POL SCI M132B
International Relations of Middle East
Description: (Same as Honors Collegium M157.) Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Role of great powers in Middle East, with emphasis on American, Soviet, and West European policies since 1945. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - The material itself is interesting, but his lectures are dry and he is not very well organized. I think he definitely knows a lot and wants students to learn, but the lack of organization and maybe the online format due to covid made things worse. He was constantly behind on posting lectures and rarely stuck to his syllabus schedule. He graded pretty harshly on the midterm and when I submitted a midterm regrade request he told me to remind him to read it and he never ended up reading it. Answers for midterm and final exam have to be extremely detailed and pretty much perfect in order to get a high score.
Spring 2020 - The material itself is interesting, but his lectures are dry and he is not very well organized. I think he definitely knows a lot and wants students to learn, but the lack of organization and maybe the online format due to covid made things worse. He was constantly behind on posting lectures and rarely stuck to his syllabus schedule. He graded pretty harshly on the midterm and when I submitted a midterm regrade request he told me to remind him to read it and he never ended up reading it. Answers for midterm and final exam have to be extremely detailed and pretty much perfect in order to get a high score.
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2017 - I had very little knowledge, if any, about the dynamics behind the Arab-Israeli conflict, but by taking this class I really learned a lot (and not just memorized concepts) about the topic. So far, my favorite class in two years at UCLA! Professor Spiegel knows a lot about the subject and is really passionated about it. Also, I appreciated how it was not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but fairly balanced between the two sides. Go for Scott as TA, he is awesome - one of the most prepared TAs I had, very helpful and a fair grader too.
Spring 2017 - I had very little knowledge, if any, about the dynamics behind the Arab-Israeli conflict, but by taking this class I really learned a lot (and not just memorized concepts) about the topic. So far, my favorite class in two years at UCLA! Professor Spiegel knows a lot about the subject and is really passionated about it. Also, I appreciated how it was not pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but fairly balanced between the two sides. Go for Scott as TA, he is awesome - one of the most prepared TAs I had, very helpful and a fair grader too.