Political Power (AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies): Exam Questions

Constitutions

Gun crime in the USA is far higher than in most other developed countries including the UK. Many observers feel that this is related to the right ‘to bear arms’, given to US citizens in the US written constitution which was created in 1787. President Obama has been unable to change the laws on gun ownership as there are many US citizens who feel it is their right under the constitution.

Amending laws in the USA is very difficult as the President needs to get the agreement of a majority in Congress to pass any changes to the existing law. At present the President’s party does not have a majority in Congress.

The President also faces the problem that each US state has different rules and laws about gun ownership. If he wanted to amend the constitution about the right ‘to bear arms’, he would face obstacles in each US state they have the power to decide about changes to the US Constitution.

Direct democracy

• Direct democracy is a system of government where all citizens participate in making decisions.
  

• Governments use referendums as a modern form of direct democracy. Citizens are given a direct say in policy decisions.
  

• A recent example is the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU).
  

• The ballot paper asked: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?” Citizens could respond with either: “Remain a member of the EU” or “Leave the EU”.
  

• The referendum resulted in 51.9% of the votes cast being in favour of leaving the EU (Brexit). Referendums are legally non-binding, however, the government of the time promised to implement the result.

Constitutions

The US Constitution is written and codified. This clearly sets out the rights of citizens and the powers of the government. This also means it is not flexible. It has only had 27 amendments since 1787.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right to gun ownership. It states that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed’. This has made it difficult to pass laws to limit and control gun ownership in the US.