[Goce]

This course is much like that in Grade 12, it does not focus on any single theme or stream of Political Science. Much like a buffet, this course offers basic knowledge in political communicaton, the political process, party and interest group politics, political ideologies, types of government, and international relations. All of these areas have such a wide scope in and of themselves.

My prof was Joel Cobb, he's a great guy and taught me a lot. I dont think he is teaching the course this year but here was hsi setup:

tutorials 15%
tutorial debate 10%
assignment 1 of 500 words 10%
assignment 2 of 2000 words 20%
1st Half Exam 20%
Final Exam 25%

The other teacher was Alway, he also happens to be an amazing person and prof. His setup is a bit more concentrated in that there are fewer tasks, but worth a lot more.

Usually he will have a setup such as this:

Tutorial 5-10%
1st Assignment and/or Presentation 10%
Final Assignment 40%
Exam 30-40%

This course will definitley point you in the direction you want to go regarding Politics at McMaster. This is because you will have tried all the offerings and picked out those 2-3 that are best for you.

Thanks for posting this! I've been looking for a review for a while... I think I have Alway next year and am really looking forward to this class. Thanks again.

No problem, if I would knew this course was not already reviewed I would have done it a while ago. You will enjoy it, and thats not because Im in Politics, it's a fun course. The load isn't tough and you get more than enough time to do the assignments. Oh, and the exam q's are given to you.

Sweet, I'm really looking forward to this! I'm a little worried about the tutorial debate though. :S

dont be, the debates aren't bad. Most people aren't comfortable with being up front and speaking, they are only 5 minutes long so memorization is possible. If you two, or anyone else has any other questions about the course feel free to ask here and/pr pm me.

Debates can be fun... if you aren't told what side to argue. It actually pains me to defend something I don't agree with... Profs can't force you to defend a side that you wouldn't agree with, right?

You made a good point, the debates are in the tutorials so you're basically going to be doing it amongst a group of people you know - this should lighten the stress. The prof wont do that, neither would the TA in most cases, and you get 2 chances at it from what I know. You will basically get to do whatever you want and which side you are on if you come to tutorial on time and raise your hand before others do (Family Feud skills come in handy). There will be an issue, such as abortion, and a YES or a NO side. You will find most of the issues, and rightfully so, are not that clear cut. In my tutorials, we almost never agreed completely with one side over the other, except the time I went up and argued against Third World aid. Dont worry, I'm not greedy, I just argued how it is never free and without strings attached.

Some of the issues you will be discussing include:

captialism v.s. communism
aid v.s. no aid
totalitarianism v.s. democracy
First-past-the-post voting v.s. MMP voting
etc,

So far I really have no enjoyed this class. The essays are really long (6 pages for the first one, 10 for the second) and they are very difficult to get a good mark on. The fact that participation makes up 15% is a nice bonus since it's easy to talk about what you know.
The exam is to write 3 essays within 3 hours though, and it is very stressful. Definitely not a course to take if you're just looking for something easy.

Also, I'm not sure about the other tutorial groups, but in mine we have to write an essay for the tutorial each week or so (3-4 pages).

Are the essays suppose to be that lengthly? :O Is it really hard writing an essay that is that long?