David Johnston

This class was extremely interesting. It covered justice theories in several areas; climate, social, criminal, etc. Johnston was a great lecturer if you did the readings. He worked hard to facilitate discussions in a class that had 130 people.

A great professor for CC, and I was lucky to have him for a term. He's very knowledgable about a lot of the books, and I especially loved our classes on Hobbes and Locke (he is less knowledgeable about Al Ghazali and the Qur'an). He is full of himself and he knows it, and he tells us the most interesting, sometimes hilarious stories about his life. My biggest complaint would be that sometimes he would follow a student's point on a tangent for a very long time and it frustrated me that it seemed like we'd gotten nowhere, really. But generally he was able to keep conversations interesting and focused on the stuff that he prepared. The essays are graded fairly. He likes for you to be succint and not include lots of fluff. Every sentence should have a purpose in the essay. It's great to learn to write like this. The essay prompts are short, just a couple of sentences each, all based on the texts. But they are not often straightforward, and for CC essays you really should think through your points before starting to write. They are on the short end (1200-1500 words). If you have him for your professor, I would definitely keep the class! I certainly had a great CC experience.

Less readings 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2024 Course: POLSUN3911_001_2024_1-SEMINARINPOLITCALTHEORY : POLSUN3911_001_2024_1 - SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY Instructor: Julia Maier

Got a very good grasp of some of the 'issues' in current political theory

This class will likely disappoint you a little, but I would still recommend it. The material is very theory-based, but rather interesting. The workload is very manageable. However, Johnston kind of drones on the whole class, it is definitely hard to keep your eyes open sometimes (especially in Lerner cinema). He also gets off-topic a lot. The occasional class discussions are interesting and he usually puts the important points on the board. He doesn't like computer use in class which is annoying. There are pop quizzes on the readings which is annoying and the readings are long, but if you skim you'll be okay. He won't pop quiz back-to-back. Study your notes and the uploaded class doc thing for midterm and final, you'll be fine. The essays are graded quite critically, but I heard going to TA hours are helpful.

I'm slightly confused as to why Johnston doesn't have better reviews. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_FCFVJA0E8. For CC, he would definitely be one of the better professors to have considering that he knows his stuff. Especially for Machiavelli and Hobbes, he's written books on those guys. But for other areas like the Qur'an and Al-Gazhali, his knowledge could have been greater. But like what others have said perviously, Johnston is very particular about how he wants his students to write their papers. No fluff, no repeating yourself, and generally no bullshit. Though it is annoying at first, concise and precise writing is a good skill and something students who like to make themselves look smart rather than actually write something smart could pick up anyway.

I liked this course but the readings were highly theoretical and dry. I wish we had more historical context to work with. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2023 Course: POLSUN3911_003_2023_1-SEMINARINPOLITCALTHEORY : POLSUN3911_003_2023_1 - SEMINAR IN POLITCAL THEORY Instructor: Julia Maier

The course addresses various major political themes from different perspectives through a comparative approach.

I was really excited about this class, but I had SUCH a hard time keeping my eyes open. Definitely voice record the classes so you know what's going on. But, luckily, you aren't graded on anything that Professor Johnston doesn't cover in class. The course work could be really interesting, but Professor is not engaging at all. He often goes off on long tangents about his personal life and allows in-class debates that have nothing to do with the content drag on for far too long.

Though if you are not a PT person, you might find yourself lost in class discussion.