POL SCI 139
Special Studies in International Relations
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: two courses in Field II, or course 20 and one course in Field II. Designed for juniors/seniors. Intensive examination of one or more special problems appropriate to international relations. Sections offered on regular basis, with topics announced in preceding term. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
If you're a political science major, especially if your concentration is international relations, or if you're just taking a political science course, take Professor Robert Hager! He's an expert on the Soviet Union/Russia. Last quarter, I took POL SCI 128B: International Relations of Post-Communist Russia. It was not easy at all, but it was worth the effort. The midterm paper was difficult for me, but I saved myself during the final exam. Prof. Hager let his students know what was going to be on the exam, and provided us with a study guide. I studied really hard for the final, and the hard work paid off. I'm currently taking POL SCI 139: U.S. National Security Policy since 1945. This course is a little bit harder since there's a 15-20 page research paper due by the 5th week of the quarter. Prof. Hager was available and more than happy to help me and my fellow classmates find sources for our papers. If you're a diligent student, and come to lecture religiously, and actually pay attention, you will enjoy this course. There's so much to learn from Prof. Hager, and you might emerge from his class as a Cold War or a Soviet Union expert. If you want an easy A, this class is not for you.
If you're a political science major, especially if your concentration is international relations, or if you're just taking a political science course, take Professor Robert Hager! He's an expert on the Soviet Union/Russia. Last quarter, I took POL SCI 128B: International Relations of Post-Communist Russia. It was not easy at all, but it was worth the effort. The midterm paper was difficult for me, but I saved myself during the final exam. Prof. Hager let his students know what was going to be on the exam, and provided us with a study guide. I studied really hard for the final, and the hard work paid off. I'm currently taking POL SCI 139: U.S. National Security Policy since 1945. This course is a little bit harder since there's a 15-20 page research paper due by the 5th week of the quarter. Prof. Hager was available and more than happy to help me and my fellow classmates find sources for our papers. If you're a diligent student, and come to lecture religiously, and actually pay attention, you will enjoy this course. There's so much to learn from Prof. Hager, and you might emerge from his class as a Cold War or a Soviet Union expert. If you want an easy A, this class is not for you.
Most Helpful Review
I am taking Prof Johns' Intl Organizations class this quarter and I love it. I may be biased because IOs are my specific area of interest, but Professor Johns is a great professor, especially for being brand new!! She's incredibly organized, clear and thorough. The class has a discussion where weekly quizzes on the reading are given. The two lowest quiz grades are dropped. These make up a small portion of the grade and so does participation. The rest is comprised of a mid-term and final, which are actual tests of short-answer questions, not essays. I think the final may have an essay component, but the mid-term did not. The testing is also straightforward. Basically, I feel like the grading components and the questions on them are really crafted to ensure that you're learning, comprehending and actually retaining the material. I feel like this rarely happens at UCLA, it's so easy to just get the grade and then immediately forget everything you've learned. That's not the case in this course with Johns, she gets it. She seems to really understand how to select readings, structure the class and the flow of the subject matter, as well as grade students in a manner that effectively teaches. I really appreciate how well-organized and well-thought out the course is and I highly recommend Professor Johns. She's incredibly fair and approachable.
I am taking Prof Johns' Intl Organizations class this quarter and I love it. I may be biased because IOs are my specific area of interest, but Professor Johns is a great professor, especially for being brand new!! She's incredibly organized, clear and thorough. The class has a discussion where weekly quizzes on the reading are given. The two lowest quiz grades are dropped. These make up a small portion of the grade and so does participation. The rest is comprised of a mid-term and final, which are actual tests of short-answer questions, not essays. I think the final may have an essay component, but the mid-term did not. The testing is also straightforward. Basically, I feel like the grading components and the questions on them are really crafted to ensure that you're learning, comprehending and actually retaining the material. I feel like this rarely happens at UCLA, it's so easy to just get the grade and then immediately forget everything you've learned. That's not the case in this course with Johns, she gets it. She seems to really understand how to select readings, structure the class and the flow of the subject matter, as well as grade students in a manner that effectively teaches. I really appreciate how well-organized and well-thought out the course is and I highly recommend Professor Johns. She's incredibly fair and approachable.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - Bellette is such an engaging professor. She takes the time to teach you the material and engage you in an actual discussion. I was initially nervous about the participation component of this grade but Bellette makes everyone feel welcome. The course had a group project component that was annoying at times because of the collective action problems, but she made it clear that if anyone was having difficulties with their group they could speak to her in confidence and it was really nice to have a professor that willing to listen to our concerns and work with us to make us have as good of an experience as possible in her class. Take this class!
Spring 2017 - Bellette is such an engaging professor. She takes the time to teach you the material and engage you in an actual discussion. I was initially nervous about the participation component of this grade but Bellette makes everyone feel welcome. The course had a group project component that was annoying at times because of the collective action problems, but she made it clear that if anyone was having difficulties with their group they could speak to her in confidence and it was really nice to have a professor that willing to listen to our concerns and work with us to make us have as good of an experience as possible in her class. Take this class!
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - Professor Levin sets his grades based off: midterm 38%, final 60%, and course evaluation 2%. He is very dry and relies fully on powerpoint. His test are focused mainly on what is presented during his lectures, but he does ask a few questions on the readings. In his test be sure to be thorough and give more than what he asks for, as I only answered what he asked and received a D. Honestly I should've studied more, but I cannot stress the importance of being extremely thorough on the tests. Good luck and remember to study for everything as his final is cumulative.
Winter 2016 - Professor Levin sets his grades based off: midterm 38%, final 60%, and course evaluation 2%. He is very dry and relies fully on powerpoint. His test are focused mainly on what is presented during his lectures, but he does ask a few questions on the readings. In his test be sure to be thorough and give more than what he asks for, as I only answered what he asked and received a D. Honestly I should've studied more, but I cannot stress the importance of being extremely thorough on the tests. Good luck and remember to study for everything as his final is cumulative.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - I definitely recommend this class. No textbook required, as Professor Peters provides all of them for free. Professor Peters is very kind, helpful, and empathetic towards her students. Her class is flexible, especially for the due dates of the weekly reading assignments (Quizzes on CCLE). Her recorded lectures aren't very long and are a great supplement that summarizes the main points of the weekly readings. However, attending the live lectures featuring guest speakers is mandatory for attendance grade, which IIRC there was only 6 throughout the quarter. If you cannot make it to the live lectures, you can submit a one-page summary of what you learned and might get some credit. To be clear, I am not one of those "laid back" students, so I did do all of the readings and felt that the exam questions were fair. To be more precise, I found the Final Exam to be a bit more complicated than the Midterm as the essay questions required deeper thinking. The essay exam requires you to write 4 essays in total, but each essay has a one-page limit and done in single-space, with a reference page at the end. The weekly reading assignments (Quizzes) was not too hard, but it would be if you didn't do the readings at all. Typically, the quizzes have 3-5 questions, and you have an hour to submit. Be sure to do some of the readings before the discussion sections, as you are expected to answer questions as a group. Your TA will be the ones who grades everything. Thank you, Professor Peters, for the great quarter!!
Spring 2021 - I definitely recommend this class. No textbook required, as Professor Peters provides all of them for free. Professor Peters is very kind, helpful, and empathetic towards her students. Her class is flexible, especially for the due dates of the weekly reading assignments (Quizzes on CCLE). Her recorded lectures aren't very long and are a great supplement that summarizes the main points of the weekly readings. However, attending the live lectures featuring guest speakers is mandatory for attendance grade, which IIRC there was only 6 throughout the quarter. If you cannot make it to the live lectures, you can submit a one-page summary of what you learned and might get some credit. To be clear, I am not one of those "laid back" students, so I did do all of the readings and felt that the exam questions were fair. To be more precise, I found the Final Exam to be a bit more complicated than the Midterm as the essay questions required deeper thinking. The essay exam requires you to write 4 essays in total, but each essay has a one-page limit and done in single-space, with a reference page at the end. The weekly reading assignments (Quizzes) was not too hard, but it would be if you didn't do the readings at all. Typically, the quizzes have 3-5 questions, and you have an hour to submit. Be sure to do some of the readings before the discussion sections, as you are expected to answer questions as a group. Your TA will be the ones who grades everything. Thank you, Professor Peters, for the great quarter!!
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