Global Politics: Gateways to success

Robert Murphy
In the following article, Robert Murphy explains five ways in which students
can become successful Global Politics learners. Successful candidates will
begin doing these things from the very first day of lessons and private study.
These tips will help students to reach the highest level and include habits
and skills that are relevant to the written exams, the engagement activity
and the Higher Level presentations.

1. Focus on the key concepts

For each of the four core units of the course, there are four key concepts. Think of these as the
foundations on which everything in the course is built. At least one key concept, and very often more than
one, will be relevant to every essay question, EA or Higher Level presentation.

Unit 1 Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

Power, Sovereignty, Human Rights Development Peace and Conflict
International Relations
Power Justice Inequality Peace
Sovereignty Equality Globalisation Conflict
Interdependence Human rights Development Violence
Legitimacy Liberty Sustainability Non-violence

None of the key concepts should be overlooked or glossed over; they are all important and should be
given equal attention. Think about the links between concepts from the start. Look throughout the course
for examples and debates where key concepts link together. For example, never examine the concept of
‘sovereignty’ in isolation from key concepts in other units.
Successful candidates will be able to:

• define each key concept very clearly and comprehensively

• understand, explain and analyse how each key concept works in modern global politics, and the
global political challenges associated with them

• understand, explain and analyse how each of the key concepts interact with other relevant key
concepts in the core units

• analyse how their engagement activity and/or Higher Level presentations relate to the key concepts
Above all, analysis and evaluation of relevant key concepts must be front and centre of every student’s
essays or presentations in each component of the internal and external assessments.

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Consider, for example, the key concept of sovereignty. When defining any key concept, try to open up
‘gateways’ from your definition into clear sub-categories, which cover every aspect of that concept. For
example, the over-arching idea of ‘sovereignty’ opens up gateways into the ideas of internal, external and
responsible sovereignty. Studying and revising the key concepts in this way ensures that you are less likely
to miss an important aspect of the concept when responding to an examination question.

 Sovereignty 
Clear and comprehensive definition:
States are sovereign when they exercise supreme control over what happens in their borders.

Internal – the ability of states
to govern themselves internally,
usually with a high degree of
independence and free from
external interference.
Sub-categories or ‘gateways’:
External – the ability of states
to be recognised by, and have
relationships with, other states.
Responsible – the idea that states
have a responsibility to their own
population which, if disregarded,
raises the possibility that other
states may intervene to protect that
population.

What are the global political Which other key concepts in How might an engagement
challenges associated with other core units interact with activity or Higher Level
this key concept? (this is not this key concept? (this is not presentation relate to this key
exhaustive) exhaustive) concept? (this is not exhaustive)

Sovereignty is a global politicalHuman rights – global HL presentation – membership

challenge due to… and regional human rights of IGOs and their impact on
agreements often challenge sovereignty. Case studies could
• Economic globalisation and
state sovereignty. For example, be tailored to fit the student’s
the increase in movement
the International Criminal Court home state and IGOs of which
of people, goods and
and the European Court of it is a member (eg. European
services
Human Rights. Students should Union, ASEAN, African Union,
• Political globalisation and evaluate which institutions Gulf Cooperation Council, North
the increase in powerful challenge state sovereignty American Free Trade Area) and the
international organisations the most, and which of the impact it has on state sovereignty.
competing ideals of state
• The notion of
sovereignty or global human
Engagement activity – an
‘Responsibility to Protect’ investigation could be carried out
rights is, in reality, most
(R2P) into how a state makes decisions
powerful.
about major national infrastructure
• The unilateral actions of
projects that impact on a local
powerful states (eg. the
community. What does this tell
United States and Iraq
the student about how the state
in 2003, or Russia and
governs itself internally and
Ukraine in 2014).
responds to the competing needs
of its population?

2. Use rich and diverse contemporary examples/evidence

The best examination responses have plenty of detailed and varied examples that are relevant to the
question asked. Examples are not left to speak for themselves but are explicitly linked to the question,
showing why the candidate has used them. Using at least two different examples to support an argument
is always more convincing than relying on a single example.
An effective paragraph structure in a Global Politics essay is to follow the ‘PEAL’ structure below.

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 Essay question: ‘Examine the claim that the importance of military power is diminishing in
modern global politics.’

The candidate uses the following paragraph outline, arguing that military power is not diminishing.

P Point Military power still invested in and used extensively by states to

deal with global (and internal) threats.
Evidence / Examples United States, NATO allies and Russia still engaged in significant
military conflicts.

E
Global War on Terror (conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq)
Conflicts since the Arab Uprisings (Libya and Syria)
Conflict internally in Nigeria, Somalia, Mali has been met with a
military response.
Analyse / Evaluate Military power used for diverse range of reasons (national security,

A responsibility to protect, offensive and defensive realism). The

effectiveness of military power has been questionable in each case.
Inconclusive outcomes. Domestic publics increasingly sceptical.

L Link back to question

(or ‘mini-conclusion’)
Military power still used by powerful states and therefore
important, even if used reluctantly and with questionable success.

Some students find it difficult to remember good examples to use to back up points. A helpful strategy
is to create an ‘examples log’ from the beginning of the course, populating a table similar to the template
below.

Key concept Prescribed content Good examples to use

linked to this concept

3. Be an active and analytical reader of global political news

It is essential that candidates begin reading the news from the beginning of the course and develop a
passion for keeping up to date with global political developments. There are a number of international
publications and news outlets which are suitable. Beyond this, candidates will need to identify suitable
news media in their own countries or native language.
The best approach to news reading is to keep a ‘news diary’ from the beginning of the course. Aim to read
three high quality global politics news articles every week and note down the following things after you
have read each article.

• 3 new things you have learned from the article

• At least 2 key concepts that the article is related to, explaining why
• What is the global political challenge that the article is discussing?
Keep a record of your news reading in an organised format in which you can take some pride. For example,
in a hardback notebook or in a dedicated Word document that you keep up to date throughout the course.
During a two year course, it is fascinating to refer back to events some months on and evaluate how they
have moved on.
Students may wish to combine their news reading with their study of a modern language elsewhere in the
IB Diploma, in consultation with their modern languages teacher, by reading national newspapers in the
target language online.
Students should make sure they access a diverse range of news websites from across the world. This is
very helpful when trying to analyse ‘different viewpoints’, particularly when investigating specific case
studies in the Higher Level extension.

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4. Root your responses in relevant theory
The best examination responses, engagement activities and Higher Level presentations are quick to
identify the ‘theory opportunity’ in any analysis. For example, many essay questions have some theoretical
debate implied in the question, but not expressed. The best candidates will spot the opportunity to
include theory in their analysis. For example, when asked ‘is modern global politics characterised more
by conflict or cooperation’, the question is – in part, at least – asking whether global politics is based
more around realism (recognising that conflict is sometimes necessary) or liberalism (preferring peaceful
cooperation and dispute resolution). The most sophisticated responses will recognise divisions even within
certain schools of thought (for example, the difference between offensive and defensive realism).

5. Become a moderate and pragmatic political analyst

The most effective students of IB Diploma Global Politics are those who are focused on becoming
moderate, balanced and pragmatic political analysts. There is a difference between being a politician
(holding firm, usually one-sided and passionate views) and being a political analyst (seeing both sides
of an argument). Some students become very passionate about, for example, the weaknesses of the
International Criminal Court and can be prone to over-using emotive adjectives (‘useless’ or ‘toothless’)
where it would be better to properly explain its weaknesses more moderately, using specific examples
rather than adjectives. In most cases, there will be an argument for the defence.

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