<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm thinking about taking GOVT 3549 next semester (Capitalism, Competition, and Conflict). Does anyone have any information about the class in terms of how things are evaluated (prelim-based, essay-based, a mix)? I can't find a syllabus from years past anywhere.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Professor Katzenstein is teaching the course. He is supposedly phenomenal. Though a syllabus with that exact title is unavailable, if you go to his website ([Peter</a> Katzenstein : Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University](<a href=“Peter Katzenstein : Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University”>http://www.pkatzenstein.org/)) and hover over the courses link, you can find syllabi for similarly titled courses such as Globalization and International Political Economy. I’d guess 3549 would be very similar in structure and content.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply, ds143. I had Katzenstein for IR - he’s awesome. The class is probably a mix of exams and papers with a lot of reading.</p>
<p>Just bumping to see if anyone who has taken it comes across this post and can give some input…</p>
<p>I took the course last year. It’s extremely awesome and so is Katzenstein. A more accurate title for the course would probably be “International Political Economy” but that title is reserved for the graduate level course. He is a great lecturer and extraordinarily intelligent. The class has both essays and prelims. My gut tells me it was 1 paper, 1 prelim, and 1 final, but I’m really not sure. The last 1/3 of the course is a bit boring since it’s on the political economy of specific industries (the lecture on semi-conductors is really not exciting). </p>
<p>For the final at least (I forget regarding the prelim), he gave us the questions in advance. Easy, right? Except there are more questions than will be on the exam and the questions are really pretty hard. It’s a sneaky way to get you to study in-depth and learn a lot, all while making you think he’s awesome for giving the questions out. Ultimately me and some friends in the class got together a few times and outlined essays for each of the questions (plus, discussing things rather than reading them I find really helpful in learning this sort of material).</p>
<p>Sounds awesome, thanks for the input mikey! Hopefully I can get a slot in there during add/drop. What did you think about the reading load?</p>
<p>I think it’s average for a Govt course.</p>
<p>I also took the class fall 2010, and I can confirm what has been said is accurate. I will say though that Katzenstein IS challenging. Yes, you’ll get prompts before hand (final only I believe, not prelim), but they are difficult. </p>
<p>I am a gov’t major, but without much economic expereince (before this course). Although economic background is not necessary, it makes the class a lot easier to understand. It was difficult for me to keep up sometimes. If you’ve taken any economics class before you should be fine.</p>