Arabic and Politics MA (Hons) personal statement example

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

My first Arabic homework was a page of the letter 'ayn in its four forms: on its own, and at the start, middle and end of a word. I filled two pages because I kept closing the loop too tightly. I had joined a ten-week beginners' evening course at my local college in Year 12. What kept me going was discovering that the script follows clear rules. Six letters never join to the letter after them, and once I learned which ones, words began to look like spellings rather than patterns. I want to study Arabic alongside Politics because the region I meet in my Politics and History lessons nearly always reaches me in English, through translated speeches and news reports. I would like to read a party statement or an editorial myself and notice what a translation smooths over. Politics gives me the questions, and Arabic would bring me closer to the sources. A route that builds Arabic from the beginning would suit my present level. I enjoy slow, cumulative learning where I can see progress week by week.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare?

My EPQ asks how Lebanon's confessional power-sharing system affects how long it takes to form a government. I used Arend Lijphart's idea of consociational democracy, which relies on grand coalitions, proportional representation of groups and mutual vetoes. I compared it with the gap between the May 2018 election and the cabinet formed in January 2019. I argued that the vetoes meant to reassure each community also give each one a way to delay, though I accepted that my sources were all in English and mostly secondary. Reading Eugene Rogan's The Arabs gave me a longer view, especially his account of how the post-1918 mandate borders shaped later politics. In A level Politics I enjoy comparative work, and my essay on whether the US Supreme Court is too political taught me to separate an institution's design from how people use it. History has trained me to question where a source comes from and who it was written for. Spanish has been an unexpected help with Arabic. Noticing loanwords such as aceite and ojalá made me curious about language contact, and learning one language has given me habits for learning another: little and often, saying words aloud, and keeping a notebook of roots. I would need accounts from different communities before treating delay as evidence for one explanation. This is part of why learning to read Arabic matters to my political interests.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Last summer I spent a week at my MP's constituency office. My tasks were supervised: I sorted post, logged new enquiries on a spreadsheet for the caseworkers and drafted standard acknowledgement letters, which a caseworker checked before they were sent. I was struck by how much of the work involved immigration and housing, and how carefully staff explained what an MP can and cannot do. Seeing national policy turn into individual letters made the politics I study feel concrete. Since Year 11 I have worked Saturdays at a garden centre, mostly on the tills and watering the outdoor stock. The job has made me reliable and comfortable talking to people of every age, including on busy spring weekends when the queues reach the door. I also help run the Year 7 chess club at school once a week, setting up boards and teaching openings to beginners. Explaining why a move is weak without putting someone off has made me more patient, and I have found it useful in my own language learning. Chess is also simply something I love: a long game played quietly. I would bring that same steady attention to four years of Arabic and Politics.