PLPT 3030

Prof. Idris is a fantastic professor, and the material is enriching. However, the material also happens to be very dense and relatively inapplicable unless you are highly interested in political theory.

Recommend for PPL and politics majors, but others may not get much from it.

Loved this class - by far by favorite out of the PLPT 3010-3030 series. Prof. Idris is brilliant and engaging, and the readings are great too. I'm not sure how hard of a grader others thought he was, but it seemed fair overall to me. The readings generally took me an hour or two, but they were longer at the beginning of the semester for sure. Two 5-6 page papers, a final, and participation are all that are graded. Just make sure you know what you're getting into - this class is much closer to a philosophy class than a PLCP or PLAM.

This course is fairly difficult unless you're really into political theory. Some of the readings, especially in the first unit, are very dense and hard to fully comprehend even after they're discussed in class. Prof. Idris is a great guy who really wants you to learn and get a lot out of the class, but his lecture style is very fluid so it's hard to zero in on the key points. Two papers and a difficult comprehensive final

Worst class I have taken at UVA. Professor Idris is a genius but does not communicate his knowledge well. I learned very little. The class tries to take on too many theorists and succeeds at covering none of them.

This was by far the best class I've ever taken at UVA; it was also one of the most difficult. You will learn so much from this class and Prof. Idris is a genius. It take a lot of work to get an A but is very much worth it. Just make sure you have the time and energy to put in the amount of work that is necessary to really benefit from it.

I highly recommend this class. Idris is a genius and personable teacher. He wants to help you learn and apply it to practical political life. The material can be difficult for those who haven't taken a PLPT, PHIL, or SOC theory class, but it's reasonably paced.

#tCFspring2021

This was my favorite class this semester. Professor Idris is incredibly smart and knowledgeable and friendly during office hours. I feel like this class actually expanded how I think about the world and politics. It even inspired me to pursue the political theory track as a politics major. My TA was Hana and she was pretty good. The two essays were not too long at all, only four pages double-spaced. The final was difficult though. The readings are a lot but very necessary to understanding the course. I was a little disappointed to get an A- but I think this class was worth it.