I don't normally post Bruinwalk reviews, but I felt obligated to dispel the notion that a lot of other reviewers put forward which is that this is a boring crappy class that is easy so you should take it. Although wilkenson's lectures are pretty mundane, the dude is clear and concise. If you can pay attention for 40 minutes, you can get through the content. And the content is actually interesting, especially if you're a poli sci major. The book that he assigns is actually a pretty great read and not boring at all. If you have a sound knowledge of modern world history (World War Two, Cold War and stuff) you can use it to your advantage and do well on the weekly assignments. Anyway, not an amazing class, but in my experience way more interesting than some other GEs that are offered. Strikes a really good balance between being easy and also getting something out of it.

I took this class during Winter 2022 when the class was asynchronous. The professor is very wholesome and is very knowledgeable in the field, but lectures aren't too interesting. All the lectures were uploaded beforehand so you can listen to them when you want. Sections were also optional and the TAs were very understanding. The class consisted of weekly papers from Week 2-10 which was honestly a lot of work and I often felt overwhelmed. These papers are worth 60% of your grade. The remaining 40% comes from your final paper which is due during finals week. There's a lot of prompts that you can choose from and some of them overlap with the weekly papers so I would recommend taking advantage of that. You don't necessarily have to interact with the professor/TAs if you don't need to/want to. Overall, this class was a nice GPA booster and had relatively interesting information.

60% of your grade is based on weekly papers that are 500 words long and every week there is a different prompt based on the readings. My TA Merabi was not a harsh grader and discussion is worth nothing. The other 40% of the grade is based on your final which is pretty manageable if you don't procastinate. over all a pretty easy class

This class is an easy A for any Political Science major. However, you will not learn anything from it. I took it hoping it would help me decide on a concentration but I am still confused. this course was supposed to be in person but when UCLA decided to be online, prof. Wilkinson turned the class as asynchronous and never returned to in-person (with the exception of 1 weekly meeting where he talked about Ukraine most of the time). His videos were recycled from 2020's online classes, for which they were outdated and talked of Afghanistan as still not taken over by the Taliban. There is also no time frame for the videos, sometimes there's a 15-minute video, other, like on week 9, there are 4 30-minute videos.

This class is what you'd expect from a white professor with two textbooks from white people saying that only Russia, China, and the US are the only countries worth studying. It was disappointing.

In relation to workload, we have to write 450-550 word essays every week on different prompts that he submits based on that week's teachings. If you are on the Friday discussions this makes sense because the deadline is before discussion but if your discussion is on Mondays, you will have to write essays on topics you have not yet learned about.

His final originally was a 4000-word essay, which I think is inhumane given how little you learn in class. People complained so he lowered it to 2000 words.

First of all, it is a super easy and chill GE.

His online lectures were short and easy to understand. If you love politics, I have to say, pol sci is perfect. Even you never read any page of the textbook, you will still have to much things to write down on the weekly paper. Trust me, 500 words is not enough for you.

For me, this class only took me 1 hour everyweek.

I took this Fall 2020 so it was online. This is one of the easier GE's (honestly it was easier than my high school AP Gov class), I stopped watching lectures after week 2 and as long as you skim the book you'll do fine. There are no tests, only ~400-500 word weekly papers, so most of the information you can find outside or by ctrl-F-ing the textbook chapters. I see a lot of negative reviews about Kim (most of them from people who didn't have her) but I had no problem with her -- she was very clear, concise, and generally understanding. She also grades very leniently (I never got below a 90% on a weekly paper and I wrote some where it was very obvious I bs-ing HARD) and I got a 98% on my final paper though I missed signing up for office hours with her. She does say that she rarely gives 100% but don't let that scare you since she often gives 95s-98s. Overall, just know how to write and form an argument and you will be fine.

The class is extremely easy. You don't have to show up - most people didn't in my class - because he just reads from his slides which are posted one hour after lecture ends. Also, the weekly 1 page essays are simple: just say your opinion and back it up with reasoning. The books were cheap, and they weren't dire for success in the class. I only read 2 or 3 chapters out of one just to have quotes for my essays. There's no midterm, just the weekly papers and a final essay graded by the TAs. Lastly, class is usually pretty short. My class was always let out early, and a couple of lectures only lasted about 20 minutes at the beginning of the quarter.

Interesting content (though I'm biased as a poli sci major,) but would recommend it as a GE for sure.
This was a ~400 person class, but if you show up to lecture after like week 3 you could probably count ~20-30 people there at most. Lecture slides are posted and honestly were a lot more helpful/less time consuming. Once you understand the expectations of the class lecture is not necessary.
400-500 word assignments weekly, which (depending on the TA) were easily graded and pretty quick to do. Reading that goes along with them is interesting too, and you can often pick from a list of prompts.
Extra credit (up to 3% of your overall grade!) offered. I don't think a lot of ppl did it bc they grade pretty easily anyway, but it's nice to have the option.
I recommend starting the final paper early if you can, but it's ~2000-3000 words (and became optional W20 bc of corona).
Overall: take it! Professor has been here like 30+ years and is cool and it's an interesting topic.

If anyone is interested in the book The Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John Mearshiemer ISBN-13: 978-0393349276 ISBN-10: 0393349276 then message me at 714-322-5521 if interested!

I am not a pol sci major and I took this class to fulfill a GE and this class was an easy A if you just do all the assignments. Basically you just have to write a 400 word paper every week on the assigned prompt from the readings. I usually skimmed the reading the night before and was able to get the assignment done in 45 minutes or so. Discussion section was mandatory for participation but take it with Jones if offered - she was so chill and fun and easy. Because of Covid-19 the final became optional but it would have been a 2,000 word research paper (8 pages) . I went to the first day of class then stopped going because Wilkinson posts his lecture slides. Overall, I did everything and ended up with a 100%