VCE PoliticsPractice Examination 17

This paper covers

• Global issue: Climate change (Unit 3 AoS1) — short-term causes within the last 10 years (methane emissions/permafrost feedback, record 2023-24 global heat compounded by El Nino), the impact of global interconnectedness in spreading/amplifying the issue, responses of global actors (UNFCCC/COP process, COP28 Dubai 2023 fossil-fuel language and Loss and Damage Fund, COP29 Baku 2024 NCQG climate finance goal, EU CBAM, TNC behaviour), and a judged evaluation of response effectiveness
• Contemporary crisis: Abuse of human rights (Unit 3 AoS2) — the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar/Rakhine State, its causes (1982 Citizenship Law statelessness, post-2021 coup Tatmadaw impunity, 2024 conscription law and Arakan Army conflict), consequences (Cox's Bazar displacement, WFP ration cuts, statelessness), and the effectiveness of responses (The Gambia v Myanmar at the ICJ, ICC arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, ASEAN Five-Point Consensus, UNSC Resolution 2669, targeted sanctions)
• Indo-Pacific state: United States of America (Unit 4 AoS1) — national interests (economic prosperity/reindustrialisation), hard/smart/soft power (2025 tariff policy, AUKUS, cultural exports and declining favourability), internal challenges (polarisation, debt, policy volatility) and external challenges (China strategic competition, allied hedging, BRICS expansion), and a judged evaluation of the USA's effectiveness in achieving its national interests
• Australia in the Indo-Pacific (Unit 4 AoS2, compulsory content) — security, economic prosperity, regional relationships and international standing, examined through an embedded original source pairing a security-briefing extract with a trade/aid data snapshot, covering the Falepili Union with Tuvalu, the Pacific Policing Initiative, AUKUS, and trade diversification
• Section C synthesis — C1 integrates climate change and the Rohingya human-rights crisis around the pursuit of national interest by powerful states (Unit 3); C2 integrates the USA's use of power with Australia's pursuit of its national interests in the Indo-Pacific (Unit 4), both assessed against the five published VCAA Section C criteria

Students are permitted to bring into the examination the materials normally allowed for this subject. Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

This is an ATARMAxxing practice paper. It is not an official examination and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by the VCAA, NESA or the QCAA.