Professor
Daniel Posner
1 of 2
Most Helpful Review
Posner's Comparative Politics class is interesting. He goes over your run-of-the-mill comparative breadth (institutions, etc) and then moves on to globalization. He is well prepared and lectures very effectively. The course reader is quite expensive (~$80), but a breeze to read. On the tests, a simple definition and how it relates to the overarching ideas in the class would get you an A.
Posner's Comparative Politics class is interesting. He goes over your run-of-the-mill comparative breadth (institutions, etc) and then moves on to globalization. He is well prepared and lectures very effectively. The course reader is quite expensive (~$80), but a breeze to read. On the tests, a simple definition and how it relates to the overarching ideas in the class would get you an A.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - i've taken posner twice, and he is a very standard social science professor. pretty inaccessible and but gives very straightforward lectures, the readings are all case studies pertaining to the week's content. posner takes a pretty neoliberal stance in his approach to development and never really questions it, which I don't appreciate. exams are simple in my opinion, except the take home midterm which was a 6-8 page paper that we only had 48 hours to do!!! not a difficult class in general tho
Spring 2019 - i've taken posner twice, and he is a very standard social science professor. pretty inaccessible and but gives very straightforward lectures, the readings are all case studies pertaining to the week's content. posner takes a pretty neoliberal stance in his approach to development and never really questions it, which I don't appreciate. exams are simple in my opinion, except the take home midterm which was a 6-8 page paper that we only had 48 hours to do!!! not a difficult class in general tho
Most Helpful Review
Prof Posner is seriously one of the better professors at UCLA and one who truly cares about the information he teaches. He is very charismatic and his lectures are extremely organized. I took this class with Michael Ross' M167c and man was that helpful as many of the readings and information overlapped. I got an A in this course without doing a single reading from the phonebook that is the course reader (what a waste of money). However, I did read the novel for which you must write a 10-12 page paper. If you attend lecture (and you must attend lecture and take excellent notes...BRING A COMPUTER!) then the paper will be a piece of cake since the novel relates heavily to many of the themes in the class. I easily got an A on it. Furthermore, the map quiz at the beginning of the year is a grade booster. If you screw that up its on you. I found that websites like Sporcle were clutch in helping me memorize the countries. In conclusion, this is one of the better or more informative classes you will ever take at UCLA. I knew nothing about Africa prior to this class and now have a wealth of knowledge that is not going away soon. That's because the way that Posner teaches his material somehow makes it stick. Bring a computer to take notes, attend all the lectures, and if you can team up with a group of people and create a Google Doc to knock out the massive amount of terms needed for the midterm and final. TAKE POSNER AND TAKE THIS CLASS!
Prof Posner is seriously one of the better professors at UCLA and one who truly cares about the information he teaches. He is very charismatic and his lectures are extremely organized. I took this class with Michael Ross' M167c and man was that helpful as many of the readings and information overlapped. I got an A in this course without doing a single reading from the phonebook that is the course reader (what a waste of money). However, I did read the novel for which you must write a 10-12 page paper. If you attend lecture (and you must attend lecture and take excellent notes...BRING A COMPUTER!) then the paper will be a piece of cake since the novel relates heavily to many of the themes in the class. I easily got an A on it. Furthermore, the map quiz at the beginning of the year is a grade booster. If you screw that up its on you. I found that websites like Sporcle were clutch in helping me memorize the countries. In conclusion, this is one of the better or more informative classes you will ever take at UCLA. I knew nothing about Africa prior to this class and now have a wealth of knowledge that is not going away soon. That's because the way that Posner teaches his material somehow makes it stick. Bring a computer to take notes, attend all the lectures, and if you can team up with a group of people and create a Google Doc to knock out the massive amount of terms needed for the midterm and final. TAKE POSNER AND TAKE THIS CLASS!
Most Helpful Review
167C Political Development One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken at UCLA. The midterm and finals are very clear with what is on them before, so you know what to study (and you actually have to know your stuff) Posner really wants you to learn. he is a great lecturer who picks great TAs (ruth was really helpful). the weekly questions keep you in the loop in case you miss a reading or two. TAKE THIS CLASS
167C Political Development One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken at UCLA. The midterm and finals are very clear with what is on them before, so you know what to study (and you actually have to know your stuff) Posner really wants you to learn. he is a great lecturer who picks great TAs (ruth was really helpful). the weekly questions keep you in the loop in case you miss a reading or two. TAKE THIS CLASS
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - Posner is an amazing professor and I'm very glad I took him. It is not an easy class - you must show up and take thorough notes. He does not podcast and the slides are just statistics and images, which won't make any sense without the context of the lecture. If you put in the work, you will learn so much.
Spring 2017 - Posner is an amazing professor and I'm very glad I took him. It is not an easy class - you must show up and take thorough notes. He does not podcast and the slides are just statistics and images, which won't make any sense without the context of the lecture. If you put in the work, you will learn so much.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Do not take this class with Posner. You may be tempted to because of IDS 120, which he teaches very effectively. However, you will be severely disappointed with IDS 191. The subject matter may sound interesting, but it is far from it. You will have an average of 150 pages of reading a week from difficult sources. These include 30+ page studies from economics journals. You will then have to show up to a 3 hour class (only once a week) to talk about these boring readings. Posner is a really nice professor and he cares about his students, but the subject material will make the midterm and final take home essays difficult. The prompts are not straight forward or easy, they are more like puzzles you have to figure out. It would help if the subject matter was more interesting than it seemed, but as a senior, you will not enjoy this class.
Spring 2018 - Do not take this class with Posner. You may be tempted to because of IDS 120, which he teaches very effectively. However, you will be severely disappointed with IDS 191. The subject matter may sound interesting, but it is far from it. You will have an average of 150 pages of reading a week from difficult sources. These include 30+ page studies from economics journals. You will then have to show up to a 3 hour class (only once a week) to talk about these boring readings. Posner is a really nice professor and he cares about his students, but the subject material will make the midterm and final take home essays difficult. The prompts are not straight forward or easy, they are more like puzzles you have to figure out. It would help if the subject matter was more interesting than it seemed, but as a senior, you will not enjoy this class.
1 of 2
