A Level Politics Exam Questions by Topic

A student has been asked: 'Explain the conservative view of human nature.' Plan an answer that uses Thomas Hobbes accurately.

1. Identify the command word: 'Explain' requires a clear point plus development, not just a list of adjectives.
2. State the core claim: conservatives see human nature as imperfect, limited and driven by fear and self-interest rather than as essentially rational and good.
3. Bring in Hobbes precisely: in the state of nature, without government, competition for scarce resources and fear of violent death lead to a war of every man against every man, so life is 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short'.
4. Draw the political conclusion Hobbes reaches: because people cannot be trusted to restrain themselves, they need an absolute sovereign (the Leviathan) established by a social contract to impose order.
5. Link the point to conservatism more broadly: this pessimism about unrestrained human reason is why conservatives value strong authority, established institutions and tradition over abstract plans for a better society.
6. Close by noting a limit: later conservatives such as Burke keep Hobbes's pessimism about human reason but reject his absolute sovereign in favour of organic, gradually evolved institutions.