Professor
Daniel Posner
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Most Helpful Review
Posner's Comparative Politics class is interesting. He goes over your run-of-the-mill comparative breadth (institutions, etc) and then moves on to globalization. He is well prepared and lectures very effectively. The course reader is quite expensive (~$80), but a breeze to read. On the tests, a simple definition and how it relates to the overarching ideas in the class would get you an A.
Posner's Comparative Politics class is interesting. He goes over your run-of-the-mill comparative breadth (institutions, etc) and then moves on to globalization. He is well prepared and lectures very effectively. The course reader is quite expensive (~$80), but a breeze to read. On the tests, a simple definition and how it relates to the overarching ideas in the class would get you an A.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2022 - I felt like professor posner was really engaging with his lectures but my only qualm with this class is the variability in TA harshness. If you have a lenient TA who is willing to hear your arguments out and actually allows participation, you will likely do well. If that is not the case, you might be unfairly penalized and not get a grade that reflects your understanding of the material. tldr: the TA matters A LOT
Spring 2022 - I felt like professor posner was really engaging with his lectures but my only qualm with this class is the variability in TA harshness. If you have a lenient TA who is willing to hear your arguments out and actually allows participation, you will likely do well. If that is not the case, you might be unfairly penalized and not get a grade that reflects your understanding of the material. tldr: the TA matters A LOT
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
167C Political Development One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken at UCLA. The midterm and finals are very clear with what is on them before, so you know what to study (and you actually have to know your stuff) Posner really wants you to learn. he is a great lecturer who picks great TAs (ruth was really helpful). the weekly questions keep you in the loop in case you miss a reading or two. TAKE THIS CLASS
167C Political Development One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken at UCLA. The midterm and finals are very clear with what is on them before, so you know what to study (and you actually have to know your stuff) Posner really wants you to learn. he is a great lecturer who picks great TAs (ruth was really helpful). the weekly questions keep you in the loop in case you miss a reading or two. TAKE THIS CLASS
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - Posner is definitely one of the better professors I have had at UCLA within the poli sci department. His class is based on the following: Section participation (15%) In-class midterm (25%) Take-home midterm (25%) Final (35%) It's very easy to get a 100% in participation, just show up to section and say at least one thing during class. Regarding the midterm, it was broken up into an in-class midterm and a take-home midterm. Both were pretty reasonable. Regarding the former, Posner gave us a list of around 30 terms a week beforehand and we had to write a paragraph or two in a blue book about 6 terms from a list of 8 from the list of 30 terms. We had to define it in addition to identifying its significance in the context of the course. The latter was an essay that we had around 30 hours to complete asking us to evaluate a country's development prospects based on a list of facts about the country. Both were not super difficult and it was not hard to earn an A on both. The final was optional when I took the class due to ICE activity in LA/Westwood, but it consisted of 3 sections. The first section mimicked the in-class midterm with us having to write about 4 ID terms from a list of 6 taken from a greater list of 30. The second section was a short-answer section where you had to answer 2 out of 3 questions. The last section was an in-class essay. The first two sections were focused on the 2nd half of the course while the last section would've covered the whole course. If you decided not to take the final, your grade would be based on the following: Section participation (23%) In-class midterm (38.5%) Take-home midterm (38.5%) Regarding the class itself, it is quite interesting. Posner is a solid lecturer who does a great job of conveying information. While his slides aren't great and he doesn't record his lectures, he makes it for it by being a great teacher. Posner is also very helpful during office hours (or student hours as he calls them), so make sure to go to them. While there is a lot of reading in the class (could range from 50-80 pgs if not more a week), the readings are manageable if spaced out properly and you could honestly get away with not doing them (although some of the ID terms are only mentioned in the readings). Overall, I would highly recommend taking Posner's class; he is one of my favorite professors within the poli sci department! P.S. Shoutout Shreyes Jayaram, he was such an amazing TA in addition to being a relatively fair grader as well!
Spring 2025 - Posner is definitely one of the better professors I have had at UCLA within the poli sci department. His class is based on the following: Section participation (15%) In-class midterm (25%) Take-home midterm (25%) Final (35%) It's very easy to get a 100% in participation, just show up to section and say at least one thing during class. Regarding the midterm, it was broken up into an in-class midterm and a take-home midterm. Both were pretty reasonable. Regarding the former, Posner gave us a list of around 30 terms a week beforehand and we had to write a paragraph or two in a blue book about 6 terms from a list of 8 from the list of 30 terms. We had to define it in addition to identifying its significance in the context of the course. The latter was an essay that we had around 30 hours to complete asking us to evaluate a country's development prospects based on a list of facts about the country. Both were not super difficult and it was not hard to earn an A on both. The final was optional when I took the class due to ICE activity in LA/Westwood, but it consisted of 3 sections. The first section mimicked the in-class midterm with us having to write about 4 ID terms from a list of 6 taken from a greater list of 30. The second section was a short-answer section where you had to answer 2 out of 3 questions. The last section was an in-class essay. The first two sections were focused on the 2nd half of the course while the last section would've covered the whole course. If you decided not to take the final, your grade would be based on the following: Section participation (23%) In-class midterm (38.5%) Take-home midterm (38.5%) Regarding the class itself, it is quite interesting. Posner is a solid lecturer who does a great job of conveying information. While his slides aren't great and he doesn't record his lectures, he makes it for it by being a great teacher. Posner is also very helpful during office hours (or student hours as he calls them), so make sure to go to them. While there is a lot of reading in the class (could range from 50-80 pgs if not more a week), the readings are manageable if spaced out properly and you could honestly get away with not doing them (although some of the ID terms are only mentioned in the readings). Overall, I would highly recommend taking Posner's class; he is one of my favorite professors within the poli sci department! P.S. Shoutout Shreyes Jayaram, he was such an amazing TA in addition to being a relatively fair grader as well!
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