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Template slot
Political Ideas

Liberalism

Strands: Classical, Modern.

Assessed in
Paper 1, Section B
Specification sections
3
Key terms
17
Set thinkers
5

Specification requirements

  • Core ideas and principlesSpecification requirement
    • •Individualism, freedom/liberty, the state, rationalism, equality/social justice and liberal democracy
  • Differing views and tensionsSpecification requirement
    • •Classical liberalism and modern liberalism
  • Liberal thinkers and their ideasSpecification requirement
    • •John Locke, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls and Betty Friedan

Source to checkParaphrased from Pearson’s A level Politics specification, Issue 4 (first teaching September 2026, first assessment June 2028). Requirement detail is entered as each topic is developed.

Current affairs

Parliament

Assisted dying bill passes the Commons but falls in the Lords

The bill shows the legislative process at its most independent of the executive: a backbench bill, a free vote and a neutral government. It also shows the Lords shaping the outcome through prolonged scrutiny rather than a vote of rejection.

20 June 2025 (Commons third reading) · Legislation · ConcludedApproved

Current affairsEach card is a single shared record, linked here by its specification references.Open this topic in Current Affairs

Sources

2 sources cited on this pageShowHide
  1. 1A level Politics specification, Issue 4
    Pearson Edexcel · 2026 · Specification    Opened 4 November 2026
  2. 2Edexcel AS and A level Politics specification amendments
    Pearson · 22 June 2026 · Specification    Opened 4 November 2026