Your grade in this class depends on your TA since they're the ones who grade your papers, and you get all your participation points from their discussions (which are mandatory). Professor Pagden is nice and he explains his slides well. There are two assignments - a midterm and a final essay, and their formats are pretty much the same. There is no textbook and the reading materials are given as PDFs.

There are two take home exams (4-5 pages), very manageable. Depending on ur TA, honestly from what I have heard both TA's are reasonable people. I can say so for Ellis, N. such an outstanding TA, she really cares to inform every student about how to do well in the exams. She thoroughly goes over each topic taught in class as well. Now, at times you need to participant in discussion (like 3 times) . Every lecture is recorded, so technical you do not need to attend class in person ( so not graded ). Exams questions are simple and defiantly doable. Reading is a lot, but straight to the point (follow the titles ( ex: Just or unjust war principles) broken up on each article, easier to develop an idea when typing an essay). Take time to type out an essay and you'll get an A. Also this my first year at UCLA as a transfer student, just wanted to mention that to give confront to my transfers. Overall loved the course content and if you are thinking of pursuing law school its a must to take this course. Very possible to get an A! lol, GPA friendly :)