Found an issue you can engage with?
Drop it straight into the free Global Politics IA frame. The planning sections are free; unlock the full step-by-step engagement project — engagement evidence, analysis through key concepts and perspectives, evaluation and reflection (and the HL recommendation) — to take it to the top band.
Start this IA in the Global Politics frame →POWER, SOVEREIGNTY & LEGITIMACY
Issues about who holds authority, where it comes from and whether it is accepted — the core of the course, and easy to observe locally.
1 · Should local councils have more power over decisions that central government controls?
Perspectives come from the genuine tension between local and central authority; analysis flows from comparing who actually holds power against who is seen as legitimate, scaling the local case up to debates on devolution and the state.
2 · Does a local protest movement strengthen or undermine democratic legitimacy?
A live case lets you weigh competing claims to legitimacy — the ballot box versus direct action — giving you ready-made perspectives and a rich evaluation of where authority really comes from.
3 · How legitimate is the influence of a local business lobby on planning decisions?
You can observe a real power relationship and the gap between formal and informal authority — a strong springboard for analysing whose interests govern, and for perspectives from pluralist and elite theory.
HUMAN RIGHTS & JUSTICE
Issues that pit rights against other rights, or against the state — naturally contestable and well-served by local charities and advocacy groups.
4 · Do asylum seekers' human rights outweigh a state's right to control its borders?
A genuinely two-sided rights-vs-sovereignty issue; the volunteering gives you lived evidence of the gap between rights on paper and lived reality, while perspectives come from cosmopolitan and statist views.
5 · Is restorative justice a fairer response to youth offending than punishment?
The two justice models supply clear opposing perspectives; your engagement surfaces real evidence about whose voice counts, letting you evaluate fairness rather than simply describe a scheme.
6 · Should access to mental-health support be treated as a human right or a personal matter?
A focused, age-appropriate rights question with strong local engagement; the state-vs-individual framing gives you the multiple perspectives the evaluation criterion rewards.
Ready to turn engagement into analysis?
The Global Politics IA frame walks you through every criterion — and the paid unlock builds your engagement evidence, conceptual analysis, multiple perspectives and evaluation into one export-ready report.
Open the Global Politics IA frame →DEVELOPMENT & INEQUALITY
Issues about who benefits, who is left behind, and how growth is shared — strong for stakeholder interviews and local-to-global scaling.
7 · Does tourism in my region develop the community or exploit it?
Multiple stakeholders give you ready-made perspectives; you can analyse uneven benefit and dependency, then scale the local case up to global debates on development models.
8 · Is the local gender pay gap a matter for the state or the market to fix?
A contestable state-vs-market issue with clear opposing perspectives (liberal feminist vs market-liberal); interviews plus data give you genuine evidence to evaluate rather than assert.
9 · Does a local food-aid response solve poverty or mask a failure of the state?
The classic worked-example issue: volunteering gives first-hand evidence of need and a real tension between charity and entitlement, and the state-vs-individual framing carries the whole evaluation.
10 · Should access to the internet be treated as a basic right in tackling inequality?
A modern, contestable issue where you can observe exclusion directly; perspectives run from rights-based to market-based, supporting a balanced, evidence-led judgement.
PEACE, CONFLICT & SECURITY
Issues about division, reconciliation and how communities are kept safe — best engaged through dialogue projects and local institutions.
11 · Can a local reconciliation or dialogue initiative heal a divided community?
A live engagement with reconciliation lets you weigh grassroots peacebuilding against unaddressed structural causes — a genuinely two-sided issue with strong links to peace theory.
12 · Does more surveillance make a community safer or less free?
A sharply contestable security-vs-liberty trade-off; local survey and interview evidence let you evaluate competing perspectives and scale up to debates on the surveillance state.
13 · Should a divisive monument or street name be kept, removed or reinterpreted?
A live local dispute with built-in opposing perspectives; analysing how the past is used politically gives a rich, balanced evaluation rather than a one-sided opinion piece.
Build your chosen issue properly
The examiner-written Global Politics IA frame takes you from a contestable issue to a finished engagement project — with the criteria, worked examples and the traps that cost marks. Planning is free; unlock the full report and export to Word or PDF.
Open the Global Politics IA frame →ENVIRONMENT & GLOBAL COMMONS
Issues about shared resources, who bears the cost and who decides — ideal for campaigns, consultations and clear local-to-global links.
14 · Whose responsibility is local air quality — drivers, industry or the state?
A genuinely political "who pays" question; campaigning gives you action-based evidence, and the competing responsibilities supply the multiple perspectives the rubric demands.
15 · Should a contested local green space be developed or protected?
A live planning dispute with clear opposing stakeholders; you can analyse competing claims on a shared resource and evaluate whose interests prevail and why.
16 · Is climate action a job for local government or for individuals?
A contestable responsibility question that maps the local onto the global tragedy-of-the-commons; engagement evidence keeps the analysis grounded and the evaluation balanced.
17 · Does a local recycling or waste scheme deliver justice or just shift the burden?
A focused environmental-justice issue with observable evidence; comparing the scheme's promise to its lived impact gives a strong, perspective-rich evaluation.
MORE ISSUES TO MAKE YOUR OWN
Seven further engagement-ready issues across the concepts — narrow each one to your own local case before you start.
18 · Should voting be compulsory to make local democracy more legitimate?
A clean state-vs-individual-freedom issue; survey and interview evidence let you weigh competing perspectives on what makes democracy legitimate.
19 · Do trade unions protect workers or distort a free labour market locally?
A contestable power-and-equality issue with two clear sides; interviews give first-hand evidence to evaluate rather than assert.
20 · Should the local minimum wage be set higher even if some jobs are lost?
A genuine trade-off with opposing perspectives; combining lived experience with data supports a balanced, evidence-led judgement.
21 · Does devolved language or cultural policy protect identity or entrench division?
A two-sided identity issue that links a local case to global debates on minority rights and self-determination, with perspectives built in.
22 · Is a local NGO more accountable to its donors or to the people it serves?
Volunteering surfaces a real accountability tension; analysing where an NGO's power and legitimacy actually come from scales neatly to debates on global civil society.
23 · Should young people have a formal vote in local decisions that affect them?
An action-based engagement with a contestable representation question; you can evaluate competing perspectives on who deserves a political voice.
24 · Does fair-trade buying in my community empower distant producers or ease local guilt?
A vivid local-to-global issue: an awareness action gives action-based evidence, and the "real empowerment vs symbolism" framing supplies the multiple perspectives a top evaluation needs.
From an issue to a top-band engagement project
An issue is the easy part — the marks are in how you build it. The SL engagement project is scored out of 24 across five criteria: Explanation & justification of the issue (/4), Process — your engagement (/3), Analysis & synthesis (/8, the heaviest), Evaluation & reflection (/6) and Communication (/3); HL adds a ~400-word evidence-based recommendation (/6), marked out of 30. Whichever issue you pick, the same moves win: a focused, contestable issue clearly justified and explained, an engagement treated as evidence rather than a diary, analysis through the course's key concepts and multiple perspectives, and an evaluation that weighs those perspectives to a reasoned, balanced judgement.
Build your chosen issue into a full engagement project
The examiner-written Global Politics IA writing frame takes you through every section with the rubric, worked examples and the traps that cost marks. Planning is free — unlock the engagement, analysis, evaluation (and HL recommendation) to finish the whole report and export it to Word or PDF.
Open the Global Politics IA frame →Global Politics IA ideas — FAQ
What makes a good IB Global Politics engagement project issue?
One focused, contestable political issue — about power, rights, governance, justice or resources — narrow enough to analyse in about 2,000 words and genuinely two-sided. Phrase it as a contestable question ("Is access to adequate food a state responsibility or an individual one?"), not a topic ("food banks") or a settled fact. It must let you engage locally and apply the course's key concepts and more than one political perspective.
What counts as engagement?
Experiencing the issue first-hand through action and/or research: volunteering, interviewing a stakeholder, attending a council or NGO meeting, organising an awareness action, or sustained primary-source research. It must do more than log hours — it should bring you into contact with a power relationship, a tension between perspectives, or a gap between policy and lived reality, so it becomes evidence in your report rather than a diary entry.
How do I link the local engagement to the global and to course concepts?
Treat your local engagement as a case study of a wider political question. Name the key concepts the issue turns on (power, sovereignty, legitimacy, human rights, development, peace and conflict, interdependence, equality, justice), then scale up: show how the local tension you observed mirrors debates at national or global level, and analyse it through more than one political perspective before evaluating to a reasoned, balanced judgement.
How do I turn the issue into a top-band project?
Build it section by section in the free Global Politics IA writing frame — justify and explain the issue, integrate your engagement as evidence, analyse through key concepts and multiple perspectives, and evaluate and reflect to a reasoned, balanced judgement (with the HL recommendation if you take it at Higher Level).
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