Prof. Panagia is perhaps one of the most engaging and interesting lower-div Poli Sci professors. His lectures are informative but can sometimes feel like you're being inundated with too much info at once. Still, this class is very worthwhile as it creates the foundation of knowledge of which the rest of the major is built upon. There is no final or midterm for the class- your grade is made up of four 1200 word essays and participation, each counting for 20% of your grade. The essays can seem deceptively difficult at first glance, but take the time to talk to your TA in discussion or office hours about it.

Pros: interesting readings, great lectures, podcasted, and Panagia is fine with people interrupting him for clarification which is really really cool of him and he has the patience of Yoda.

Cons: the class is almost too easy, and people sort of take advantage of the fact that the reading is kinda sorta (meaning you can get by with sparknotes and going to lecture) optional. Which is sad, because he tries so hard to make the material relatable and fun and it is in fact relatable and fun if you do the reading!

Easy and fun class . . . . consists of 4 essays, all of which if you follow the prompt you'll do well on. You only need to read about 5-6 pages after a spark notes summary to find the right pages to get an A on the essays. BUT, I only did that once because the readings he assigns are interesting as are the lectures.

Now, he explicitly states the following: "I do not lecture on the essay topics" which is complete and utter bullshit as he totally does just not exclusively (to his credit he avoids doing so in the beginning and refrained from doing so for the first 3 weeks).

Your arguments for this class only need to be logical and NOT SUMMARY based. They don't have to be convincing and only require a sentence or two disclaimer about opposing views.

Finally, shoutout to Eric Baldwin, great TA, try to get him, facilitated great discussion during section.

Selling all works needed including the course reader for $70.
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Although I found the essays to be hard at first, it ended up not being that difficult to get an A. Panagia's lectures are engaging but not always essential to the essays. The class is fast-paced in reading but manageable. All grades are essays and participation in section, and the grades vary by TA.

Honestly the most engaging class I've taken so far. The lectures were fascinating, the reading was relevant and interesting, and Panagia himself is just a great instructor. I will say that if you don't like theoretical thinking and broad spectrum ideas then this probably isn't the class for you. The reading can be dense, but if you put the time into it it's incredibly fun. The grading is based almost entirely on 4 essays, each worth 20%. The prompts can be a bit vague, so it's best to talk to your TA to see how they may want you to interpret them. There's no midterm or final, just those papers. If I could give one piece of advice it would be to go to Panagia's office hours. He's really willing talk with you about anything in the class and it's just generally a great way to have some really interesting conversations.

Very helpful and great guy. Class is NOT easy by any means, there is a lot of reading and the 3 writing assignments are quite challenging. Be sure to ask your TA a lot of questions, I had Rui as my TA and he was great and very helpful as well. Be sure to go to your section every week also, because that is a great place to get questions answered, as well as get other people's perspectives on the readings.

Although this class is challenging, I'm very glad I took it. Professor Panagia is great and his lectures were interesting. There are 3 writing assignments throughout the quarter and the prompts are broad, so make sure to go to your TA for clarification and guidance. The weekly readings are pretty tough but Professor Panagia explains them in lecture, which is super helpful. Overall, I definitely recommend this class, but it isn't easy.

ONLY take this class if you 1) like philosophy and 2) like/are good at writing.
The course is certainly not a "political science" course, it is more philosophical. We read: Nietzsche, Plato, Aristotle, Martin Luther, St Augustine, the Bible, Rousseau, Hobbes, and Marx.
There is a significant amount of weekly reading, which you can sort of skimp on - then again, I didn't get an A so perhaps you really do have to do the entire assigned reading. I think the main thing to keep in mind is that this is not an "easy GE." If you like those authors, you will like this course.
Professor Panagia is an occasionally funny lecturer, but he tends to ramble and I'd be lying if I said I found his lectures captivating. That being said, if you ask him questions, he does often provide helpful answers.
Ultimately, the course depends near-entirely on your TA. When I asked my TA to read my "writing assignment," they said they would only read 3-4 sentences. I *heard* that other TA's would read the entire writing assignment.

I took this class during the fall quarter as a freshman. As a non-poli sci major and an average writer, I found this class a bit frustrating at the start. However, it is definitely doable. This is by no means an easy G.E but I would take this class again because I became a much better writer. Take this class if you a semi-challenging GE.

This was an amazing, but difficult class. I really learned a lot and was always engaged in lectures. The reading is scary at first but is actually easy to read and interesting. Our class grade was based on 3 essays (worth 25% each) and then 25% from discussion section pop quizzes. If you put a lot of time and effort into your essays than you can do well in this class, but it is not super easy. It is, however, extremely rewarding. This is the most interesting and rewarding class that I have taken at ucla so far.