A-LEVEL GOVERNMENT & POLITICS GOV4A The Government of the USA Report on the Examination 2150 June 2015 Version: 0.1
Further copies of this Report are available from aqa.org.uk Copyright 2015 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.
GOV4A The Government of the USA General Comments Most students found the questions accessible and thus, as in past years, there were very few weak scripts. However, there was evidence that many centres focus only on two topics, for the most part, Topic 1 and Topic 4. While this combination is understandable given the role of the Supreme Court in the US Constitution, such narrowing of the programme of study does not always work to the benefit of students as there is a tendency to rehash material rather than address the questions as set. Some responses were outstanding in terms of both their knowledge and understanding of recent developments in US government, often supported by references to recent research. Yet too many scripts relied on dated knowledge and examples which then resulted in dated analysis. Nevertheless, it was good to note that more students on both the Constitution and the Court went beyond the Bill of Rights as this has been raised as a matter of concern in previous reports. Some responses were very impressive in terms of fluency and maturity of writing and these students engaged with the subtle nuances of the questions rather than resort to pre-packaged, largely descriptive commentaries. In contrast, more modest responses still employed their own versions of shorthand and homespun abbreviations and this should be discouraged. In a similar vein, some students were still writing far too much on government in the UK, presumably in an effort to be synoptic, but the resulting responses were too comparative with insufficient focus on the US. Topic 1 The Constitutional Framework of US Government Question 1 Most students understood the concept of the separation of the powers, provided some knowledge of the philosophical backdrop and then defined the 'powers' in terms of the branches of the federal government. The spelling of Montesquieu remained problematic but more worrying were the scripts which defined the legislature as the Congress and the Senate. Sound answers went onto examine separation in terms of US government today rather than an historical overview. Here most referred to separation in terms of personnel citing the resignations of Obama, Clinton and Kerry from the Senate on joining the executive branch. Only top responses looked at the concept in terms of the rise of political parties. Here the protection it was supposed to effect was placed in the context of united government under GW Bush where one breach in separation, the vice president's role in the Senate, was fully utilised by Cheney. Only a handful of students examined the problems caused by the increasing trend towards divided government with the rise of hyper-partisanship. Some students did not focus closely on the question as set but preferred to write at length about federalism or checks and balances. Question 2 This produced some outstanding responses where students clearly addressed the idea that the Constitution was designed to resist change by explaining the Framers' aims, followed by a thorough examination of Article V and its strengths and weaknesses as well as the actual processes involved. For weaker students, there was still some confusion about ratification although top answers stressed the exclusive role of the states in a federal system of government. While some knew and evaluated the failure of recent proposals, there was some glibness about Amendments XIII, XIV and XV and the alleged 'ease' of constitutional change which ignored the 3 of 6
historical reality of a bloody civil war and then the civil rights movement. Weak answers tended to focus at great length and to limited effect on either Amendment II or VIII or both. Sound answers then explored the role of the Court, judicial review and the occasional ambiguity of constitutional draftmanship which left room for interpretation, such as the 'elastic clause'; but weak answers assumed all the Constitution was ambiguous and therefore open to change. When it came to judicial review, the usual landmark loose constructionist rulings of Brown and Roe were cited but top responses referred to rulings on the different phases of federalism and on executive power. Very few responses examined congressional legislation which has enhanced constitutional rights such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. While very competent answers explored the constitution's ability to evolve through conventions in developments such as the State of the Union Address, congressional committees and EXOP, weaker candidates tried to reproduce the answer to last year's question. Topic 2 The Legislative Branch of Government: US Congress Question 3 This produced some competent responses although the topic itself was not the most popular. Most students were able to define bicameralism and then described the two assemblies in the US legislature and the differences between them, largely in terms of numbers and terms in office. Better responses briefly evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of bicameralism in a US context and top answers engaged with the concepts behind representing people or representing states as an on-going source of debate today. Although comparisons to the UK Parliament were worthy of some credit, some were far too lengthy. Question 4 Although most responses showed some relevant knowledge, the focus in a large number of answers was on the passage of legislation and the House of Representatives. Some of these answers then drifted into a discussion of the various legislative stages, often in a highly descriptive way but with very few actual examples. Nevertheless, sound students discussed the decline in the use of conference committees and the reasons for it in terms of greater congressional party partisanship. There was some confusion about the differences between standing and select committees but the few who dealt with oversight competently used sound examples, with special reference to the 2014 report of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the attack on US diplomatic outposts in Benghazi and its criticisms of both the State Department and the intelligence community. Very few students examined the role of senatorial committees in terms of the Senate's special powers of 'advice and consent' and yet very often the same students would write at length in a later answer about the politicisation of Supreme Court nomination process. Topic 3 The Executive Branch of Government Question 5 This question was generally well done and some sound answers gave an impressive range of examples. Most referred to Eisenhower's comments on a military-industrial complex but only top answers clearly put iron triangles within the context of presidential authority and presidential frustration. Sound answers used terminology such as clientelism and parochialism effectively and some clearly understood the 'revolving door' of Washington politics. Too often weaker answers only knew two of the three components of the triangles with congressional committees getting the 4 of 6
least coverage. There was an element of exaggeration as to the universality of such triangles in US government and little if no reference to the work of Helco or Mitnick. Question 6 While this produced some high quality responses, most were better on EXOP than cabinet and thus there was an element of imbalance in the coverage of both institutions. Nevertheless, most students were ready to compare their relative importance and power coming in general down on the side of EXOP but with sound analysis and evaluation as to why this was and then examined the tension between the institutionalised presidency and the cabinet and the tendency towards duplication and resentment by some cabinet members. Very competent answers were able to refer to specific individuals and institutions within EXOP, most especially the pivotal role played by chiefs of staff, the NSC and the OMB. Weaker answers wrote generally about the West Wing. Very competent answers went onto explore the relative importance of individual cabinet members and the power of leading players like Hillary Clinton while some referred to Eric Holder's willingness to keep West Wing officials in their place by virtue of his friendship with the president. A few acknowledged the key importance of some vice presidents like Cheney and Biden in this context. Only one or two students appeared to know that presidents can and do come full circle and promote trusted colleagues from EXOP to cabinet posts, often in their second term as with Nixon and Kissinger, Bush and Rice, and Obama and Lew. Some very weak answers interpreted the EXOP as the president per se and therein followed a rather confused discussion of presidential versus cabinet authority showing no understanding of the US executive but considerable confusion with that of the UK. Topic 4 The Judicial Branch of Government: The Supreme Court Question 7 This produced some very well-informed answers and most students broadly defined activism and restraint and then went onto to examine strict and loose constructionism. There were some excellent examples of both landmark rulings and justices, past and present, sometimes supported by relevant brief quotes about living and dead constitutions. Some students obviously wished to pursue this as a 30 mark answer but students should be warned of the problems caused by lengthy responses to 10 mark questions in the overall context of time management. Top marks were awarded to those who recognised that courts and justices often defy such labels and several cited rulings from the allegedly conservative Roberts Court which have been loose constructionist, often to the benefit of US corporations. Question 8 This was relatively well answered especially in the way students explained the issue of constitutional separation but too many essays were imbalanced when it came to the 'political battle.' Quite rightly, nearly all answers explored the increasing politicisation of the appointments process but not all went onto to assess how far all justices lived up to presidential expectations or, indeed, how far all judges were always predictable in their behaviour. Some did refer to Warren and Eisenhower but few knew about the relative unpredictability of 'swing' justices. There was a tendency, as in previous years, to dismiss the Court as 'politicians in robes' particularly the current Court which seems to excite student wrath on campaign finance and gun ownership. While sound responses did rightly examine the controversy surrounding pivotal landmark rulings, largely in the past, only top answers cited examples where courts have exercised restraint by refusing controversial cases on the 'right to die' and Schiavo or have upheld precedent as with Rehnquist, Dickerson and Miranda rights. Again most acknowledged the politics of Bush vs Gore 5 of 6
but only very sound responses pointed out that most cases that reach the Court are, by their very nature, politically controversial and accusations against the Court's alleged bias often reflects the disappointment of the losing side. Top answers pointed out that while the Roberts Court had used its power often to the benefit of corporate America, it had upheld Obamacare and in the autumn of 2014 had taken a restrained and arguably liberal approach to cases against gay marriage. Competent responses stressed that the Court was 'outside the political battle' in the sense that it could not enforce its rulings and many rulings were unanimous or 8:1 proving its role as a judicial institution. Nevertheless, very sophisticated answers were still critical of some rulings like Shelby County vs Holder by pointing out whatever the judicial case for the dropping of the pre-clearance clauses in the context of Amendment X, the political ramifications of the decision were already resulting in the re-introduction of tougher voter registration rules in some states to the disadvantage of minority groups. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 6 of 6