PLIR 3060

I loved this class. I've never been the perfect student, but I got an A in this class when most people found it pretty difficult. I think it's because of my approach to the class and the fact that I just naturally love IR classes. This is one of those classes where you can honestly just chill in, go to a lecture, skim the readings, and do fine, but in the week or two leading up to the midterm essay and final exam, just lock in. I used the writing center a good bit on my midterm essay, which probably helped me get a higher grade. That being said, if you don't naturally enjoy IR topics, I would think very hard about taking this class because if you're already forcing yourself to come to lecture, you feel like you have to go. Not because you enjoy it, but because it'll be tough to follow Copeland's style of writing all of his thoughts down on big and intimidating diagrams on the chalkboard.

It's one of my favorite classes, and I feel like I gained much knowledge I'll take into my professional life.

I absolutely loved this class, but I would only recommend to people that are at least somewhat passionate about international relations. Dale Copeland has been my favorite professor so far at UVA, so much so that I'm taking his smaller seminar in Spring 2024. He is rather eclectic but has so much knowledge and passion for the topics at hand, and is a prominent theorist in the field. He is funny and office hours with him are very rewarding. Note that he does NOT allow computers in class and wants you to print out all the readings (which you don't actually have to do). The readings are a lot, but frankly unless your TA does reading quizzes (which mine didn't), you don't have to do all of them. There is some content in class that isn't fleshed out unless you do the reading, so I would highly recommend doing them, but also that's because I think the material is super interesting. 10/10 prof but not for the faint of heart (just a midterm and a final).

This course is a great overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the use of force in international relations. Throughout the course, Copeland applies these theories to historical and contemporary examples, particularly towards the end of the course. This course is certainly not easy, but an A is very attainable if you are able to stay on top of the pretty hefty reading load and do well on the midterm and final. Don't hesitate to go to office hours with Copeland or your TA for help with the midterm—this improved my grade significantly. Copeland has a pretty rambling style of lecturing, and he doesn't use slides. If you can stay focused, it's honestly kind of a refreshing change from professors who just read off of their slides for 50 minutes. Another note: he doesn't let you use laptops to take notes in lecture and asks that you print out all of the readings from Canvas and annotate them. In all honesty, I just ignored that second requirement—Copeland was never the wiser and our TA didn't care. Overall, very rigorous but a great stepping stone into higher-level IR courses. #tCFFall23

Avoid this class. Copeland's lectures are completely scattered and offer almost no help on the midterm or final. The class relies heavily on the readings, and there are an absurd amount compared to the average politics course. Not super hard to do well on the essays by skimming the readings, but overall a completely disjointed and boring class.

Lectures were super engaging and easy to follow, the material is admittedly quite difficult and you MUST do the readings in order to follow along in lecture + pull off higher than a C on the exams (which are all essays). However, the content is very interesting and I highly recommend to anyone interested in world affairs + global politics. Was a bit peeved that we had to purchase his own book, but much of the second half of the course comes from it and it is interesting. Only criticism is that nothing is posted so attendance is necessary.

WOW. This class is still as difficult as ever. Fortunately, I have a suspicion that this will remain one of my favorite classes I've taken at UVA, long after I've graduated. As my first Politics class, the amount of readings this class required completely slammed me, however, I've never been more interested in the course-content of a class. Prof. Copeland was just an enigma to watch. He knows his stuff so well and can explain it so articulately, that you're never quite able to look away during lectures. This is not a class where you can skip lectures, as main arguments are elucidated during those, something very important for sifting out which aspects of your super long readings are more necessary than others. The Midterm paper and prepping for the Final will consume your every thought for the week leading up to it, but thankfully, that only happens twice a semester. I can't emphasize enough how much unduly stress this course will put you through, but if you're truly interested in war theory, it's definitely a "hard work pays off" type of class instead. I would recommend going into the class with a fairly concrete sense of geopolitics and an already natural effort of paying attention to current affairs, because having background knowledge is important in examining case studies, but I didn't have the pre-requisite of having taken one PLIR class before and was just fine!

As a politics major I decided to take this class after reading the reviews from 2016. However, this class has drastically changed since then. I HIGHLY recommend finding another class to take. Professor Copeland is incredibly boring and his lectures are dry. To make things worse, he is anti-technology in the class room. All his lectures are spoken with no powerpoint slides and students are prohibited from using laptops in lecture and discussion. Students were expected to print and annotate each weeks readings (100+) and bring them to discussion. TA's were ok depending who you had, grading was fair.

Every Politics student should take a class with Professor Copeland, he's by far the best professor in the department. He really helps you understand theory and then applies it to a number of historical cases. Midterm is an 8 page paper and final is three in-class essays where he gives you the prompts ahead of time. The only class better than this in the Politics Department is Copeland's 4000 level class

Professor Copeland is awesome and very knowledgable about his field. The class seems daunting at first, because there is a lot of assigned reading, but it is totally worth it. If you can get Jeremiah as your TA, do it. Also, Mr. Copeland is not one to limit the amount of A's that his class can receive. If it is A work, it is A work. With that being said, you have to earn your grade. This was a pretty challenging course, but it was very rewarding and you come out know a lot more about geopolitics.

My class's breakdown included discussion worth 25% of your grade, a midterm worth 35% of your grade, and the final making up the remaining 40%. Take the class.

This class is one of the best I have taken at UVA! Professor Copeland is incredibly knowledgable about the material (part of the reading is from his own book on the origins of war) and he has enthusiasm very class that keeps you engaged!! There are extensive and lengthy reading for each week, easily 150-200 pages average, some weeks more some weeks less, but as long as you keep up with it you'll be fine! And there is only a midterm paper of 9 pages and a final of three greenbook essays, plus 25% participation form sections (which is easy and really boosts your grade). If this is a subject material you're interested in I would HIGHLY reccommend this class! Theory is first 35-40% of the class, but last 60% is all application to past and modern cases which is really interesting! Copeland forces you to think of the world system in various ways that expands your personal view and develops your critical thinking skills. Loved this class, and Copeland is great!!

Professor Copeland engages the class in lecture and is very passionate about the subject. Readings are extensive but relevant.

AMAZING teacher! He is so excited about the topic and it makes you excited. I would recommend this class to anyone. I came in three weeks late, and missed multiple classes and never felt behind. Writing just for the midterm.

Class was fairly interesting. Going to lecture is very valuable. Do the readings if you don't go to lecture but lecture is valuable and Copeland is really enthusiastic about the topic. He's a little bias towards Dynamic Differentials Theory (his own theory) but if you do the reading you can get away from his biases. Overall an interesting course and I would recommend it to Foreign Affairs and Government majors in particular

AMAZING CLASS. Really interesting and Copeland is super enthusiastic about the material. You do have to put work in- you can't get by without doing the readings. The paper was scary at first but if you've done the readings its not bad. ONLY TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU CAN HAVE MATT SCROGGS AS YOUR TA. he helped out a lot.

The material is pretty original and Copeland is a very interesting lecturer with his very personal opinion on the matter. He's pretty open minded though and ready to discuss anything in class or during office hours.
The amount of readings is ridiculously important and it's impossible to keep up but you can get a pretty good idea of it when attending lectures.
The midterm is a take home paper of 9 pages, it was pretty hard but helped reviewing the material. The questions for the final are handed a week before.
I'd strongly recommend NOT to take Karen as a TA, she was really nice but teaching clearly is not her thing and discussion were really boring, sometimes useless.

Great class - love Copeland and material is very interesting. However very reading intensive and grade is basically midterm and final so you have to do well on both. Overall highly recommend

This course is less about the actual use of military force in international relations and more about the theory of war. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and definitely learned quite a bit. Professor Copeland is truly passionate about the subject, which makes lecture that much more enjoyable!

Tough class. Alot of material and a self study final. Interesting if thats what you're into, but very difficult to get in the A/A- range

Fairly hard class with many difficult readings. Copeland doesn't make much sense during the first part of the course, but when you start case studies it all comes together. I didn't do most of the reading and still ended up with a B+. He makes the final pretty easy for you.

Copeland is an amazing lecturer and makes the class very interesting. There is one 10 page paper and a final exam where you write 3 essays. The grading is a pretty fair, a decent essay and final will get you a B/B+ in the course.
Definitely a worthwhile class for any politics major at UVA (or anyone else interested in the subject).

This class has a lot of reading, so be prepared and keep up. Copeland is an engaging lecturer and the information is interesting. Just a take-home midterm and essay final in-class-- but you can bring an index card with notes

Lots of reading, but fun and doable. Go to class and take good notes, they are extremely important.

All the reviews about Copeland welcoming new perspectives/theories that contrast his own are spot on. He makes a serious effort to have student involvement in lecture, adding opposing evidence. views, etc. That said, his theory is the driving force of the class, and it seems to be a good perspective but still stretched to fit all the case studies. Class will be slow if you've done other IR.

Copeland's a pretty charismatic guy who really knows his stuff. Yes, he is biased toward his Dynamic Differentials theory, but he makes you fully aware of that and encourages you to challenge him. The course is a lot of theory, and your grade will be based on whether or not you can make a good argument.

Didn't do the readings, and I'm doing alright. Midterm is a paper, with an in class final.

I think Copeland did a good job making the class interesting to attend. However, the reading was excessive and he needs to take the time to pull out only the useful passages. His dynamic differentials theory is a thought-provoking one and his study of the First World War is unique. However, this theory gets stretched far past its point of usefulness when he uses it to blame the United States for WWII in Japan, the Cold War, and more specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis.

A really interesting class, probably my favorite one this semester.

Great class that covers a lot of theory but focuses on case studies. Copeland is a genius. He focuses a lot on his own theory of major war but invites and even encourages you to disagree with him and argue against it. One take home midterm (limit 10 pages) and in class final. Joel was the best TA.

Copeland is a very dynamic lecturer and presents the material clearly. He offers his own opinions, but unlike many other professors he openly urges you to critically analyze his theory. Fascinating class, even for a non IR major. A+ for Mr. Copeland!

There is considerable amount of reading involved in this class. It is a course that will teach you the main theories in International Relations supplemented with historical readings. Learn to master the theories and use them to make a logical argument with only slight reference to historical evidence for backup. Take Catherine Sanger as your TA as she is an amazing woman who really wants her students to take something out of this class. She is passionate and charismatic.

Fascinating class. Copeland is not biased, he just has his own theory that he offers to you. In fact, he encourages you not to "kow-tow" to the professor (his words) in the 10-page paper. Incredibly knowledgeable about the historical details of all major wars and keeps lecture pretty interesting. Zuri was the best TA I have had to date.

The class is relatively interesting, but Copeland is very biased with his DDT theory. Other levels of analysis (individual and domestic) are often overlooked as a result of his bias. If you like war- go for it. Otherwise, be cognizant!

Copeland loves the material and his enthusiasm makes lectures enjoyable to sit through. The reading can be overwhelming and repetitive, and the 10 page take home midterm essay is stressful. Watching Copeland draw his incredible map masterpieces on the board makes going to lecture beyond worth it.

Difficult class, but doable with a little focused work. Packs a lot into each lecture, but in a good way.