Start practising with past papers early; don’t ‘save’ them for later – you learn from mistakes
For maths, practise a variety of problems and learn when to apply each technique
For maths, practise a variety of problems and learn when to apply each technique
Start practising with past papers early; don’t ‘save’ them for later – you learn from mistakes
8 subtopics
Stakeholders and actors
• States
• Subnational and local governments
• Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs)
• Organized civil society (including non-governmental organizations (NGOs))
• Private actors/companies
• Social movements
• Resistance movements
• Political parties
• Interest and pressure groups
• Political leaders
• Formal and informal political forums
• The media
• Other individual and collective actors
Systems—structures and dynamics
Legal frameworks, norms and institutions
Definitions and ways of understanding power
Classifications of power
Types of power
• Hard, soft and smart power
• Structural and relational power
• Economic, political, social and cultural power
• Power to, power over, power with
Nature of state sovereignty
• Traditional and modern notions of state sovereignty
• Sources of sovereignty
• Internal and external dimensions of sovereignty
Challenges to state sovereignty
Sources of state legitimacy, including government legitimacy
Challenges to state and government legitimacy
Sources of legitimacy of non-state actors
Legitimation processes and loss of legitimacy of political actors
Global governance and international law
Participation of IGOs and non-state actors in global governance
Cooperation and competition between political actors
Treaties, collective security, strategic alliances, economic cooperation
Global interactions and networks
The UN
Achievements and limitations of the UN
General structure, roles and functions of the UN, including the UN Charter, General Assembly and Security Council
Theories, models and analytical frameworks in global politics
Use and applicability of theories and models to political issues
Bias and limitations of theories and models
14 subtopics
Rights
Justice, including political and social
Liberty
Equality
The state and national governments
IGOs, including ICJ, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHRC, ICC
Regional human rights tribunals
Civil society organizations, including advocacy
Marginalized, vulnerable or most affected groups and individuals
Private companies and unions
Codification, protection and monitoring
International and regional rights frameworks, including UN system and 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Development of world norms in rights and justice, including R2P
Responses to violations of rights and perceived injustices
Diverse standards and understandings of rights
Politicization of rights and justice
Claims on individual and collective rights
14 subtopics
Development
Sustainability
Poverty
Inequality
State, national and local governments and agencies
Civil society, including grassroots initiatives
International governmental organizations, including international financial institutions
Marginalized, vulnerable or most affected groups and individuals
Transnational and multinational companies (TNCs and MNCs)
Dimensions and assessment of development and sustainability
Pathways towards development and sustainability
Economic, environmental, political, social and institutional factors
Links between development and sustainability
Globalization and development and sustainability
Sustainable development
Alternative views on development and sustainability
14 subtopics
Peace, including positive and negative
Conflict, including latent and overt
Violence, including direct, structural and cultural
Non-violence
Parties to conflict
Violent and non-violent state and non-state actors
Third parties, including mediation processes, negotiation processes and interventions
Marginalized, vulnerable and most affected groups and individuals, including non-combatants
Conflict dynamics
Causes of conflict: identity, ideology, interests, resources, socio-economic divisions, institutional arrangements
Types of conflict: inter-, intra-, non- and extra-state conflicts
Peacemaking, including negotiations and treaties
Peacekeeping
Peacebuilding, including reconciliation processes and justice institutions
Justifications of violence in conflict, including cultural, legal and religious justifications
Legitimacy of non-violent and violent protests
Effectiveness of peacebuilding efforts
14 subtopics
Many environmental problems transcend national boundaries, and the activities of one country can have a direct impact on multiple countries.
Mitigation of and responses to climate change and other such global environmental challenges involve and require international political cooperation and action.
The depletion of natural resources in the face of growing populations and increasingly resource-heavy lifestyles across the globe raises many political issues. This is also a source of increasing political tensions.
The compatibility of economic growth and sustainable development is debated at all levels of politics.
The impact of globalization and economic integration on poverty, or cooperation between states and non-state actors in initiatives to address poverty.
There are particularly strong links to the thematic area “Development and sustainability”, with its emphasis on the concept of inequality.
Experience of poverty can also be approached from a human rights perspective, and poverty plays a significant role in some conflicts.
The function and impact of local and national initiatives to improve public health, compared with the role of global actors such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or international NGOs.
Epidemics travel across borders and require international cooperation.
Health is an important determinant of quality of life, and the health issues from which people suffer in different parts of the world are indicative of wider socio-economic contexts.
In a more interconnected, complex world, people may become more conscious of and interested in their own identities, including in ways that have political implications.
For example, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA (2001), increasing attention has been given to the significance of cultural and religious identity in global politics.
The identities of women and ethnic minorities can be similarly political, with debates in many societies about the appropriate line between the private and public spheres of life.
Media coverage of how cases of genocide and ethnic violence are treated in international justice institutions point to the role identity can play in some of the most horrific conflicts of recent times. There are particularly strong links between this topic and the thematic area “Rights and justice”, i.e. human rights.
“Borders” may be physical borders between countries but also less obvious but equally influential borders of, for example, social class, ethnicity, gender.
Sometimes it is not the existence of borders that may be regarded as a political challenge but rather a lack thereof: an example might be the cross-border movement of capital or treatment of labour.
Migration is closely linked to the concept of globalization as physical borders between nations are increasingly reduced.
Immigration is a controversial and topical issue in many countries, and political backlashes to immigration are widespread in the face of changing and unstable economic conditions.
Many conflicts have a dimension related to borders of various kinds; often, human rights are violated in crossing borders, e.g. human trafficking.
Many of the topics, political issues and key concepts encountered in the core topics and the thematic studies are central to discussions of security.
For example, discussions of sovereignty, military power, wars between and within states, arms proliferation, and the activities of non-state actors all have clear links to security.
There are particularly strong links between this topic and the theme “Peace and conflict”. However, security also has cultural, social and economic dimensions. Issues such as food, water and energy security have increasingly material ramifications in global politics.
Human rights violations can be viewed as attacks on individuals' fundamental sense of security. Furthermore, in an uncertain world, political actors may sometimes try to benefit from people's sense of insecurity.
The topic of equality is highly relevant to the study of global politics. It affects the ways states, groups and individuals interact with each other, and how they approach issues such as trade, development and security.
In political systems, inequality can create power imbalances, which can result in conflict or the exploitation of vulnerable stakeholders.
For example, economic inequality can lead to social and political instability, which can have far-reaching consequences beyond national borders.
Moreover, equality is central to rights and social justice, as well as development. In relation to cultural and national identities, equality might be promoted along with diversity.
Technology has transformed the way political actors interact. One of the most evident changes has been in communication and information dissemination.
The internet and social media have revolutionized the way people connect and communicate, making it easier for individuals and groups to organize and mobilize across national borders.
This has led to new forms of political activism, such as online protests and social media campaigns, which can have significant impacts on global politics.
Technological advances have also given rise to new forms of power and influence. For example, states with advanced cyber capabilities can use these to engage in espionage, disrupt critical infrastructure and conduct propaganda campaigns.
This has led to concerns about cyberwarfare and the need for international norms and regulations to govern behaviour in cyberspace.
Organised according to the official IBDP curriculum structure.
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