committees, courts and free press

Identify the channels of citizen participation from voting to protest and evaluate their relative influence

Assess how institutional design either encourages or discourages participation

Distinguish power as coercion, influence and agenda-setting, and apply each form to a real example

Explain the relationship between citizenship, rights and responsibilities in a democratic society

Analyse why participation is unequal across social groups and identify structural causes

Evaluate the effect of digital and social media on political participation

Explain how states, international organisations and non-state actors share and contest global power

Describe the main institutions of global governance and their limits in enforcing decisions

Analyse one contemporary global issue using concepts from both participation and global politics

Evaluate arguments for and against humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty

Compare realist, liberal and constructivist accounts of international relations and apply each to one event

Assess the impact of globalisation on state authority and on domestic political debate

Evaluate how transnational challenges such as climate change and migration test existing institutions

Construct a table linking contemporary issues to the ideologies studied in weeks one and two

Synthesise all four domains into an integrated revision map showing how ideas, institutions, participation and global forces connect

Complete two timed practice essays under exam conditions and self-mark against explicit criteria

Identify your three weakest concepts and write corrective summaries for each

Rehearse definitions and short-answer responses for high-frequency terms across all domains