POLS W4895

3000 pages of reading. Lots of note taking in lectures. Mandatory section for undergrads. Optional section for grad students. Midterm and a final are the only parts graded. Midterm is optional for grad students, but you'd have to have a screw loose not to go the exam and try it out, even if you decide at the end not to hand it in. If you work hard, you will likely be pleasantly surprised by your grade.

Fantastic TA. Very accessible. He led incredibly useful discussion sections, allowing students to participate fully, but also keeping things organized and making sure everybody understood the large reading list.

There are no recent reviews for this class, which perturbed me when I decided to take it this last semester (Fall 2013). I thought I would add my thoughts to make up for the dearth of information. The last person who wrote on this class was a GS student who had previously served in the Marine Corps. I write this as 3.5 GPA political science undergraduate junior with something of a hard-on for military history and affairs who got a surprise A. Readings: The course is almost entirely about the readings. There are approximately 3000 pages of it all, which sounds terribly intimidating when one first signs up. Indeed, Betts does everything in his power to impress upon you just how terrified you should be, but in reality I found it much more manageable than the horror stories I had heard. Most weeks have a relatively modest 50-200 pages of reading, which is no more than Jervis's Intro to IR, or any other moderately high level polisci course for that matter. One or two weeks have gargantuan loads of 400-500 pages, while an equal number have fewer than 50 pages. I would say that I actually read about 70-80% of the material without breaking much of a sweat. I simply missed out the entirety of the really heavy weeks. On account of the fact that the exams allow you to choose your questions, you only read to know about 70% of the course well to get an A. Basically, when it comes to the re…

Josh was everythign one can want in a TA. He led good discussion sections, where the readings and lectures were actually discussed in a way that made sure we grasped the main points and full arguments, and were not allowed to become editorial platforms for the loudmouths in the class. He was accessible outside of class. He gave fair grades, and highly detailed and valuable criticisms and comments on the midterms that made sure we knew exactly what was expected on the final, and that we actually learned something from looking over our midterms.

2,944 pages of reading. One very involved midterm, optional for grad students. Five of eight IDs and one of two essays. One very involved, cumulative final. Eight of twelve IDs and three of six essays. I cited at least ten different authors for each essay of the final. Discussion section is mandatory for undergrads, optional for grads, and not worth the hour you'd otherwise spend reading.

First, let me note that I am a General Studies undergraduate who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. I entered the class already comfortable with much of the material and I got an A-, which I believe is better than most of the SIPA students. Even with my headstart on the subject matter, I left this class with a vastly improved ability to read, comprehend, organize and synthesize a lot of information. This is the first class of my academic career from which I will retain a great deal of useful information for years to come. This class is mostly about the reading, with Betts as a centerpiece who holds it all together. The effort and style of the instructor fell short of the standard set for students, the instructor's experience, or the centrality of the course to SIPA's M.A. in International Security Policy. His years of experience are evident but his professorial style is lazy. He read lectures, usually verbatim, from a paper which seemed like it was written years ago and given the slimmest of revisions from one semester to the next. The lectures and readings are organized into thematic sections. The reading list posed thought questions for all of the readings. Your study should focus on answering these questions on the midterm and final while citing the title and author of all relevant readings. The bar is set very high for the midterm and final, with the TAs docking points for a…

His legendary reading list is no joke. There are a few movies that you must also watch outside of class in addition to the reading. (yes, they come up on the midterm/final) There is an optional midterm for grad students and a final for everyone. No papers because as Betts says - you need the time to read.

Dr. Betts is a well-known academic in his field and he is really a very nice person as well. He expects you to read a lot for this class but doesn't require any other outside work. Most students join informal reading groups and pass around summaries to cope with the reading load. The best part of his class was when he stepped away from the podium and spoke to the class on the fly without his pre-determined lecture notes. Because he is reading his lecture, some people find it difficult to keep up and take notes. Outside of class he is very easily approachable and really very nice.

3000 pages in one semester, optional midterm for graduate students and a kick ass final comprising of 10/18 IDs + 3/6 essays.

Betts' class has loads of readings but speed reading and taking down 1 page summaries of each reading will get you far. His lectures are fascinating although he talks very fast and they seem to have no structure. That being said, the optional sections are the most helpful if you plan to be a lazy ass and not do any reading because the TAs are wonderful in pointing out the key ideas of each reading.