Revision & Exam Practice for the “legacy” A Level qualifications including:

• Edexcel (Unit 3C – Representative Processes in the USA, Unit 4C – Governing the USA)
• AQA (Unit 3A – The Politics of the USA, Unit 4A – The Government of the USA)
• OCR (F855 – US Government & Politics)

REVISE THE US CONSTITUTION

How to use these questions for revision and exam practice:

1. For short-answer questions, write a 3 paragraph response using the PEEACH paragraph structure (P=point, E=evidence, E=explain, A=argument, C=counter argument, H=how does this answer the question?)
2. Once you have completed your question, read the indicative content and the mark scheme.
3. Complete the “Make It Better” (MIB) Task:
   1. Highlight the parts of the indicative content your were able to fully explain and exemplify in green.
   2. Highlight the parts of the indicative content you partially explained and/or exemplified in yellow.
   3. Highlight the parts of the indicative content which you did not include in red.
4. Using the mark scheme, award yourself a level and a mark – compare this to your target grade – are you on track to achieve this in the examination?
5. There is also a space for you to add additional notes and/or examples that don’t appear in the indicative content, or add better explanations, or include additional, points from the indicative content.

What is the separation of powers, and does it help or hinder the US system of government? (15)

Indicative Content

• the separation of powers is the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial functions of governments
• the US system is commonly held to exemplify the separation of powers, although the extensive checks and balances created by the constitution has diluted the degree of separation and led to the system being described as ‘separated institutions sharing powers’
• most significant for the operation of the system is the separation of personnel, meaning no individual can be a member of more than one branch Consequences:
• the separation of powers is a safeguard against tyranny as no individual or group is able to dominate the political system through control of more than one branch
• it has the consequence that members of Congress are not elected on a joint mandate as members of a prospective government, as would be the case in a parliamentary system, but to represent the interests of their districts and states, and on a separate mandate from the president
• arguably this is a hindrance, as the president only has limited influence over Congress, and this creates the potential for gridlock and contributes to the weakening of parties
• arguably it is a positive, since legislation is the product of compromise and consensus and it is therefore better founded than, for example, legislation whipped through the House of Commons
• the weakness of parties creates more opportunities for pressure groups to exercise influence
• a separated judiciary is able to keep an effective check on both the other branches