The prof changes from year to year for this course, but the subject matter remains (relatively) unchanged. Despite the fact that the material for this course is very basic and easy especially for international relations majors because of overlaps with TRN250, the grading is rather tough. My TA was particularly harsh with grades, and there were rumours that the reason the grading was tough was in an effort to make the class average lower in order to be in-line with polysci department policy. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it would explain why the grading seemed rather tough in relation to the course material. It was a class that was easy to do well in, but difficult to excel in.