Overall, 119 with Branstetter was an easy and very manageable class. Lectures were recorded and honestly you didn't need to watch them every day. The grade structure was simple: 50% was your midterm and 50% was your final. However, both were take home short answer exams that you could answer by rewatching lectures and using your notes. We were also allowed to (in theory) retake them as many times as we wanted until we got the grade we wanted. While this sounds nice, the grader took so long to grade that the most resubmissions I knew of anyone being able to do was just two per exam. I believe in the end most people did get an A, but there was a bit of stress in the uncertainty.

Branstetter is extremely knowledgeable in his field and is a super engaging lecturer. You can tell he truly cares about student understanding and our success, and he is super kind. The only issue I had with the class was the grading resubmissions, but I would still take this class again in a heartbeat.

You do not need to go to class. Grade is based off of 1 midterm and final. You can redo the midterm and final to get the score you want. I recommend you do show up though, he is a nice guy who likes the company. Make sure to watch his slides/lecture videos that he records for the midterm and lecture. 9/10 (he lost 2 point bc I was mad core stressing about whether my edits on the exam was right, but he gains a point back bc he was willing to walk me through what I needed help with).

I took Pre-modern before with Professor Branstetter and now I am taking his modern class. He is easily one of the best professors in the poly sci department. He engages the students in the content and explains the concepts cohesively. I was very interested in pre-modern so taking the modern class is like a refresher of. the content but with newer thinkers. I think everyone should go take this class w/ Branstetter.

This is one of my favorite classes I have taken at UCLA. John is such a nice person and genuinely cares so much about his students. The classes are engaging, and the workload is super manageable. There are also no tests which is a huge bonus.

I absolutely loved this class! It is really unique and gives us such an important insight into political theory through a non-Western lens.
Professor Branstetter is truly the most understanding and accommodating professor, it is a real joy to learn with him!

Being a student which hates the density that is associated with political theory, and theory in general I was skeptical of taking a course like this. However, Professor Branstetter is quite literally the best in the department and simplifies something so complex with pop culture references and analogies. I didn't quite know what to expect when I enrolled besides the fact that he has a reputation as an engaging lecturer, boy did he live up to that and more! He even records lectures still, without any more COVID protocols and made our midterms and final take home exams! We had two midterms, one on week 4 and another on week 8, with a final due at the end of finals week. Very manageable workload, and easy to review considering he posts the lectures. Branstetter is so inspiring and a pure joy to learn from in class every day. If you get the chance to take his class, I highly recommend it because you will come out of it with respect for political theory or even with more adoration for it than you had before!