Posner is one of the best lecturers I've ever had. His lectures are super well organized and he is incredibly helpful both in class and in-office hours. He's also super understanding and is fairly lenient. I have no complaints about him, but my TA Jenny graded a little ridiculous. She is great in section and is also really helpful so I would suggest going to her office hours and participating heavily in section to ensure you're in her good books and also are showing that you're putting in the effort. Your grade will come down to your TA in this class, however, you can submit for Posner to regrade your midterm, paper, and final, and he is fairer.

Professor Posner has been teaching for over 15 years and he is very knowledgeable. Listening to him lecture is very pleasant and engaging because the topics are very important and informative and the slides nicely correspond with the material covered in the lecture. Both the slides and the recordings are available after each lecture. The lectures are material-heavy, so copying and pasting the transcript of the recording and editing it worked the best for me. Each week you are assigned at least 4 different articles and sometimes TEDTalks. The readings are usually very long (80+ pages), but they are very interesting to read and you are given a week to read them, so it is totally doable. Some people gave up on readings, but I think doing them every week helps because when it comes time for the exams, you have the important info summarized and highlighted and can easily refer to it and have evidence in your essay. The midterm (3 questions and 3 pages for each question, so maximum 9 pages) counts for 25% of the grade, the final (1 question and maximum 6 pages) is 35%, participation during the sections is 15%, and the paper is 25%. For the paper, you have to read "A Man of the People," by Achebe and write 10-12 pages on it. You have at least 3 days after the prompts are given to submit your exams, so that gives time to write them and proofread before submitting. Definitely take this class because it is very interesting and getting an A is possible as long as you stay on top of the readings, write good notes for the lectures, and participate in the discussion sessions (my TA was Carolyn and she was always nice and helpful). Good luck!

Professor Posner is one of my favorite professors in the Political Science department. His lectures are engaging, understandable, and the way he synthesizes course material makes the class feel relevant. He is great at breaking down complex geopolitics in a way that makes sense, and he leaves you with a better understanding of world politics (and IDS if you take his class for that).

However, I felt (among many others) that the grading in this class was excessively stringent and undermined the course material -- yes, we were warned about the grading being stringent, but the TAs graded so closely to the rubric that it was really a game of "guess the rubric" before the exams instead of grading the information we wrote. I received an A in this class and I will tell you how to do so, especially after the first midterm. I received an 84 on the midterm after studying for a few days. Do NOT take the terms lightly because the ID info is incredibly specific. In order to get an A, I wrote my paper (make sure it covers the course themes) and got a 93 (I'm also an English major, so that helped), and, finally, I studied incredibly hard to get a 95 on the final and an A overall. In the future, this will be taught in person and not amid COVID-19, so be prepared for a more rigorous exam.

This is an engaging class, the material is fascinating, and Posner is an electrifying lecturer. But do be warned about the grading stringency; it's nothing to overlook. I had to fight tooth-and-nail for an A, so if you're on the fence or worried about your GPA for grad/law school, just wait until he teaches PS 167C.

The information about this class is very interesting. However, I was extremely disappointed about the grading scale. For how easy this course was to grasp, he graded EXTREMELY harshly. I went in thinking I would get an A, as I do in my other courses, and got a B+. When I scored low on an essay, and I told my TA I was unclear on grading, she was so rude. I have never experienced that before in a course. Don't take this class.

Professor Posner is a great lecturer. His classes are engaging and he outlines the important topics that he will cover before the class starts which helped with note taking. While the TA's did grade harshly, I felt that it was fair. We were warned before the midterm that it would be graded harshly and I knew many people in the class who did not start studying until the night before. I thought the paper was pretty straightforward and the book was an interesting read. Overall, this is a great class and gives a comprehensive overview of African politics.

This class was pretty great and it was pretty informative, it really did open my eyes to the political structures in Africa. Every week we had about 40-120 pages to read roughly. some were interesting some were pretty boring. Professor Posner was very clear but I do believe the TA were too difficult. Even with 2 weeks worth of studying for the midterm (it's about 3 SAQs and 1 Essay in-class) I still got a B+, even though I felt I knew the material really well. Many of the people who I talked to in that class also felt that the TAs graded unreasonably harsh. We then had 10 page essay, tying a book we read in class to the lecture material. It was also graded pretty harsh and I even wrote this a week ahead and revised. Almost everyone I know scored a 80-86 on the essay, as far as I know only one person scored an A (and I was in group chat with 20 or so people) . As for the final I did better than on the midterm and the essay, it wasn't so bad but I think part of the reason for that is because everything got shifted online due to COVID19. I do feel that the grading criteria for the TAs was far too difficult and made the class more stressful than it needed to be. Even though, they are great people they really shouldn't have made the class feel impossible to obtain an A. You gain a lot of knowledge but it's at the cost of your GPA .

professor posner is one of my favorite lecturers i've ever had and the course material is extremely interesting. given the chance i would 100% take this class again! in each lecture he essentially advances a different thesis surrounding general themes of african politics, and he uses examples from the readings and his own research to back up all these points. he's very very clear in his lecture style, making confusing concepts crystal clear. he does talk very fast, so it can be challenging to keep up, but a lot of the concepts are covered again in section, so any parts that were missed can be addressed there.

a lot of the reviews on this page for posner i feel aren't being totally honest; he warned many many times about the exams being graded harshly and to study hard for them. this class is challenging and the amount of reading can be somewhat overwhelming, but its not as hard as some make it out to be based on these reviews! test yourself on the short IDs with writing them out and make sure you understand (and can reiterate) the general themes of the class, which should prepare you enough for the tests! the essay he gives is rather straightforward and easy to complete, but it does take time to assemble the pieces of it. many classmates i talked to hadnt started reading the book the essay is based on 2 days before it was due. it's not one of those types of essays that can be easily blown off or bullshitted. take your time on making sure the scenes really fit with that example (and i would recommend reading the book after the midterm, going through and highlighting areas that show the different terms so the essay itself is easier to assemble and argue).

dont let these bad reviews and critiques of the TAs scare you away from taking this class! if you study effectively and really try to learn the material you'll definitely be okay.

Although professor might be good, the TAs were terrible!!! My grade was absolutely ruined by them and they grade extremely harshly. I never thought a TA could screw you over that bad, but they really did. Posner does speak very fast and attendance is crucial, so beware. I think STAY AWAY because no matter how hard I worked, and many many other classmates, the TAs graded the work way too harshly.

Interesting subject, and interesting lectures but a very hard class to keep up with. Professor Posner talks super fast and sometimes the information between lectures overlap which makes things confusing. You need to read I want to say majority but not all materials, as there will be reading quizzes. The exam is made up of terms. You are given about 40 for a study guide then 6 appear on the exam and you choose 4. There is a essay question that you don't know of, which he claims studying the terms alone is not enough for. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE TERMS. First some may seem confusing, I recommend you go and ask him so you dont have the wrong definition as the grading is very precise and honestly harsh. Second do not provide simple definitions, seriously go in to depth about these terms, and if you go into depth when studying the terms with a broader picture in mind then you can know the answer for the essay question. Then there is an paper assigned on a Novel, again do not be fooled by the simplicity of the assignment. Make sure the scene you have chosen matches the examples you are giving or you will get a low grade(you will get what I mean once he hands out the prompt). Long story short this class is not easy but its not impossible. Just form study groups, read majority of the material, make sure you participate in discussions, and really communicate. The one thing this class lacked was communication because it made it seem things are simple and clear when they really are not. Anyways I personally think it is very unlikely I would retake a class with him even though I got an A. Just watch our for the things I warned^
Breakdown
Midterm-25%
Final-35%
Map quiz-5% (make sure you study the correct spelling)
Discussion-15% (there is 2-3 reading quizzes)
Paper-20%

This class has been very interesting but it has been ruined the TAs. Posner is an amazing professor with so much knowledge and he really cares for his students. Posner is very accesible via Office Hours and email. His exams are in class essays, they are fairly easy if you know the material. But there is a lot of material and it all gets overwhelming when trying to squeeze in 10 weeks. The readings are very interesting but the range around 80-110 pages per week, give or take. Even though, I have learned so much in this, my experience as well as others I know has been the ruin by the TAs. They grade very harshly. On the midterm most did not get an A and the 10 page essay was very critically graded. I know one of the TAs (Hamilton) is becoming professor so be cautious. Such a shame a good class had to be ruined by the TAs.