Introduction to the non-British depth studies - Key issues — OCR GCSE History

This key issue asks you to study the policies of the state in your chosen non-British depth study, covering both their aims and their implementation. Aims are what the state intended to achieve: for example, economic modernisation, control of opposition, territorial expansion or social reform. Implementation is how those aims were actually carried out: the laws passed, the institutions used, the resources committed and the people affected. A strong answer separates the two, showing what the state wanted and then judging how far, and how effectively, it delivered it. You should also weigh consequences, because implementation often produced results the state did not intend, such as resistance, unintended costs or partial success. Use specific evidence from your depth study to support each point, and be ready to assess whether aims and outcomes matched.

This key issue asks you to judge how the state's actions changed life for distinct groups across the whole depth-study period, not just at one moment. Take each named group in turn: different social classes, women, young people, and religious and ethnic groups. For each, identify what the state actually did (laws, taxation, conscription, education, censorship, persecution, welfare) and then weigh the effect: did policy improve conditions, restrict freedoms, or affect groups unevenly? Build a concrete example, such as a law that altered schooling for the young or a measure that targeted a religious community, and trace its consequence. Compare groups to show that the same policy could benefit one and harm another, and track change and continuity from the start to the end of the period. Reach a judgement about the overall extent of impact rather than listing measures.

This key issue asks you to explain why different groups supported or opposed the state, and how far that support or opposition went, across the whole depth-study period. For each group, identify the reasons behind its stance: for example, a group may back the state because policy protects its interests, or oppose it because a measure threatens its religion, livelihood or freedoms. Then assess extent: was support widespread and active, or limited and passive? Did opposition take the form of quiet non-compliance or organised resistance? Use a concrete example, such as a community resisting a specific law, and explain the motive behind it. Show that the same group's position could shift as circumstances changed, and compare groups to reveal differing reasons. Reach a judgement about how far support and opposition extended overall rather than merely listing grievances.

This key issue asks you to treat contemporary source material as evidence about the non-British depth study you have studied, not as neutral fact. Take a source produced at the time — a speech, a newspaper report, a photograph, a government decree or a memoir written close to the events — and ask what it can and cannot tell you. A state newspaper reporting a land-reform drive may reveal official intentions and the language used to justify policy, yet it may suppress resistance or exaggerate success. A photograph can show a staged rally but not the crowd's private views. So you weigh provenance (who made it, when, for whom), purpose, audience and the pressures on the author, then judge how far the source supports a claim about the issues. In an extended answer, state the inference, quote or describe the detail that supports it, and explain the limitation.