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
4 of 5
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - The official course title was “POL SCI 139 - Special Studies in International Relations: Technology and International Relations” _________ 🧑💻 Notable mentions about the course: ▪️no textbooks required (assigned readings are via Canvas) ▪️Weekly discussion boards ▪️attendance NOT required (somewhat commuter friendly course)* ▪️*records audio only and posts slideshow/PowerPoint lectures separately _________ NOTE: I don’t like to promise people that this class is an easy A, as I met people in “easy A” classes, but they did not do well because they either had too busy of a schedule or struggle in writing essays. With that said, I think that Pike classes are among the easier and more engaging classes to take at UCLA, which offers greater accommodation to students who work and/or takes 3+ classes and wish to go to law school. _________ This is my first class taken with Dr. Pike and students are not wrong that he sits alongside one of the best political science professors at UCLA! I was a bit skeptical about the course at first because I personally enjoy American Politics courses or Race, Ethnicity, and Politics concentrated courses, but Professor Pike makes the lectures interesting and engaging. I like when he often inserts his bit of humor to lighten up the mood and make the lectures more fun. If you are a bit nervous coming up to professors to talk about grading, IR topics, research, and such, he is very approachable and kind. _________ The readings may at times feel pretty Eurocentric (a common complaint about research within IR among political science students), but during lecture Professor Pike does make everything feel relevant and important…though everything is important. I personally felt that he broke down everything in an easy to understand manner (with the help of real life examples/scenarios), especially for students like myself who doesn’t place much focus in studying IR theory and feel nervous on taking IR classes. _________ I am unsure whether if it were the circumstances of this quarter, but he allowed students to contest their grades, especially when the syllabus failed to reflect what student’s expected in to be marked down for. After multiple students bringing this issue to his attention, he agreed to regrade essays that were marked down for “not referencing enough readings” (which was the thing that the syllabus didn’t mention). I did not have this issue but I felt the TA marked me down too much for being a bit vague on my topic sentences (something Professor Pike didn’t do in the other midterm essay he graded) in my thesis in the essay they graded, so I contested it with professor Pike to have a second opinion and he was kind enough to look it over and regrade it. I can’t speak for his other classes, but I thought that he was awesome in offering students for their midterm to be graded on “unfair” criteria not mentioned in the syllabus or TA-Professor grading discrepancies. _________ 🗣️ Discussion Boards: I felt they were pretty easy and sometimes I wasn’t able to do the readings but if you attended lecture, you were able to answer them a bit easier. They are not strict in citing pages as long as you demonstrate you are engaging in the course material and ask thought provoking questions to students (required for replying to student’s posts), you will be fine. _________ 📖 Readings: Readings are posted online via Canvas. There usually was about 4 readings a week, 2 for the first class of the week and 2 for the second class of the week. They were pretty straight forward and many readings are 30+ pages long, and can be done either before of after lecture, whichever works best for students. _________ 📝 Midterm/Final: both were take-home essays where you had to choose two essays among the few prompts given. The prompts are not provided ahead of time, nor is there a study guide provided. The essays expect students to cite the readings and not what is in class (although I personally felt the lectures were still helpful in attending since they summarize/guide students in what to focus on in the readings), therefore the it is important to not miss a single reading if you wish to walk away with an A in the class (unless you decide to cram and skim the readings during the exams) 📚👀. _________ 📈 About extra credit: He did offer extra credit if 50% or more of the class did evaluations. I don’t know how much but it sure is more than what most political science professors offer. If he doesn’t offer this in his future classes, it wouldn’t hurt to ask about it. ————————————————- Important things to note ‼️🙇🏻 _________ 📚 About getting an A+… I believe his policy changed about grading from talking to my roommate who took this came exact class a few years ago, but now he awards A+ grade to the top 6 students in the class! 🫠 I believe this policy applies to all Pike’s 139 classes. If you are looking for a guaranteed A+, I would keep this in mind since TA grading and his own grading can influence your standing in this. A student in the GroupMe for this class mentioned how they previously took Pike and they were in the 99% range and still didn’t receive an A+. Because the class is easier, it is also makes it harder to get an A+. This quarter has been more hectic so I believe the top 6 students had at least a 97% or above. _________ 🌼 Spring 2024 disclaimer: This quarter was pretty hectic and Professor Pike was among the few professors that did accommodate students when they were emotionally and academically impacted with the protests. He gave extensions and made the final optional (for those that wish to boost their grade if they got a mediocre grade from the midterm), so keep this in mind when reading reviews about him for Spring 2024 in the way he graded or weighed certain assignments since his original syllabus changed. Based off my experience and other student’s feedback from when they took Pike during COVID-19 and the TA union strikes, he is among the few professors that cares and understands that these things do impact students in a various ways and does make changes I felt were reasonable.
Spring 2024 - The official course title was “POL SCI 139 - Special Studies in International Relations: Technology and International Relations” _________ 🧑💻 Notable mentions about the course: ▪️no textbooks required (assigned readings are via Canvas) ▪️Weekly discussion boards ▪️attendance NOT required (somewhat commuter friendly course)* ▪️*records audio only and posts slideshow/PowerPoint lectures separately _________ NOTE: I don’t like to promise people that this class is an easy A, as I met people in “easy A” classes, but they did not do well because they either had too busy of a schedule or struggle in writing essays. With that said, I think that Pike classes are among the easier and more engaging classes to take at UCLA, which offers greater accommodation to students who work and/or takes 3+ classes and wish to go to law school. _________ This is my first class taken with Dr. Pike and students are not wrong that he sits alongside one of the best political science professors at UCLA! I was a bit skeptical about the course at first because I personally enjoy American Politics courses or Race, Ethnicity, and Politics concentrated courses, but Professor Pike makes the lectures interesting and engaging. I like when he often inserts his bit of humor to lighten up the mood and make the lectures more fun. If you are a bit nervous coming up to professors to talk about grading, IR topics, research, and such, he is very approachable and kind. _________ The readings may at times feel pretty Eurocentric (a common complaint about research within IR among political science students), but during lecture Professor Pike does make everything feel relevant and important…though everything is important. I personally felt that he broke down everything in an easy to understand manner (with the help of real life examples/scenarios), especially for students like myself who doesn’t place much focus in studying IR theory and feel nervous on taking IR classes. _________ I am unsure whether if it were the circumstances of this quarter, but he allowed students to contest their grades, especially when the syllabus failed to reflect what student’s expected in to be marked down for. After multiple students bringing this issue to his attention, he agreed to regrade essays that were marked down for “not referencing enough readings” (which was the thing that the syllabus didn’t mention). I did not have this issue but I felt the TA marked me down too much for being a bit vague on my topic sentences (something Professor Pike didn’t do in the other midterm essay he graded) in my thesis in the essay they graded, so I contested it with professor Pike to have a second opinion and he was kind enough to look it over and regrade it. I can’t speak for his other classes, but I thought that he was awesome in offering students for their midterm to be graded on “unfair” criteria not mentioned in the syllabus or TA-Professor grading discrepancies. _________ 🗣️ Discussion Boards: I felt they were pretty easy and sometimes I wasn’t able to do the readings but if you attended lecture, you were able to answer them a bit easier. They are not strict in citing pages as long as you demonstrate you are engaging in the course material and ask thought provoking questions to students (required for replying to student’s posts), you will be fine. _________ 📖 Readings: Readings are posted online via Canvas. There usually was about 4 readings a week, 2 for the first class of the week and 2 for the second class of the week. They were pretty straight forward and many readings are 30+ pages long, and can be done either before of after lecture, whichever works best for students. _________ 📝 Midterm/Final: both were take-home essays where you had to choose two essays among the few prompts given. The prompts are not provided ahead of time, nor is there a study guide provided. The essays expect students to cite the readings and not what is in class (although I personally felt the lectures were still helpful in attending since they summarize/guide students in what to focus on in the readings), therefore the it is important to not miss a single reading if you wish to walk away with an A in the class (unless you decide to cram and skim the readings during the exams) 📚👀. _________ 📈 About extra credit: He did offer extra credit if 50% or more of the class did evaluations. I don’t know how much but it sure is more than what most political science professors offer. If he doesn’t offer this in his future classes, it wouldn’t hurt to ask about it. ————————————————- Important things to note ‼️🙇🏻 _________ 📚 About getting an A+… I believe his policy changed about grading from talking to my roommate who took this came exact class a few years ago, but now he awards A+ grade to the top 6 students in the class! 🫠 I believe this policy applies to all Pike’s 139 classes. If you are looking for a guaranteed A+, I would keep this in mind since TA grading and his own grading can influence your standing in this. A student in the GroupMe for this class mentioned how they previously took Pike and they were in the 99% range and still didn’t receive an A+. Because the class is easier, it is also makes it harder to get an A+. This quarter has been more hectic so I believe the top 6 students had at least a 97% or above. _________ 🌼 Spring 2024 disclaimer: This quarter was pretty hectic and Professor Pike was among the few professors that did accommodate students when they were emotionally and academically impacted with the protests. He gave extensions and made the final optional (for those that wish to boost their grade if they got a mediocre grade from the midterm), so keep this in mind when reading reviews about him for Spring 2024 in the way he graded or weighed certain assignments since his original syllabus changed. Based off my experience and other student’s feedback from when they took Pike during COVID-19 and the TA union strikes, he is among the few professors that cares and understands that these things do impact students in a various ways and does make changes I felt were reasonable.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2018 - Radd is a tremendous professor. He's charming, charismatic, funny, and makes the material very interesting with his teaching style. I was fortunate to take his class -- he made it engaging and worth attending. He's the opposite of those unapproachable, cold and overly-serious professors who roam the halls of Bunche; he's what this school needs more of. Take his class if you can. Any one of them.
Summer 2018 - Radd is a tremendous professor. He's charming, charismatic, funny, and makes the material very interesting with his teaching style. I was fortunate to take his class -- he made it engaging and worth attending. He's the opposite of those unapproachable, cold and overly-serious professors who roam the halls of Bunche; he's what this school needs more of. Take his class if you can. Any one of them.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - I have taken a few courses focused on diaspora, specifically indigenous and was therefore intrigued by this political science class. I really enjoyed the materials and the readings, as they were very general and not too specific for a 10-week course, which I liked. However, the class is very unorganized, as are the midterms and finals. The midterm was split into in person and take-home with the exact same format, which was odd. If you have to take this class, I hope the TA is great, because that is the only thing that saved this class for me. Vincent was great and provided as much as he could with the little information the professor gave. Attendance became mandatory because a lot of students would not show up, and it is probably due to the fact that it felt useless to the course as the professor spoke so slowly and incoherently. She seemed nice, but as it was her first time teaching ever, it makes sense. Also, the grading changed a lot throughout the weeks, which I think is unfair and not beneficial to the students (extra credit was decreased from 10% to much lower).
Winter 2024 - I have taken a few courses focused on diaspora, specifically indigenous and was therefore intrigued by this political science class. I really enjoyed the materials and the readings, as they were very general and not too specific for a 10-week course, which I liked. However, the class is very unorganized, as are the midterms and finals. The midterm was split into in person and take-home with the exact same format, which was odd. If you have to take this class, I hope the TA is great, because that is the only thing that saved this class for me. Vincent was great and provided as much as he could with the little information the professor gave. Attendance became mandatory because a lot of students would not show up, and it is probably due to the fact that it felt useless to the course as the professor spoke so slowly and incoherently. She seemed nice, but as it was her first time teaching ever, it makes sense. Also, the grading changed a lot throughout the weeks, which I think is unfair and not beneficial to the students (extra credit was decreased from 10% to much lower).
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - This class is supposed to be a seminar class (30 students taught directly by Traeger). But due to a "department error", when I took it (Fall 2021), it was structured as a lecture with circa 100 students and 2 TAs. Traeger is a fairly run-of-the-mill UCLA Poli Sci Professor. He's clearly brilliant and accomplished, but he imbues the same “I have plenty of important things to do, this class is largely an errand” attitude as 80% of the tenured political-science faculty here do. Readings were heavy and didn't feel particularly well organized. Lecture consisted of him loosely ranting while slides were largely blank (containing of only a few words or unlabeled infographics). If you asked him a question that was related to something remotely logistical, his response was always “just ask your TA”. He also canceled class... twice. He'd make efforts to rile-up enthusiasm (he often posed open-ended questions to the class), but they usually fell flat. Grading-wise, the syllabus initially consisted of 2 prompt-less short papers (4-5 pages) that correspond to 2-week's readings of your choosing (basically you just discuss the readings or tie them together, not always easy). The final was originally a 12-15 page no-prompt research paper, later shortened to 10 pages by our TAs. This was pretty hellish and unclear. The guidelines were to develop an original international relations theory and devise a statistical test to see if it's legitimate. That approaches graduate-level work and was super difficult. Thankfully the TA's went pretty easy grading wise. I have a feeling that Traeger's grading would've been different. This class was fine in lecture-format (with TA's as graders), but I have a feeling it would be much harder and more unclear with Trager as it's main instructor. I would avoid this class in general-- especially if it's in a seminar format.
Fall 2021 - This class is supposed to be a seminar class (30 students taught directly by Traeger). But due to a "department error", when I took it (Fall 2021), it was structured as a lecture with circa 100 students and 2 TAs. Traeger is a fairly run-of-the-mill UCLA Poli Sci Professor. He's clearly brilliant and accomplished, but he imbues the same “I have plenty of important things to do, this class is largely an errand” attitude as 80% of the tenured political-science faculty here do. Readings were heavy and didn't feel particularly well organized. Lecture consisted of him loosely ranting while slides were largely blank (containing of only a few words or unlabeled infographics). If you asked him a question that was related to something remotely logistical, his response was always “just ask your TA”. He also canceled class... twice. He'd make efforts to rile-up enthusiasm (he often posed open-ended questions to the class), but they usually fell flat. Grading-wise, the syllabus initially consisted of 2 prompt-less short papers (4-5 pages) that correspond to 2-week's readings of your choosing (basically you just discuss the readings or tie them together, not always easy). The final was originally a 12-15 page no-prompt research paper, later shortened to 10 pages by our TAs. This was pretty hellish and unclear. The guidelines were to develop an original international relations theory and devise a statistical test to see if it's legitimate. That approaches graduate-level work and was super difficult. Thankfully the TA's went pretty easy grading wise. I have a feeling that Traeger's grading would've been different. This class was fine in lecture-format (with TA's as graders), but I have a feeling it would be much harder and more unclear with Trager as it's main instructor. I would avoid this class in general-- especially if it's in a seminar format.
AD
4 of 5
