ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by introducing ideas about power, its nature and function, through an extended role play of an imaginary community of teenagers. Pupils learn to correctly use terms such as democratic, fair, just, equal. They learn how power is shared within real political systems and about the history of the struggle for the franchise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Pupils find out about the function of voting in democracies, about increasing political apathy and reflect on its causes. They discuss the challenges facing minorities within democracies. They find out why some groups oppose the first past the post voting system in the UK in favour of alternatives. Lastly, they find out how government works, including the function of the Cabinet.
