About This Subject
This subject is not mainly a knowledge-based subject like Biology, History or Geography.
A student is not expected to memorise detailed facts about climate change, migration, healthcare, sport, technology and all the other syllabus topics. Cambridge states that the topics provide contexts in which students develop skills, while knowledge of topic content is not assessed. It also says students are not expected to have experience of every topic.
1: Core Concepts And Global Perspectives Skills
2: Research Methods, Evidence And Source Evaluation
3: Written Exam Preparation
4: The Individual Report
5: The Team Project
6: Global Topics 1–8
7: Global Topics 9–15
8: Global Topics 16–22
9: Practice Tasks, Model Responses And Checklists
This feature has been disabled by the administrator
Learning Objectives
- Classify causes as immediate, underlying, direct or indirect.
- Analyse consequences across time, place and stakeholder groups.
- Generate more than one realistic course of action.
- Evaluate actions using clear criteria and evidence.
Key Terms
- Immediate cause
- A factor closely connected in time to an event or problem.
- Underlying cause
- A deeper condition that makes the problem more likely or difficult to solve.
- Consequence
- An effect or result of an issue or action.
- Course of action
- A practical step intended to improve, reduce or resolve an issue.
- Feasibility
- How realistic an action is given available money, time, skills, law and public support.
- Sustainability
- Whether an action can continue and meet present needs without causing unacceptable future harm.
- Unintended consequence
- An effect that was not planned and may be positive or negative.
Analysing Causes
Global issues rarely have a single cause. Immediate causes may trigger a problem, while underlying causes explain why the situation developed. Air pollution, for example, may rise during a period of still weather, but underlying causes may include transport systems, fuel choices, industrial regulation and urban planning.
Causes may also interact. Poverty can limit access to education, while limited education can reduce employment opportunities and continue poverty. A strong analysis explains relationships rather than listing factors.
Analysing Consequences
Consequences can be short-term or long-term, direct or indirect, intended or unintended. They may be social, economic, political, health-related or environmental. The same consequence can be experienced differently by different groups.
When analysing impact, consider scale, severity, duration and distribution. A policy that creates a small average benefit may still harm a vulnerable minority. National economic gains may be concentrated in one region.
Designing Courses Of Action
A course of action should identify who will act, what they will do, where and when it will happen, and how success will be measured. General statements such as “raise awareness” are incomplete until the audience, method and intended behavioural change are explained.
Different actors can take action: individuals, schools, businesses, local authorities, national governments and international organisations. Combining actions may be more effective than relying on one response.
Criteria For Evaluation
Useful criteria include likely effectiveness, feasibility, cost, speed, fairness, sustainability, acceptability and unintended consequences. Criteria should be applied rather than merely named. Evidence from similar policies can help predict impact.
The best action is not always the one with the greatest possible effect. A highly ambitious plan may fail if it lacks funding or support. A modest action may be more realistic but insufficient for the scale of the issue.
Worked Example: Reducing Food Waste
Possible causes include over-purchasing, confusing date labels, strict cosmetic standards, poor storage and weak distribution. Consequences include wasted money, unnecessary land and water use, and greenhouse-gas emissions from disposal.
Actions could include clearer labels, retailer donation systems, household education, improved cold storage and charging businesses for avoidable waste. A judgement should compare who controls each cause, implementation cost and measurable reductions rather than choosing the most dramatic idea.
Common Mistakes
- Listing causes without explaining how they produce the issue.
- Describing consequences only for one stakeholder group.
- Proposing an action without identifying who will carry it out.
- Calling an action effective without considering cost, feasibility or unintended effects.
Knowledge Check
1. What is the difference between an immediate and an underlying cause?
Answer: An immediate cause is closely connected to the event, while an underlying cause is a deeper condition that makes the problem likely or persistent.
2. Name four useful criteria for evaluating an action.
Answer: Any four of effectiveness, feasibility, cost, speed, fairness, sustainability, acceptability and unintended consequences.
3. Why should consequences be analysed by stakeholder?
Answer: Average effects can hide that some groups benefit while others experience greater harm.
4. What makes a course of action specific?
Answer: It identifies the actor, action, place or target, timing and a way to measure success.
