Awesome professor. Im not a poli sci major (took the class for fun) and was worried about the theory but Professor Brooke does a great job at explaining concepts. You can get an easy A if you just show up to class and listen :)Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Steven Brooke
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Professor Brooke makes difficult concepts comprehensible. He gives lots of extra credit opportunities to raise your grade, and his grading is very straightforward. The readings do take time and concepts might be confusing, but he goes over them in lecture. Highly recommend PS120 with Dr. Brooke.Rate My Professors ↗
The best professor I had here. The lectures are super amazing. He managed to explain the concept very well. The exams are not tough, you just need to understand the materials and organize the notes that you bring to the exams. The readings are quite tough, so please make sure that you read them as early as possible.Rate My Professors ↗
Prof Brooke is such a great teacher. He provides numerous extra credit opportunities. Go to the out of class events, there is great food and the speakers are interesting. The readings can be dense but Prof Brooke does a great job of explaining them in lecture.Rate My Professors ↗
It is a lot of dense readings, but if you do them and go to lecture it is a lot easier to understand because he is really good at explaining the ideas. You get points from going to lecture-so you should go!- and there are extra credit opportunities as well. He makes it really easy to succeed as long as you do your part!Rate My Professors ↗
Professor Brooke is a very passionate and helpful professor. There are only two exams (during class) that were very manageable. Discussion sections were boring but you barely need to participate to get an A, just show up. Lectures have random attendance taken 15 times, after 10 it is extra credit. Also gave 5 other extra credit options, all easy.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Steven Brooke
Introduction to politics and governance in the Middle East, covering regional political economy, Islam and democracy, authoritarianism, and political Islam.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2021: 3.73 GPA, 93.2% A/AB (n=44 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.62 GPA, 80.9% A/AB (n=47 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Fall 2022–Fall 2025Non-democracies
3 creditsExamines formation, endurance, and collapse of non-democratic regimes globally, covering electoral behavior, political violence, and democratization theories.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.33 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2024–Spring 2024 · limited sampleDirected Study
1–4 creditsDirected study projects for juniors and seniors as arranged with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Directed Study
1–4 creditsDirected Study involves directed study projects for juniors and seniors, arranged individually with a faculty member.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Research and Thesis
1–3 creditsResearch and Thesis course taken under the direction of faculty.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Independent Work
2–3 creditsIndependent work conducted under the direction of a staff member.
Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources
No recorded grade history
Recorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 320 | Governments and Politics of the Middle East and North Africa |
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 339 | Non-democracies |
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 698 | Directed Study |
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 699 | Directed Study |
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2027 | POLISCI 999 | Independent Work |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 120 | Introduction to Comparative Politics |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2026 | POLISCI 999 | Independent Work |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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