Original teaching material. Check the course coverage gaps and your school’s current specification before using it for assessment. · ⁨Matériel pédagogique original. Vérifiez les lacunes en couverture du cours et la spécification actuelle de votre établissement avant de l'utiliser pour une évaluation.⁩

IB global politics first assessment 2026

Use the 2026 core/thematic model and HL stimulus paper, not the retired 2017 HL presentation. School approves a safe, non-partisan engagement and bounded case selection.

SL: Paper 1 75 min 30%, Paper 2 90 min 40%, engagement project 30%. HL: Paper 1 75 min 20%, Paper 2 90 min 30%, stimulus Paper 3 90 min 30%, engagement project 20%.

Core · Power, legitimacy and source analysis

Power includes capacity to shape actions and agendas. Legitimacy concerns accepted justification for authority.

A source has a perspective and purpose; identify its claim before evaluating its evidence.

Checked example

Compare the organizations' formal rights with their ability to commission research and set meeting agendas.

This separates rule-based authority from practical influence and shows where another actor might challenge a decision.

Limits and practice

Do not treat legitimacy as popularity alone, or assume a source is false because it has an interest.

Explain how origin, purpose and content affect the claim's usefulness for your question.

What best demonstrates agenda-setting power?

Answer: An actor's ability to decide which issues receive consideration.

Thematic studies · Rights, development, sustainability and peace

Rights and justice concern entitlements and fair treatment; development and sustainability concern well-being over time.

Peace is more than the absence of direct violence: institutions and unequal access can sustain tensions.

Checked example

Map the actors' needs and responsibilities. Compare a negotiated access agreement with a restriction imposed without consultation.

Explain which conditions could make each option durable, fair and enforceable.

Limits and practice

A single case is not proof that every conflict has the same cause.

State the relevant concept, evidence and counter-perspective before reaching a judgement.

What makes a peace agreement more durable in the resource case?

Answer: Credible enforcement and arrangements that address the parties' underlying needs.

Engagement project · Engagement and reflective research

Engagement brings experience into inquiry but must be complemented by research.

Ask whose perspective you heard, whose was missing and how your own role affected access and interpretation.

Checked example

With school approval, attend a permitted consultation or interview responsible staff about access arrangements. Compare the experience with policy documents and users' voluntary accounts.

Analyse power and competing needs, then reflect on what the evidence cannot establish.