This course was not difficult at all. If you attended class and TA sections, participated in the TA sections, and do well on the essays, you're good to go. There are also some quizzes the TAs give out that are pretty easy. If you read the lectures and skim the reading assignments for reference points, you should be good to go for the essays. Professor Arfi, however, goes on several tangents, despite being an intelligent person. He know a lot but rarely gets his point across succinctly. Which makes it hard to listen to him. I would have preferred online format and reading all the lectures and would have learned just as much.

Goes off on too many tangents. Talks too much about non-course related material.

Read lecture notes. They will have everything you need.

4 take home essay exams; TA grades everything and I really liked Katie Shapiro so have her as ur TA if you can. Lectures 2x a week and then discussion which wasn’t bad but attendance is graded as well as discussion I’m the sections but my TA graded fairly easy.

talks a lot about global security and defining international relations. material is pretty easy to follow

Prof was okay; class is more TA dependent bc discussions and grades

it all depends on your TA

Just overall not enjoyable. Each TA grades differently and the professor did not care enough to have a level playing field

A lot of theory with examples

Nice guys but rants a lot during lectures

Great class with a very clear grading system. Total grade is comprised of 4 take-home essays/exams (24 hours to complete), 4 in-class quizzes during the discussion sections, and attendance/discussion post participation grades. I personally thought it was a very interesting and manageable class. 100% would take it again and recommend to anyone interested in International Relations.

Lectures would be on theories of international relations and how to relate them back to real world examples. TA sections were useful to clear up any questions from lecture, take 4 quizzes throughout the semester, and prep for the essays before they were assigned. Lectures can become difficult to follow if the subject does not interest you, but taking good notes helps immensely for the essays.

Professor Arfi is a great lecturer and professor. Attending his office hours are extremely helpful if you’re not understanding something fully. Sometimes lectures go a little off-topic, but it never spirals too far away from the themes we discussed.

Attend every lecture, skim the readings, and take good notes. Write down the examples he gives and focus on his explanations of how they tie back to the theory at hand. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the professor and TA’s for this class are extremely helpful.