PLIR 2030

Professor Schoppa is very knowledgeable and passionate about this subject, especially Japan, and is good at answering questions. The readings are scholarly papers on IR theories (focuses on realism, constructivism, liberalism, domestic politics) and their application in East Asia. They could be quite dense sometimes, but you have to understand them to be able to participate in discussions.

Overall, highly recommend if you plan on taking more classes on East-ish Asia. I'm writing this as I take a contemporary Chinese history class, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I already know about the regional politics because of PLIR 2030.

If you are interested in either East Asian history or International Relations, this is the class for you. This is a great introductory class to international relations: you begin the year by going over the major theories of international relations then spend the rest of the semester going over historical events in East Asian history and applying those theories. The midterm and final aren't too bad, especially if you complete most of the readings and have a strong grasp of the international relations theories and how they relate to the episodes). The only drawback is the readings, as they can be quite lengthy and sometimes boring. However, they tend to get shorter towards the end of the semester and more interesting as they begin to deal with more contemporary challenges. Overall, I highly recommend taking this course.

I really enjoyed this course! For background, I had taken introductory IR in a previous semester and already had a pretty good grasp on the different IR theories coming into this class, so I can't say much about the difficulty of coming in having never taken IR. You will essentially go through two thousand years of East Asian history (mostly China, but also Japan and South Korea), ending with several different contemporary issues. Professor Schoppa will talk about different historical events and various IR theories that can explain them. The grade breakdown is: 20% discussion, 30% midterm, and 50% final exam. The midterm and final exams are both essays and the final was a take-home that we had four days to complete. I did not find Ruixing to be a hard grader as long as you brought the readings into your essays. There is a decent amount of reading for this class and I would recommend that you do all of it if you want to do well on the midterm and final. Maybe not the best class to take to fulfill a gen-ed, but if you are interested in the subject, it's definitely worthwhile. (Also a good mix of history/IR if you're looking for a class that combines both!)

I took this course in the fall of my first-year. This course is great if you're interested in a mix of history, theory, and current events. Attending lecture and discussion are essential to understanding the content; lectures were not recorded (at least for this semester) and they both summarized the content in the readings. There was a moderate amount of reading but it was certainly doable. There is a weekly writing assignment after discussion about the readings but from what I know they don't impact your grade. The only downside about this class is that there are only two major assignments (the midterm and final) that determine your final grade. I found the class interesting and informative; would recommend it to those looking for an intro to politics but also have strong writing skills already since you don't get a lot of feedback. #tCFfall2021

This class was pretty good and served as a decent intro to international relations. However, I would not take it if you are unfamiliar with both East Asian history and the major schools of IR theory, because learning both at once is a LOT. The class is structured where you learn about a specific occurrence in the history of East Asian IR and examine why that might have happened through the different theories (realism, liberalism, constructivism, and internal politics). Assignments weren't impossible or graded too harshly. Len Schoppa is a fine lecturer but I did continuously fall asleep in class because he speaks quite softly and the class was in the late afternoon.

This class is extremely worth it. I learned so much and the Len Schoppa is amazing at explaining concepts. There was a midterm and a final which weren't too hard if you took extensive notes from the lectures. I personally found it extremely interesting and it took it as a first-year in my first semester and ended up with an A-. If you do all the readings and keep up with the lectures, you will be able to do well. I never went to office hours because the recorded lectures were pretty self-explanatory. I loved this class, and it's the reason I want to major in foreign affairs, as well as study more about East Asia. I definitely recommend it if you're interested in an international relations class. It's the perfect level of challenging while engaging. It was my favorite class I've taken. My TA was Ruixing Cao and he wasn't the easiest grader but he gave good feedback and good explanations during the discussion questions. I made sure to type everything he would say as a good way to summarize the lectures and get a deeper understanding with better-simplified phrasing of the concepts.

Course is pretty intense for a 2000 level, especially if you don't have previous experience in IR. Professor went over the three basic IR theories at the beginning of the course and then dove into the content. There was a lot of reading, and most of it was necessary to do well on the midterm. Your grade is heavily dependent on the TA you have, and my TA, Sunggun Park, was fairly poor. He made the class unnecessarily difficult by adding in ludicrous pop quizzes and contradicting the professor in discussion on the way we were supposed to evaluate certain events. If you are interested in the material it may be worth taking, but it feels like a 3000 level workload for a 2000 level class. Don't take it with Sunggun if he is still TAing.

Tons of reading, but don't really have to do any of it because the most important ones are gone over during the lecture. The lectures were definitely really good and informative, and I felt like they prepped me for the exams. I had Alexis Yang as my TA and she was super chill. Her discussion sections were structured in the way that she would give us a google form to fill out in breakout rooms and then everyone would just discuss the answers together, but we never got through all of the questions usually. I think she was definitely a fair grader though, so I would choose her as TA again.

One of the worst classes I've taken at UVa. The content is super interesting, which is what pushed me to take it. However, the way it is taught makes it unbearable. There were so many readings that it seems as if the professor forgets we take other classes (with that in mind, I didn't do them and ended up with B+ ). I had Ruixing as a TA. He was a very strict grader and did not make his expectations clear, making writing the essays very hard.
The class was: one midterm - essay, closed notes and timed - possible topics are given beforehand; participation - presence in the discussion, talking in the discussion, and google forms; and a 50% final essay take home.
#tCF2020