POL SCI 151A
African Politics: Government and Politics of Africa
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Comparative study of government and politics in contemporary Africa, with special attention to state/society relations, interaction of politics and economic development, political institutions, and conflict and conflict resolution. Letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - For the most part, this course was pretty interesting and undemanding. The map quiz during Week 1 was a little harsh - yes, you will have to remember the name, location, and capital of every Subsaharan African country by then. The midterm was rough and tested us on subjects that were glossed over in class. The majority of the class bombed it. The final wasn’t too bad, though.
Fall 2018 - For the most part, this course was pretty interesting and undemanding. The map quiz during Week 1 was a little harsh - yes, you will have to remember the name, location, and capital of every Subsaharan African country by then. The midterm was rough and tested us on subjects that were glossed over in class. The majority of the class bombed it. The final wasn’t too bad, though.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - I would highly recommend this class! Posner is an engaging lecturer and TA Dan Harker was amazing, I would also recommend him. The class was very interesting and also pretty easy. The midterm paper was based on an interesting novel that wasn’t very long and was easy to connect to the course. The midterm and final exams were a lot of writing and definitely required studying but they were very fair. The professor sends out a list of terms to study and if you truly study them well and have attended class regularly then you can do well. It is important that you come to class because lectures are not recorded and the slides posted are mostly just pictures. Also a lot of the concepts he asks about on the final aren’t things you can find enough about online. I went to every lecture but didn’t do any readings and I did well, I just did the necessary readings that I needed to understand certain terms from the final study guide as part of my studying.
Winter 2025 - I would highly recommend this class! Posner is an engaging lecturer and TA Dan Harker was amazing, I would also recommend him. The class was very interesting and also pretty easy. The midterm paper was based on an interesting novel that wasn’t very long and was easy to connect to the course. The midterm and final exams were a lot of writing and definitely required studying but they were very fair. The professor sends out a list of terms to study and if you truly study them well and have attended class regularly then you can do well. It is important that you come to class because lectures are not recorded and the slides posted are mostly just pictures. Also a lot of the concepts he asks about on the final aren’t things you can find enough about online. I went to every lecture but didn’t do any readings and I did well, I just did the necessary readings that I needed to understand certain terms from the final study guide as part of my studying.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Roberts is a nice guy. The class is pretty easy throughout. He doesn't always seem to know what he's talking about and him and his reader have way different standards of what assignments should be like. My issue with the class is that I received 98% and above on every assignment except the midterm (which I got 93%) and the final presentation brought me down to a B+ so I was pretty disappointed in his distribution. He gives templates for how to do assignments then his reader constantly calls almost every submission "minimalist" (for everyone not just me) and gives childish comments like "sigh....this is so minimalist." Other than that, it's doable and easy.
Professor Roberts is a nice guy. The class is pretty easy throughout. He doesn't always seem to know what he's talking about and him and his reader have way different standards of what assignments should be like. My issue with the class is that I received 98% and above on every assignment except the midterm (which I got 93%) and the final presentation brought me down to a B+ so I was pretty disappointed in his distribution. He gives templates for how to do assignments then his reader constantly calls almost every submission "minimalist" (for everyone not just me) and gives childish comments like "sigh....this is so minimalist." Other than that, it's doable and easy.
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