The Pragmat Summer Essay Competition is an annual event designed to inspire and challenge students from state schools across the United Kingdom. Open to students with an interest in Business, Economics, Politics, and International Relations, the competition invites participants to engage critically with a range of thought-provoking questions in their chosen field.

This competition is open to state school students in both Junior (Years 9-10) and Senior (Years 11-12) categories, offering them a unique opportunity to showcase their analytical and writing skills. Through this competition, we aim to nurture the next generation of thinkers and leaders, providing them with a platform to explore their passions and build their academic and professional profiles.

This year students were invited to submit a response to one of the 13 questions below:

1. With reference to a specific industry, how can AI enhance business productivity?
2. With two case-studies, explore how the COVID pandemic revolutionised small businesses.
3  What lessons can domestic governments learn about oversight and regulation of financial institutions after the 2008 financial crisis?
4. What is the welfare state and does its current form present more advantages than disadvantages?
5. To what extent is capitalism incompatible with solving the climate change crisis?
6. Analyse the effects of immigration on a nation's economy.
7. In what ways, if any, do intergovernmental organisations, like the UN or the IMF for example, fail non-Western countries?
8. Has the Russia-Ukraine war led to the decline or the re-establishment of the liberal international order?
9. Europe or America? Compare who has been the greatest culprit of neo-colonialism in the 21st century?
10. To what extent is ‘dollar imperialism’ a concern in the international community?
11. Are austerity programmes more of a political ploy than a genuine economic solution?
12. How can Hobbes’s reasoning for a Leviathan be challenged in modern politics?
13. “The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party.”- Tony Blair, 1993. How far do you agree with this statement?