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A-Level Paper 2, Theme II: Economic change after independence

What the A-Level syllabus expects for Paper 2, Theme II: Economic change after independence, and how to practise it.

What the syllabus expects

The goals independent states chased: growth, fairer distribution, and economic nationalism.
What shifted and what persisted across the major economic sectors after independence.
Scope: Agriculture: agricultural modernisation. Industry: sector expansion and the shift away from import-substitution toward an industrialisation geared to exports. Financial services: regulation and the liberalisation of finance, together with sector expansion. Also the weight of key sectors in the economy and the degree of diversification. Exam note: financial-sector content is examinable only within a broader question spanning all three sectors; changes within the financial services sector alone are non-examinable.
The forces that drove economic change across the region.
Scope: Domestic economic conditions; the government's role, including its economic aims, strategies and extent of intervention; the role of private business; and external conditions such as Cold War developments and outside economic trends.
Growth-related results, gauged by national income, output, and how sustainable the growth was.
Equity-related results, seen in poverty levels and how income was spread.
Nationalism-related results, judged by self-sufficiency and domestic control of the economy.