IB Global Politics: the four units, assessments and the Engagement Activity
A guide to IB Global Politics: the four core units, the key concepts, HL vs SL, the exam papers, the Engagement Activity and the HL global political challenges extension.
IB Global Politics is a group 3 subject that studies power, rights and the forces shaping the contemporary world. Its marks reward the ability to connect real-world events to political concepts and theory — not to recount the news. Success in the Diploma Programme comes from analytical, concept-driven argument. For one-to-one support see IB Global Politics tutoring.
The four core units
- Power, sovereignty and international relations: states, actors, and theories such as realism and liberalism.
- Human rights: their nature, protection and the debates around them.
- Development: models, measurement and the politics of growth and inequality.
- Peace and conflict: causes, types and approaches to resolution.
A set of key concepts (power, sovereignty, legitimacy, interdependence, human rights, justice, development...) runs across all four units and frames the higher-band questions.
HL vs SL
HL and SL share the four units and the Engagement Activity, but HL adds the global political challenges extension — the study of two contemporary issues (such as environment, borders, health or security) presented through case studies and assessed orally. HL therefore demands deeper, cross-cutting analysis.
The exam papers
- Paper 1: source-based questions on a stimulus, testing comprehension, comparison and evaluation.
- Paper 2: extended-response essays across the four units, rewarding conceptual argument with examples.
The Engagement Activity
The internally assessed Engagement Activity asks students to engage with a political issue in practice and analyse the experience against political concepts in a written report. A strong report connects first-hand engagement to theory rather than simply describing what was done — the analytical link is where marks live.
How to score well
- Lead with concepts: frame every answer around key concepts and theory, using events as evidence.
- Evaluate perspectives: the top band weighs competing viewpoints rather than asserting one.
- Keep current examples ready: a bank of recent, well-understood cases makes essays specific.
- Link engagement to theory: in the Engagement Activity, analysis of the experience — not the activity itself — earns the marks.