This is the worst professor I have ever had. First of all, he is extremely conservative, and his entire class is based around the fact that he is conservative. The first thing he will tell you is that he is a "Republican, which means real American." And if he finds out that you are not conservative, he will give you lower grades because of it. Second of all, he has about 50 slides each class filled with text that he just reads off of during lecture. Thirdly, he lies about the facts in order to make Republican presidents, like Bush and Reagan, look better. Lastly, he is extremely rude to any students who ask him questions or visit him in his office hours. If you have any option at all, do not take this class.

PS 128: Is a Visiting professor. Thinks that students are ONLY taking his class, thus he gives a lot of reading and insane study guides.
Can talk forever. Extremely boring.
GPA killer.

What the others say about his lecture is true. He does say everything in lecture that is on his slide. However, he also adds a lot of information. That said, if you do the reading you probably don't have to go to class. He selects his readings pretty well. I go to class and I have gotten an A of A- in all the classes I have taken with him: 120 A and B and 128 A and B. His reviews are also really good. He writes out outlines for you exactly how HE would answer each question. If you don't get the hint then you don't deserve the A. Take Professor Hager for every class you can.

If you're a political science major, especially if your concentration is international relations, or if you're just taking a political science course, take Professor Robert Hager! He's an expert on the Soviet Union/Russia. Last quarter, I took POL SCI 128B: International Relations of Post-Communist Russia. It was not easy at all, but it was worth the effort. The midterm paper was difficult for me, but I saved myself during the final exam. Prof. Hager let his students know what was going to be on the exam, and provided us with a study guide. I studied really hard for the final, and the hard work paid off. I'm currently taking POL SCI 139: U.S. National Security Policy since 1945. This course is a little bit harder since there's a 15-20 page research paper due by the 5th week of the quarter. Prof. Hager was available and more than happy to help me and my fellow classmates find sources for our papers. If you're a diligent student, and come to lecture religiously, and actually pay attention, you will enjoy this course. There's so much to learn from Prof. Hager, and you might emerge from his class as a Cold War or a Soviet Union expert. If you want an easy A, this class is not for you.

Here are the things you need to get an A in this class:

1) Do the readings because they are critical for the paper
2) Don't need to go to class cause you can get an A by just doing the readings
3) Write very formulaic essays (ie make sure thesis is at the end of the first paragraph, which needs to be to the point, and make sure each intro sentence relates back to the thesis)

I got a B+ on the first paper because I was too involved in my argument and therefore didn't write a very formulaic paper. I learned from my mistake and wrote an extremely formulaic final paper and got a 100% on it despite the fact that I thought it was crap, argument-wise.

He is very rude, very boring, and very conservative but the readings are interesting and if you stick to formulaic papers you will get an A.

I think the reviews on this website are pretty accurate. He's not the greatest PERSON to approach or talk to, but he definitely knows his stuff. If you care to attend lecture (which, I'm sure he doesn't care if you do or not), you will learn a lot from him. However, attending lecture is not necessary to do well in the class. But, don't be fooled by the ratings, a lot of students don't do well because they don't take the course serious. It's not the hardest class, but it depends on the TA who grades your essays. Take it with caution, but, like any other class, you get what you put into it.

i went to class on the first day, second day, day of the midterm, and day of the final. completely useless to go to class really. his lectures are sooo boring and his slides are extremely unhelpful. its just two take home essays for the midterm and the final and the topics are easily research-able. if you do your research for a few days before the essays are due and write them with any fluidity then you shouldn't get anything less than a B. keep in mind its only 2 essays each 6-8 pages for the entire quarter 50% each. so focus for a few days before each is due and make them count. otherwise, enjoy your time off while you're NOT attending his class!!! go work out at wooden or something. or start your drinking earlier! or go see a significant other! or hang out with your friends instead! you can even go to class and just play games or scope classmates out because in the long run, that is definitely more useful than listening to hager talk and talk and talk. it was a class supposedly about afghanistan and the middle east but we talked about the cold war till week 8. take him though. easy if you go about it right.

I went to class five times the entire quarter: the first day, the midterm review, to turn in my midterm paper, the final review and to turn in my final paper. I still got an A after writing both papers (6-8 pages) in 6 hours each. All you need to do to get an A is read the sections that are important to your paper topic and follow the essay format Hager recommends. The readings he assigns are fairly interesting too. Easy. Take Hager; I plan on taking him again in the future.

I have no idea how anyone can complain about the difficulty of Hager's courses. His class is super easy and straightforward and you don't really have to do the reading and definitely don't have to go to lecture to get an A. All you have to read is what you plan to write on your midterm or final exam and he pretty much gives the class outlines for each potential essay question during the midterm and final review sessions. The fact that he holds review sessions speaks at the ease of this course, how many professors baby us like that? Yes, his lectures are mind numbingly boring but this class is definitely an easy A, anyone who says otherwise probably has delusional expectations about college. Also his conservative crap isn't as in your face as others claim, suck it up and get your A.

In my opinion,he has one of the lowest ratings for the "caring for student's learning" category.
He's very rude. I have never said that or even felt that about a professor at UCLA.
And you can tell by the other reviews that all of the learning is through the powerpoint slides and books-- which you need for writing the papers.
The good thing about his classes are the CNN documentary videos he shows once about every 2 weeks. And there are only 2 papers, so you have downtime in between them.
If you want an A -- you gotta use the books. that's the only way.
payce, i'm officially done with this guy.