I really loved Digeser. He made me realize my love of poli sci. He is extremely hard but it was worth it. He is an amazing lecturer and he is able to thoroughly explain really hard concepts. Just summarize all of the theories in a couple sentences and you will be fine.
Hard professor, boring lectures, one has to attend lecture and read to pass
Not the most dynamic lecturer, but very thorough and engaging with the class, even in largish embarcadero hall. Will take student discussion questions for 30 minutes straight if need be. Heavy, but interesting reading- Foucalt, Strauss, and Berlin. Tough exams, with lengthy, page long ID's and complex essays. Office time with him or TA a must.
i really liked him a lot, i took ps 1 during summer school and i was one of the only ppl that got an A in the class. when you read or look at your lecture notes, try to mentally summarize each theorist in like a cpl sentences and you will be good to go for the short answer essays questions on the midterm and the final. try to simplify the ideas.
Digeser is by no means an easy professor but he makes the dull subject of political theory interesting. However, if you don't like listening to other student's opinions, don't take this class. Also, very intriguing paper topics. :-)
I forgot to mention that taking this course linked with writing made a huge difference in getting extra exposure and analysis of the material. I liked the writing class much more than the section for this course.
I finished this course a little embittered because grading. there were some surprises on the final. Yeah..the lectures are interesting if you want to wake up at 930 every morning! Theres just too much material here to master, 3 years later Im tryign to recall what one of the small authors names is and I cant find any web resources for the course. The TA's are a little disingenuous...considering this is supposed to be a lower div intro course, they really slam you and try to weed you out of the dept.
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He's not a bad prof, but he had an **** TA (John- I think) who everybody hates. So stay away from John.
i really liked how he lectured. he repeated important points, which i highlighted in my notes for tests.
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To be truthful, there's A LOT of reading but Digeser does a very good jobs clarifying them. Exams are mostly based on lecture material, while the paper is entirely based on evidence from the readings. Midterm was 4 IDs/1 Essay....and "medium hard". You can "pass" simply by showing up to lecture because he goes over the readings pretty well.
Don't take this class if you can get out of it. It's pointless and I've learned barely anything after spending hours upon hours per week doing all the readings and studying for his unnecessarily difficult exams. Plus you gotta do an 8-10 page paper. The class is very boring too. NOT the best prof!!!
Hands-down the best social sciences teacher at UCSB. His ability to make a room of 60 feel like a room of 10 makes understanding fairly dense, involved material a snap. Do not leave UCSB without taking at least one class from the guy.
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He's an amazing Prof, brillant, but exams are really tough, not many do well on them, his TA Derek is a know it all and isn't leanent.
Good teacher, makes reading clear. Class is fully about reading and understanding concepts. If this is a strong point, then take the class. I found it really interesting and read good selection of books.
Classes helped clear up reading, but never did well on tests. Expects level of understanding on tests you don't get from class.
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