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Year 12 pupil awarded Highly Commended for Politics essay

Posted on: March 17th 2023School News

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Congratulations to year 12 pupil Geza who has been awarded 'Highly Commended' for his entry into the Politics category of the North Eastern University London essay competition.

Geza wrote an essay titled ‘What would have to change about ‘democracy’ in order to restore faith in democracy among young people’.

He commented about his experiences of the competition: “I first heard about the competition from the Northeastern University London website, which listed a small selection of titles from various categories, ranging from philosophy, to history, to even psychology. Despite also being interested in some of the other categories, I eventually decided to enter the Politics category, answering the question “What would have to change about ‘democracy’ in order to restore faith in democracy among young people?”, which particularly appealed to me in its combination of philosophical, sociological, and political topics.

“Initially, my research stemmed from my knowledge of the attitudes towards democracy in populist-ruled countries, particularly focussing on Hungary, where I am from, and the influence effected by Orban through his techniques in campaigning and marketing his interests. Following on from this, I explored other populist politicians around the world, and classified the differences in political attitudes between these nations and more ‘conventional’ democracies, including that of the UK. I found it interesting to contrast these two approaches, and particularly attempting to map that onto its potential impacts on youth interest and participation in politics.

“Another facet of my research dealt with the psychological and sociological aspect of this question: that is, what exactly is it that discourages young people from participating in politics in the first place? What factors are there, and to what extent could they be modified? In conjunction with the real-world examples, I sought to combine a psychoanalytical approach with political theory in order to construct a model of the various elements at play, including the potential feeling of hopelessness and disregard from the current system. This could also be connected to the potential solutions to these issues - the other component of the question - as these factors are real-world flaws in the implementation of these political structures, and thus ones that we could, at least in theory, hone and improve upon.

“Nonetheless, once the magnitude and sources of the problem itself had been identified, suggesting better alternatives is still difficult: democracy will inevitably carry with it the discontent of the losing minority; however, as I attempted to argue in my essay, there are still ways to mitigate this disagreement through better communication and more direct involvement of the people in reaching conclusions of decisions. However, modern states do also have valid, practical reasons for not implementing such alternative arrangements, and these factors cannot be disregarded either!”

He concluded: “Overall, I very much enjoyed taking part in this competition, and the process of planning and writing this essay sparked many conversations and discussions with my peers that greatly contributed to the finished product. Studying politics after MGS is definitely of interest to me, so the opportunity to explore my ideas in competitions like these is always fun.”

Well done to Geza from everyone at MGS!