Professor Min is easily the best professor I have taken at UCLA. He was extremely clear in his lectures, which were accompanied by a slideshow, which he gave to the class with some of the terms and definitions blanked out to help us follow along. Most weeks (8 of 10) we had to do a CCLE-based quiz of about 15 questions covering the topics that we covered in class, with the quiz comprising 30% of our grade. There was no final, rather we had to submit a six-page essay on an important foreign policy issue, in Fall 2021 the essay examined where the US went wrong in Afghanistan. This essay was broken into a proposal due week 3 (5% of grade), a draft due week 8, and the actual essay (45% of grade) due on the Monday of week 9, which meant that there we had nothing to do during Finals week for this class. Participation in discussion sections counted for 20% of the grade. I had Merabi as my TA and he was very knowledgable on all of the subjects and very open to helping out if I had any questions or problems. Overall, if I could take this course again, I would not hesitate to and I would recommend taking it as a GE credit as you do not need to understand any complexities of political science that Professor Min does not cover.

I received an A+ in this class. I am selling my 130 pages typed-up notes for this class (all lectures + discussions) for only $15. They can be shared right away. Email me at ************* if interested.

Professor Min is one of if not the best professor that I have had during my time at UCLA. His lectures were extremely clear. He provided detailed breakdowns for concepts and theories—allowing us to contextualise each of them with a relevant real-life application of them—and even blanked out certain key terms and sentences from the powerpoint PDF for lectures that he made available prior to classes to allow us to fill in the blanks as we went along. The concepts we learned were genuinely interesting and I’ve already found myself applying some of the topics related to bargaining and negotiation in daily life. We were assigned weekly, open-book quizzes once a week which very well-designed and easy. Discussions were enjoyable and gave us further opportunities to apply what we learned to real-life situations. The ‘final’ for this class is a 5-6 page long analysis paper on a significant world issue related to the concepts we studied. Last year, it was a paper on the Iranian nuclear issue and this year it was about the most effective ways for the U.S. to handle North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. The paper was not a cake-walk by any means, but if you have passable research skills and understood content well enough, you will do very well. I haven’t heard of anyone who got below a B+ on it. Grade breakdown: Quizzes 45%, Paper 40%, Participation in section 15%. Overall amazing G.E that I would recommend to anyone regardless of major.

---Lecture: Min is the one of the best lecturers I have had so far. He makes the lectures extremely engaging and tries his best to incorporate entertaining elements. The information is presented very clearly, and his slides are a sufficient replacement for the textbook.
---Discussion: Sections do not provide much new information, but they do clarify certain concepts and provide examples of situations that are useful to bring up during exams.
---Paper: Min gave an interesting topic for the paper, and I had fun researching for it. The deadlines are reasonable, and the TAs offer good advice throughout the process.
---Exams: The midterm and final were both pretty difficult, but they were reasonable. You do have to do quite well on both exams and the paper to get an A in the class.
---Tips: Min provides sufficient information through his lectures. The slides are useful but are not a stand alone. You don't need the textbook if you use the recourses Min gives.

I loved this class and I highly recommend it. Min was very clear during lecture and very helpful before and after class as well as during office hours. Reading the textbook is not necessary, as it basically just regurgitates his lecture, but it was helpful in my opinion. The assessments are multiple choice and easy enough if you study. The discussions and practice midterms and finals were also very helpful. This class gave me an appreciation for and interest in world politics and more awareness about politics in the world outside the US.

The key to an A in this class is to 1) do well on the paper 2) collect good notes/memorize the content from the posted slides and bring this knowledge to the midterm and final. You do NOT need to read the textbook in order to do well (though some may find it helpful. In my opinion, though, it was way too much reading to do [~100 pages per week] and I was fine without it).

Professor Min is a great lecturer and I will miss being in his class! I'm a poli sci major but I would recommend this class to anyone interested in learning how states interact with each other and applying theories to trends we see in the world today - super interesting stuff!

Great class, very smart professor

I wish Min would teach more undergrad classes. That might be his only flaw. He is the best professor ever and keeps you engaged in lectures with only one research paper that you work on throughout the quarter in section. Grading on the research paper is dependent on your TA, but mine was chill. Min as a prof is the best and sets up the easiest grading system ever. Take him if he ever teaches any undergrad class.

POL SCI 20 with Professor Min is a great introduction to international relations. Professor Min himself is a great lecturer, providing entertaining examples, engaging slides, and an infectiously upbeat demeanor. He and his TAs are also very accommodating in office hours and willing to guide you through any difficult material or questions about the paper. Lectures are recorded, so attendance isn't required, but I would recommend going only because it's easier to digest the information in person. Speaking of lectures, everything that is covered there is what makes it onto the exams. DON'T BUY THE TEXTBOOK. Studying the slides was more than enough to prepare for tests.

This class has one midterm, a final, and an analysis paper. The midterm and final are mostly multiple choice with a few short answers at the end, of which you only need to answer your choice of a selection of questions. They're extremely fair and you will likely get a near-perfect score if you study the slides. The paper is very interesting. It has you give a policy proposal about a current event in foreign policy. This quarter, it focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Though it doesn't directly relate to course content, you are expected to integrate what's taught in the class into the paper. It's graded relatively softly, but don't count on it boosting your grade like the midterm and final. Overall, the grade is set up like this: 15% participation/attendance in discussions, 5% analysis paper proposal (a 1-page write-up that functions as an outline for the paper; graded for completion), 20% midterm, 30% final paper, 30% final.

The workload for this class is very light. Paying attention in lectures and glancing through your notes shortly thereafter will be all the preparation for the exams that you need, and the textbook reading is not required (seriously, don't waste your time with it). Discussions are easygoing and sometimes have a fun activity, like a debate on a current policy issue. They're mostly used for paper and exam preparation, though. The only major time commitment outside of class is the paper, which is only five to six pages long and stretches over most of the quarter.

In conclusion, take this class with Professor Min! It's a great way to fulfill pre-major requirements for the political science major and is a pretty easy social analysis GE (though there are probably options that require even less work).

Professor Min is amazing. Not only is he one of the few professors who can actually captivate my attention, but he also just a great dude. He has a good teaching style, decent slides, and interesting lectures. His class isn't pretty difficult, in my opinion. I would recommend doing the textbook readings to back up what he goes over during lecture. The exams in my opinion are kind of common sense so you don't have to study a ton if you understand what he goes over in lecture. Definitely know the important key terms though and put in some effort on the analysis proposal paper. It is not hard to get an A in his class; you just need to put in a tiny bit of effort.