Professor Treisman is the real deal-- Harvard, Oxford, civilian economic advisor to the Russian government... and it shows. He's incredibly knowledgeable and is palpably very, very intelligent. He's an excellent, very clear lecturer, and is extremely organized. The class is very interesting. It's also one of the more difficult classes I've taken. I got an A on both papers, but the topical variety of the class was extremely broad, and the readings he assigned were often lengthy and difficult. Writing a successful paper was contingent on taking notes/citing the lectures (I assume this would be very difficult to do in-person where you can't rewatch lecture) and having a thorough understanding of most, if not all, of the readings (unlike some classes where you can get away with analyzing/reading just a few selected texts). My TA ended up giving me a low A minus section grade which resulted in me not receiving an A overall in the class, so I would recommend really making sure to speak a lot in section-- which is, again, predicated on you doing the readings, which are very time consuming.

Overall, I'd say this class is worthwhile, mainly because the topics are interesting and Treisman is a renowned political scientist and seems to actually care about what he's teaching (a rarity in UCLA's political science dept), but you should take it with the understanding that while the class is fair and the content is clear, it is still difficult and demands a lot of reading time (took me roughly 4-5 hours a week) and effort put into the two papers.

I 100% cannot agree more with the other commenter for Fall 2024. This class was graded unnecessarily hard and was subject to unfairness and unreasonableness by the TAs. I would caution against taking this class. I too know many who fell victim this quarter to the horridness of this class

This is a difficult class. Triesman is great— very professional and clear, but there is a ton of reading, nearly all of which is applicable/ can be used on the papers (midterm and final, 30-40% of grade, 6 pages each), which makes taking tons of notes a must. Grading was harsh, my TA was fine at facilitating discussion but not lenient or particularly helpful, and based on his demeanor I assume triesman wouldn’t be super lenient either (he’s not a jerk, just seems very traditional/professional). Content is fairly interesting but there is a lot of it. Take this class if you want a class that’s worth your while but just know it’s hard (in terms of content, assigned reading, and grading). Don’t know why one review here claims to have gotten an A+ when triesman does not give A pluses…

Anyone interested in learning about Russia/other countries' political culture and process should absolutely take this class. Treisman is a wonderful professor; he is extremely passionate about Russia and lectures were always engaging. The reading was pretty average for an upper division political science class (50-100/week), but I found most of them to be pretty interesting. Overall would definitely recommend his class.

Professor Treisman is a wonderful professor. Each lecture was very clear and engaging as the curriculum was highly interesting and relevant. The class consists of two take-home essays that are graded very fairly and as long as you write good notes and do the readings, you'' do great! Highly recommend this class if offered.

I really enjoyed taking this class. Professor Treisman is one of the best lecturers I've had the pleasure of interacting with at UCLA. He's supremely engaging and he always pauses to allow students to ask questions during the lectures. He's also very helpful if you take the time to go to office hours.

There's a fair bit of readings for the class, with their overall volume being over the average for poli sci upper divisions in my experience. However, the readings are pretty interesting, and I never found myself totally bogged down.

The class consists of a midterm and final (5 pg each), along with mandatory section participation. The sections went by fine, and there were frequently some interesting discussions. I found that the exams were graded quite fairly, even though the topics require a lot of thought and attention to sufficiently answer.

All in all, I'd highly recommend this course and I think it's fairly straightforward to succeed in, as long as you do the assigned readings and pay attention to lecture.

Great class!! The professor is extremely professional, and very clear. I never doubted his instructions. He had a clear path with his lectures, and I learned a ton of valuable information. There is a bit of reading involved, but his book that is assigned is very interesting. I enjoyed it a lot!! Two papers and participation make up the grade, and my TA was extremely helpful and supportive.

While I'm not passionate about the politics of Russia, it was an informative class and definitely for you if you are a history nerd. There was only one assignment for the entire class (a midterm essay) because the final was made optional due to the strike, and he gave two options for the essay which was nice. It was also open book and we had about a week to complete it. The readings and lectures were essential to answering the essay question. The grading was more than fair.

I loved this course and professor Treisman SO MUCH. By far my favorite political science course I have taken in my years at ucla. The course is very well organized, with a generous 30% of the grade being based on discussion attendance/participation, 30% midterm paper( 5 pages and you get to choose the topic out of a few choices), 40% final paper (5 pages and you get to choose between topics again). The best part of this course was definitely professor Treisman, the man is incredibly knowledgable, a great lecturer, and has so much experience in the field. He has published multiple books and articles on Russia, and is one of the leading specialists on the subject in the US. During lectures he told us stories of meeting several US presidents, Putin, and other political leaders and acting as an advisor to the State Dept. It was a treat to listen to someone so knowledgable and passionate during his well crafted lectures, and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with the prof during his office hours. The grading was very easy as well with the TA's doing the grading of the papers to a pretty lenient rubric. Overall a really cool class to take, and a treat to learn from someone as knowledgeable in the subject as the prof. Honestly a pretty easy upper div pol sci course if you listen to the lectures and do some minimal readings.

This political science class is soooo boring. I legit almost fell asleep during lecture a few times. The format of the class is not engaging. During lecture, professor only talks about the material, so get ready to take ALOT of notes. There is a lot of reading that is assigned. Section is mandatory and can be engaging sometimes. The material of this course is a mix of interesting and absolutely useless. Grading was based on section participation, midterm, and final (both 5 page essays) however with TA strike going on, final was option which was awesome. When it came to the midterm, you have to cite material and I found it rather difficult to build an argument when there was a bunch of sources telling you different things. I also found the TAs to grade the midterms unfairly. Overall, this take this class if you want low workload except when it comes to cramming for the midterm and final essay.