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.

PS156 with Professor Treisman is one of the best classes I've taken at UCLA. His lectures are very engaging and he makes sure to pause frequently, allowing students to ask questions. The lectures are very well-paced and organized.

The course consists of a midterm, a final, and participation in the sections (occasional quizzes & traditional participation). The midterm and the final are both single essays that ask you to synthesize lecture and reading material to answer a broad question about Russian politics/government. The reading load can sometimes appear overwhelming, but the material is quite engaging and interesting, even though it tends to be quite dense and hefty.

I would highly recommend this class to anyone interested in Russian politics. It's a fascinating subject, and Professor Treisman's organized, well-paced lectures and the interesting readings he assigns are very conducive to student learning. Understanding of the subject and success in the class are dependent on engagement with the readings though, so reading everything assigned is absolutely critical in doing well on the exams.

This isn't the easiest PS class you'll take but it's straightforward. My TA (Blum) was pretty strict on participation so make sure you participate in section (but that depends on the TA of course. If you go to TA office hours it helps. Readings could be pretty long and quizzes were kinda difficult. The paper and midterm, however, are both papers and not difficult! Overall, a lot of work but not super difficult

Treisman is a really interesting lecturer and is really knowledgeable. The midterm is a 5 page paper and so is the final. There was no class at all the week of the midterm. Discussion participation is important because it's 30% of your grade. I'd recommend this class for an interesting political science upper div.

This was my hardest class this quarter but overall I would take it again. Prof Treisman is super knowledgeable

Professor Treisman is by far my favorite professor at UCLA. Not only is he a great lecturer and truly passionate about what he teaches, but he is so patient, kind, and approachable. Throughout every lecture he would take the time to pause and ask the class about any questions before moving on, which would spark some very interesting questions and discussions during every class. The class load is so manageable and set up very fairly. The book, which he authored, is actually so interesting and I really enjoyed reading it, along with the articles he assigned as well. He is also the only teacher I have had that cancelled class the week of the midterm and final so we had more time to work on our take home essays. My TA was Kris and he was amazing and super helpful. Highly recommend this class and looking forward to taking Treisman again.

This was a great class. Professor Treisman is a good lecturer and I went to every lecture because I became so fascinated with the enigma that is Russia. Your grade depends on two 5 page essays and participation in section. My TA was pretty clear about what he expected, and even provided some helpful tips for writing. If you know how to write a decent social science essay, you shouldn't have trouble getting an A. Professor assigns about three or four articles to read per week plus a chapter from his book. It's not necessary to read them all to do well on the essay. You just need to read and understand two or three that zero-in on one aspect of russian politics to write a decent paper. But overall, the reading, in its entirety, is doable. You get a whole week to write the paper and classes aren't scheduled on the week the paper is due. It's not a difficult class and you learn a lot. Professor also assigned his own book, which was pretty good. I got it on amazon for like $12. And the other reading assignments are posted on CCLE. Overall, this class is great. The only caveat is that some TAs might be tougher than others at grading. I took Treisman's democracy class and the TA in that one was tough. To be fair, I was kind of lazy in that class and turned in a half-assed essay. But in this class I felt more prepared and motivated to do well and my grade reflected that.

Grade wholly depends on whether the TA's feel generous. The rubric isn't specific enough for students to be able to confidently know or anticipate what grade they are going to get.

It isn't a hard class. There were quizzes and a take home midterm and final. Professor reads off a script for the entire lecture so it might be boring.