I would rather have my fingernails pulled out than take another class with this man. Don't get me wrong the class is easy, but it is tedious and in general this man is an uninspired professor. He loves to just pile on a bunch of useless busy work that makes you want to stick pencils into your eyes. But hey, like I said its a pretty easy A, as long as you don't mind the soul sucking BS.

This professor is already very poorly reviewed that there's really not much more to say. I'd only like to add that students should believe what's been said about his teaching style. It is all over the place. There's an enormous amount of reading. Group projects are worth huge chunks of your grade and force you to cooperate with people who may not pull their own weight. The exams are extremely difficult, but at least they are curved. Overall I would not recommend this class even if the title of it sounds interesting. It's not really about authoritarian politics. Rather it focuses on scholarly debates between several academics about the abstract concepts of democracy and dictatorship. A tiny fraction of the class is actually about looking at actual regimes in the real word. Most of it pertains to several authors and their minute differences in their definitions of specific terms. There is also statistics involved so if you don't like math I would also not recommend this class.

If white bread was a dude but also just no. Go for it if you hate yourself.

This class initially appeared to be decent, however, as time went on, the course became more and more confusing and I felt that the materials that we learned in his lectures were very rushed which did not give us enough time to fully understand. I also expected to learn a mixture of politics and economics and how they are shaped together, I felt as if the majority was economics and just a tip of politics. Although I believe that the professor himself is not a bad person and reasonable to talk with, he was not good/ a little too rushed when it comes to teaching. The only positive I could think of was that the workload was manageable, there were 19 quizzes, 4 problem sets and 3 papers requiring 2~3 pages. Grading will vary with some provided with feedback and reasons why points were deducted, however, there were also some where we are only told where we got our points deducted but without giving proper reason. Overall, my time in this class was not pleasant, and would only recommend this class if there are no alternatives or is a requirement for your major.

It's been two quarters since I've taken this class so it's a little fuzzy but I can remember most of the important details. I think I did get the top grade in the class but I'll be as objective as possible.

Professor Roberts is a FAST talker. If you are someone who feels intimidated by fast talkers this class is definitely not for you. If you know a lot of the stuff beforehand, it will definitely help you understand what he's saying.

Midterm: (Only took a midterm cuz CORONA)

TBH a lot of the concepts are rehashes of ECON 1. If you've never taken ECON 1 or you don't have a firm grasp of ECON concepts you are in for a rollercoaster of confusion. On the midterm people got some disastrous grades because they weren't 100% sure about some basic concepts. The midterm was curved up, though, because people got some awful grades. There is also extra credit on the midterm. (I think I got a 100, and then my grade was boosted to 111 from extra credit+the curve.) I just reviewed quiz problems + past midterm exams that the professor uploads.

Read the book. Go. To. Office. Hours.
I don't think anyone can say they deserved a 111 but I did come close because I intuitively knew that I would have to go to the Prof's office hours as much as I could for research exercises and problem sets because they are not well-explained SO GO.

Good luck. I felt dumb a lot of the time because I couldn't understand what the Prof was saying most of the time even when he was talking directly at me in office hours. Good guy though. He tries to be helpful. He tries.

I am a stats major so I knew everything before the course. Had I not been a stats major, I would not have been able to follow the course because the Professor has no idea what he is talking about. Plus, he doesn't understand some of the concepts he teach (standard error vs standard deviation and anova and such) so it is painstaking watching him crash and burn. If I met him outside of class, I wouldn't have noticed him.

I loved this class! I'm a Poli Sci major that really enjoys STEM and it teaches R in course kata. It's a lot of async work but I really enjoyed it. However, if you have to code in R in the future for stats it's not very applicable in R studio. Quizzes are just like the practice quizzes they give out. I'd recommend this class if you're interested in coding and need a pre req!

The concepts of this class are pretty challenging, even after finishing the class with an A- I still don't fully understand some of it. Roberts often had problems finishing the planned lecture material for the day, often resulting in him rushing through material. Lectures were often confusing and he includes pollev questions for your participation grade. The tests were pretty tough, but he does curve them. Additionally, the tests are not a huge portion of your grade. I would not want to take this class again, but it wasn't terrible.

Yes, the class is a reverse method but it’s coding. Easy as long as you don’t procrastinate and actually do the work. People are too dramatic; all exams are open notes and textbook so you’ll be fine.

Strengths: Dr. Roberts is one of the most interesting and personable professors I've had. I liked his enthusiasm and excitement. I enjoyed the podcasts and assigned readings. They were easy to digest and thought-provoking. The problem sets, and essays were a good way to work towards mastery. The grading system was excellent and accounted for the difficulty of the course. I liked the participation polls and felt they made the class more engaging. The problem sets did help prepare us for exams. I appreciate that he took time to hold labs after class.

Weaknesses: This course was very challenging. While the textbook and assigned readings were fine, the lectures failed to clarify complex topics. I think they were too fast, and large topics on exams were glazed over in lectures. Even in the lab, the explanation was a bit too fast-paced when asked to clarify. This class prioritized getting through the bulk of the textbook rather than deeper understanding/learning. The weekly quizzes did little to prepare us for exam questions. I would've liked more clear grading rubrics for participation and essays. The class was too fast and vague for the level of understanding needed to do well.