B.A. in International Relations

The major in International Relations introduces students to the complex and fascinating world of politics beyond the United States and provides them with essential tools for understanding and analyzing it. In an increasingly interdependent world of nations and international organizations, such understanding is important for a variety of internationally oriented careers, inside and outside the United States, as well as for its own sake as part of a liberal arts education. Rather than constructing a major that offers vague introductions to many different aspects of world affairs, this major draws fully on the Political Science Department's analytical tradition of undergraduate education. Students will gain great breadth in their understanding of world affairs, but with analytical rigor and depth. The core of the major consists of four courses that introduce the concepts and theories of the subfields of international relations (relations between nations) and comparative politics (political processes and policymaking within nations). Students in the International Relations major also develop essential knowledge of cultures and contexts of politics outside the United States through a semester of Study Abroad (fall, spring, or summer) and through taking at least two courses taught in a language other than English. These basic theoretical and cultural tools are supplemented and applied with additional substantive courses in International Relations, Political Science, and related disciplines. Included in these additional courses is selection of a track focusing on one of the three important substantive areas of Global Security, Political Economy and Development, or Governance of Nations.