Model Essay Answers:
AQA A-Level Politics 7152: A* Ideologies Essays [Paper 3]
Section B Extract Questions 25 Markers
● Conservatism - Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the role of the state. In
your answer you should refer to the thinkers you have studied. [24-25/25]
● Liberalism - Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the nature of liberalism in
society. In your answer you should refer to the thinkers that you have studied. [21/25]
● Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments being made in the above extracts as to the significance of social class
within socialism. In your answer you may refer to the thinkers you have studied. [24/25]
Section C Essay Questions 25 Markers
● ‘Legal Equality is the main aim of feminism’. Analyse & Evaluate this statement with reference to the Feminist thinkers
you studied. [23/25]
© 2026 Grades Express
, June 2022- Section B Conservatism Extract Question 25 Marker
Score: [24-25 /25]
Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the role of the state. In your answer you should
refer to the thinkers you have studied. [25 marks]
────────────
Extract 1, presents Rand’s ideas of a limited state, which establishes order and protects individual rights; this view translated to
her support of politicians e.g. Barry Goldwater who favoured decentralised governments. Having fled Soviet Russia during the
Bolshevik Revolution, witnessing firsthand the consequences of collectivism, Rand opposed communism and statism. Living in
Early to Mid-20th Century America’s Keynesian decline, she also supported the rise of capitalism and individualism (seeing both
crucial to human flourishing). Extract 2, also presents the order-preserving role of the state via Oakeshott’s focus on
tradition and criticisms of rationalism and dangers of ideology e.g. Hitler. Living through WWII and European welfare states, the
complexity of modern governance inspired his pragmatic, empirical approaches to the state.
In Extract 1, Rand champions a New-Right, minimal, state which protects negative human rights, namely against violence,
upholding our fundamental right to life. She supported atomism, denouncing altruistic moral codes, as it was rational to
prioritise self-interest over the ‘common good’ for survival -aligning with her theory of ‘ethical egoism’. This complemented
Nozick’s view of rights as side-constraints, with ‘self-ownership’ and individualism becoming compromised by a state’s
socio-economic intervention. She fiercely denied concepts of positive liberty/ rights as it necessitated a violation of the
(property) rights of others as ‘jobs, food, clothing’ etc. ‘don’t grow in nature’ and are instead ‘produced by men’; hence, to
advocate for an enabling state denies the libertarian right to the full fruits of one’s labour as wealth is redistributed. Thus,
Thatcher’s approach ‘rolling back the frontiers’ of the state complemented Rand’s optimistic view of humans as capable of
self-regulation and self-realisation: this due to motivation being reintroduced alongside civil societies (voluntary institutions)
that were ‘crowded out’ by an enlarged state. Alongside, a strong police force safeguarded individual merits and courts
adjudicated disputes that arose from conflicting interests (conforming to Nozicks' Nightwatchman state). Thus, Rand rejected a
completely anarchist state, favouring a minimal one, which more efficiently protected negative rights, enabling pursuits of
self-fulfilment and reversing the parasitic, dependency cultures of both the givers and receivers in welfare states.
In Extract 1, Rand contends a state should provide order, allowing the individual to flourish. An unregulated “Free market
represents the social application of an objective theory of values”; hence, rather than delegating decisions and moral
judgements to elected state officials, individuals could rationally cast votes in a free market via laws of supply/ demand. This
would, morally, induce social justice as a lack of economic intervention by the state meant ‘Independent-thinkers’ prevailed over
‘second-handers’, ‘producers’ over ‘takers’, deservedly growing ‘rich’ as they offered ‘better values’. Redistributive taxation
should be voluntary, else it was considered state enabled ‘theft’; intervention for ‘public interest’ was dangerous as it was, like
the ‘common good’, undefinable, leading to coercion and “tyrannies in history”, with lobbying - to gain redistributive favours-
prevailing. Capitalist problems of booms & bust, monopolies etc., she argued, were the result of state intervention distorting
market signals of the invisible hand, and pure capitalist economies had yet to be established. As a libertarian, the ‘right to
choose’ and objectivist values e.g. honesty of self-expression and self-esteem, to enhance individual freedom, extended to
cultural laissez-faire e.g. leading Rand to support socially liberal causes such as LGBT rights. This contrasted rises of
Anti-permissive social policies e.g. Thatcher's section 28 against teaching homosexuality in schools; hence, Rand denied
traditional conservative paternalistic ideals for the state (which were promoted by Burke) as well as- being an atheist-
Judeo-Christian state morality of NeoConservatives.
By contrast, Oakeshott’s calls for order through the state were to protect against revolutionary sentiment. Unlike Hobbes who
preached a ‘brutish’ human nature and chaotic state of war, Oakeshott viewed humans as ‘fallible’ with no inherent state of
nature. He agreed with Burke's observations of human intellectual flaws and limits of reason. Hence, he opposed rationalism
and utopian ideals promoted by e.g. the French Revolution: the ‘practical knowledge’ of a state’s role was not determined via
‘divine munificence’ or ‘independent premeditation’, rather by pursuing ‘intimations’ from tradition, and analysis of historical
social contracts. Hence, he championed a ‘politics of scepticism’ in the uncertain climate of politics, wherein a state pursues
pragmatic reform rooted in tradition. This approach accepted the human condition could not be rectified, hence attempted to
prevent the bad by establishing order through a state. However, unlike Hobbes’ strong, authoritarian state, Oakeshott’s state
© 2026 Grades Express
AQA A-Level Politics 7152: A* Ideologies Essays [Paper 3]
Section B Extract Questions 25 Markers
● Conservatism - Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the role of the state. In
your answer you should refer to the thinkers you have studied. [24-25/25]
● Liberalism - Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the nature of liberalism in
society. In your answer you should refer to the thinkers that you have studied. [21/25]
● Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments being made in the above extracts as to the significance of social class
within socialism. In your answer you may refer to the thinkers you have studied. [24/25]
Section C Essay Questions 25 Markers
● ‘Legal Equality is the main aim of feminism’. Analyse & Evaluate this statement with reference to the Feminist thinkers
you studied. [23/25]
© 2026 Grades Express
, June 2022- Section B Conservatism Extract Question 25 Marker
Score: [24-25 /25]
Analyse, evaluate and compare the arguments made in the above extracts on the role of the state. In your answer you should
refer to the thinkers you have studied. [25 marks]
────────────
Extract 1, presents Rand’s ideas of a limited state, which establishes order and protects individual rights; this view translated to
her support of politicians e.g. Barry Goldwater who favoured decentralised governments. Having fled Soviet Russia during the
Bolshevik Revolution, witnessing firsthand the consequences of collectivism, Rand opposed communism and statism. Living in
Early to Mid-20th Century America’s Keynesian decline, she also supported the rise of capitalism and individualism (seeing both
crucial to human flourishing). Extract 2, also presents the order-preserving role of the state via Oakeshott’s focus on
tradition and criticisms of rationalism and dangers of ideology e.g. Hitler. Living through WWII and European welfare states, the
complexity of modern governance inspired his pragmatic, empirical approaches to the state.
In Extract 1, Rand champions a New-Right, minimal, state which protects negative human rights, namely against violence,
upholding our fundamental right to life. She supported atomism, denouncing altruistic moral codes, as it was rational to
prioritise self-interest over the ‘common good’ for survival -aligning with her theory of ‘ethical egoism’. This complemented
Nozick’s view of rights as side-constraints, with ‘self-ownership’ and individualism becoming compromised by a state’s
socio-economic intervention. She fiercely denied concepts of positive liberty/ rights as it necessitated a violation of the
(property) rights of others as ‘jobs, food, clothing’ etc. ‘don’t grow in nature’ and are instead ‘produced by men’; hence, to
advocate for an enabling state denies the libertarian right to the full fruits of one’s labour as wealth is redistributed. Thus,
Thatcher’s approach ‘rolling back the frontiers’ of the state complemented Rand’s optimistic view of humans as capable of
self-regulation and self-realisation: this due to motivation being reintroduced alongside civil societies (voluntary institutions)
that were ‘crowded out’ by an enlarged state. Alongside, a strong police force safeguarded individual merits and courts
adjudicated disputes that arose from conflicting interests (conforming to Nozicks' Nightwatchman state). Thus, Rand rejected a
completely anarchist state, favouring a minimal one, which more efficiently protected negative rights, enabling pursuits of
self-fulfilment and reversing the parasitic, dependency cultures of both the givers and receivers in welfare states.
In Extract 1, Rand contends a state should provide order, allowing the individual to flourish. An unregulated “Free market
represents the social application of an objective theory of values”; hence, rather than delegating decisions and moral
judgements to elected state officials, individuals could rationally cast votes in a free market via laws of supply/ demand. This
would, morally, induce social justice as a lack of economic intervention by the state meant ‘Independent-thinkers’ prevailed over
‘second-handers’, ‘producers’ over ‘takers’, deservedly growing ‘rich’ as they offered ‘better values’. Redistributive taxation
should be voluntary, else it was considered state enabled ‘theft’; intervention for ‘public interest’ was dangerous as it was, like
the ‘common good’, undefinable, leading to coercion and “tyrannies in history”, with lobbying - to gain redistributive favours-
prevailing. Capitalist problems of booms & bust, monopolies etc., she argued, were the result of state intervention distorting
market signals of the invisible hand, and pure capitalist economies had yet to be established. As a libertarian, the ‘right to
choose’ and objectivist values e.g. honesty of self-expression and self-esteem, to enhance individual freedom, extended to
cultural laissez-faire e.g. leading Rand to support socially liberal causes such as LGBT rights. This contrasted rises of
Anti-permissive social policies e.g. Thatcher's section 28 against teaching homosexuality in schools; hence, Rand denied
traditional conservative paternalistic ideals for the state (which were promoted by Burke) as well as- being an atheist-
Judeo-Christian state morality of NeoConservatives.
By contrast, Oakeshott’s calls for order through the state were to protect against revolutionary sentiment. Unlike Hobbes who
preached a ‘brutish’ human nature and chaotic state of war, Oakeshott viewed humans as ‘fallible’ with no inherent state of
nature. He agreed with Burke's observations of human intellectual flaws and limits of reason. Hence, he opposed rationalism
and utopian ideals promoted by e.g. the French Revolution: the ‘practical knowledge’ of a state’s role was not determined via
‘divine munificence’ or ‘independent premeditation’, rather by pursuing ‘intimations’ from tradition, and analysis of historical
social contracts. Hence, he championed a ‘politics of scepticism’ in the uncertain climate of politics, wherein a state pursues
pragmatic reform rooted in tradition. This approach accepted the human condition could not be rectified, hence attempted to
prevent the bad by establishing order through a state. However, unlike Hobbes’ strong, authoritarian state, Oakeshott’s state
© 2026 Grades Express
