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Subjects · Leaving Cert Politics & Society

Leaving Cert Politics & Society: Protest & civil disobedience

How often Protest & civil disobedience comes up on the Politics & Society papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

HL Asked on 4 of the last 7 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

OL Asked on 3 of the last 7 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2024.

Protest & civil disobedience, Higher Level(7 marks)

Quick ones on Protest & civil disobedience.

(a)What is civil disobedience?
  1. Secretly sabotaging government property
  2. Openly and peacefully breaking an unjust law
  3. Voting against the government
(b)What name did Gandhi give his method of non-violent resistance?
  1. Swadeshi
  2. Swaraj
  3. Satyagraha
(c)Why did Nelson Mandela come to support armed struggle against apartheid?
  1. Peaceful protest was banned and met with force
  2. The ANC had won a parliamentary majority
  3. He thought violence was always best
Show the answers

(a) Openly and peacefully breaking an unjust law

(b) Satyagraha

(c) Peaceful protest was banned and met with force

Your turn: Higher Level questions on Protest & civil disobedience.

Higher Level

Asked on 4 of the last 7 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025Q3b
2024Not asked
2023Q3
2022Q1b
2021Not asked
2019Q3b
2018Not asked

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Protest & civil disobedience questions

Protest & civil disobedience, 3 marks

Which argument is made for civil disobedience even in a democracy?

  1. Democracies never make mistakes
  2. Laws bind only politicians
  3. Majorities can still pass unjust laws
Show the answer

Majorities can still pass unjust laws

Supporters argue that open, peaceful law-breaking can alert the majority to injustice when legal routes are slow or closed to a minority.

Protest & civil disobedience, 2 marks

What does 'ahimsa' mean in Gandhi's thought?

  1. Khadi: home-spun cloth
  2. Non-violence: doing no harm
  3. Swaraj: self-rule for India
Show the answer

Non-violence: doing no harm

Ahimsa (not harming) underpins satyagraha. Gandhi held that means shape ends, so a just cause must use non-violent methods.

Ordinary Level

Asked on 3 of the last 7 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2024.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025Not asked
2024Q8
2023Q8
2022Not asked
2021Not asked
2019Not asked
2018Q1g, Q5

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More Protest & civil disobedience questions

Protest & civil disobedience, 2 marks

Gandhi's campaign for Indian independence is best known for which method?

  1. Armed struggle
  2. Running for office in Britain
  3. Non-violent civil disobedience
Show the answer

Non-violent civil disobedience

Gandhi used peaceful law-breaking such as the 1930 Salt March and accepted arrest. He called this satyagraha, or truth-force. India became independent in 1947.

Protest & civil disobedience, 3 marks

Nelson Mandela is on the course as someone who did what?

  1. Won a human rights court case in Strasbourg
  2. Supported armed struggle against an undemocratic state
  3. Led India to independence through non-violent civil disobedience
Show the answer

Supported armed struggle against an undemocratic state

When peaceful protest against apartheid met violence, Mandela helped set up the ANC's armed wing in 1961. He spent 27 years in prison and became South Africa's president in 1994.

Protest & civil disobedience, 2 marks

Which best describes civil disobedience?

  1. Openly and peacefully breaking a law seen as unjust
  2. Secretly damaging property at night to avoid being caught
  3. Signing an online petition against a law
Show the answer

Openly and peacefully breaking a law seen as unjust

People using civil disobedience act in public and accept the punishment to show the law is unjust. Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat in 1955 is a famous example.

Other Politics & Society topics

All of Leaving Cert Politics & Society