Modern Studies

• Education


  • Most educational funding comes from state and local governments with only 10% of funding coming from the federal government
• Health


  • 21% of Blacks and 42% of Hispanics were uninsured compared to only 13% of Whites and 14% of Asians
• Housing


  • The rate of home ownership in the US in 2022 by Blacks was 45% compared to 74.4% of whites
• Criminal justice


  • In 2022, Blacks made up roughly 13% of the population but about 40% of the prison population
• ESSA-provided over $250 million in allocations for preachad grants
• 7.3% of Hispanic 16-24 dropped out of school in 2021 compared to 2.1% of Whites
• Obamacare-the number of uninsured people, after Obamacare was introduced, steadily declined each year and a 2024 KEF Survey found 3 in 10 people say it has made getting insurance easier
• Estimated 22 million would lose medical insurance if Obamacare were to be repealed
• ARRA-since the act, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created and the country has came out of recession, benefitting the poorest Americans who are Black or Hispanic
• In 2014, African American unemployment was as high as 10.5% in October, but by 2018 this had fallen to 6.8%
• HOME has provided over 415,000 low income families in the past 3 years
• Presidential powers


  • Appointment
  • Commander in chief
  • Proposes bills to congress
  • Power of veto
  • Executive orders
• Appointment


  Joe Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Supreme Court in Feb 2022 and the Senate confirmed and approved her nomination in April 2022
• Commander in chief


  Joe Biden made the decision to pull out the US army cut of Afghanistan in April 21 2021 and they were out by Sep. 2021
• Proposes bills to congress

  The US Congress introduced to cut the green card backlog, potentially aiding towards thousands of Indian immigrants
• Power of veto


  Trump vetoed the iron wars powo resolution bill on May 6 2020 & sustained the veto on May 7 2020
• Executive orders


  Joe Biden has issued 127 executive orders between 2021 to 2023
• Devo Max

  In the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government would have the powers to bring in a lockdown earlier if they wanted to
• Federalism

  During the pandemic Boris Johnson kept making announcements "As Prime Minister of the UK" which only applied to England, which caused confusion as nations didn't know what rules to follow, which made the spread of COVID-19 worse, and federalisation could reduce confusion
• Independence

  The SNP would argue they would spend £200 million more a year on thousands and thousands of nurses, police and teachers than on nuclear weapons, which is a reserved power
• In a YouGov poll in 2021, 65% of respondents voted against abolishing the Scottish Parliament
• Ways to hold the government to account

  • Debates
  • Committees
  • Questions
• Question Time

  On 8/04/2024, Gordon MacDonald, SNP, asked the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress of UK Government's project gigabit programme in Scotland
• Decision time

  On 18/04/24 decision time was made for Mark Griffin's motion for the Scottish Employment Injury Advisory Council Bill at stage 1 to be agreed, but the motion came to a majority of no and was therefore not put in place
• Ways to influence decision making

  • Voting
  • Standing as a candidate
  • Protesting
  • Social media
  • Pressure groups
  • Petitions
  • Marches
  • Lobbying
  • Blockades
• Voting

  In 2021, Scottish election SNP won with a 47.7% of vote share
• Standing as a candidate

  In 2021, Scottish election Clare Adamson was re-elected as an MSP for Motherwell & Wishaw (SNP), she was first elected in 2016
• Pressure groups

  The Gurkha Justice Campaign that attracted 250,000 signatures succeeded in detaining improved settlement rights for ex-British Army Gurkhas
• Petitions

  The Gurkha Justice Campaign that attracted 250,000 signatures succeeded in detaining improved settlement rights for ex-British Army Gurkhas
• Marches

  On 16/06/2021, anti lockdown and climate change demonstrated marches through central London in a day of protests
• Lobbying


  Cigar Lobbyists have campaigned for cigars not to be associated with cigarettes. They have lobbied for years to avoid government scrutiny to portray cigars as not harmful
• Blockades


  Just Stop Oil activists shut down sections of the M25 motorway during rush hour on 7/10/2022
• AMS

  In the 2021 Scottish election, Clare Adamson was re-elected as an MSP for Motherwell & Wishaw (SNP), she was first elected in 2016
• STV


  In the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election the DUP had 3 candidates and Alliance had 2 candidates standing in the Belfast East constituency
• Women poorer

  8 million women work in sectors such as health, retail, admin support and food services compared to less than 2 million women working in finance, manufacturing and ICT
• Women's ambition potential goes unrealised

  There are only 10 companies in the FTSE top 100 run by women, this shows a major lack of female representation at CEO level
• Women are more vulnerable

  20% of women are in pensioner poverty compared to only 16% of men
• Measures taken to tackle inequalities

  • Scottish child payment (wealth)
  • PEF (wealth)
  • Sugar tax (wealth)
  • Baby boxes (health)
  • Free school meals (health)
• Scottish child payment (wealth)


  During analysis: 350,000 more children were pulled into relative poverty in 2021-22
• PEF (wealth)

  Primarily funded primary, secondary and special schools will receive an increased £1225 in 2024