The International Relations Major

Requirements

To graduate with a B.A. in International Relations, you must take fourteen (14) courses. There are three components to the IR Major:

• The core curriculumn: In the core curriculum, students are introduced to the academic disciplines that are foundational to the study of international relations: Politics, Economics, and History.
• The electives in the major: With the 7 elective courses in the major, students develop exertise in their chosen focus in international relations.
• Research methods and senior thesis: In their junior year, students are required to take a course on research methods, which prepares them for the task of researching and writing their senior thesis.

 

The Core Curriculum (4 C.U.s)

• PSCI 0400: Introduction to International Relations
• International History (Choose 2 from courses with AIRH attribute):
• HIST 1190: American Diplomatic History Since 1776
• HIST 1191: U.S. Empire in the 20th Century
• HIST 3920: European Diplomatic History 1789 –1914
• HIST 3921: European and the World Since 1914
• ECON 0500: International Economics OR PSCI 1402: International Political Economy
• Students double-majoring in Economics may use the ECON 4510: International Trade; and ECON 4520: International Finance to fulfill this requirement. In that case, one will count towards the International Economics core requirement, and the other may be used to satisfy the IPE elective requirement.

 Electives (7 C.U.s)

• International Political Economy Elective (1 C.U.): Coded with course attribute AIRP
• Foreign Policy / Security Elective (1 C.U.): Coded with course attribute AIRS
• Free Electives (5 C.U.): Coded with attributes AIRE, AIRH, AIRN, AIRP, AIRS

 Research Methods and Senior Thesis (3 C.U.s)

• INTR 3500: Research Methods and Practice in International Relations. All IR majors take this course in their junior year to prepare for their senior thesis project.
• INTR 4197 and INTR 4297: Senior Thesis Seminars. All seniors in the IR major enroll in a two-semester seminar during which they develop an original thesis topic, review the relevant theory and method, then research and write a substantial thesis based on primary and secondary documentation.

Breadth Requirement

• Students must take at least one C.U. in a course focusing on non-Western politics, economics, or history. Courses that satisfy this requirement are coded with course attribute AIRN. Unique to "Non-West Elective" courses, they may double-count with any of the above major requirements.

 

Total Course Units Required for Graduation

Students completing the International Relations Major will need a total of thirty four (34) C.U.s of earned credit (including satisfactory completion of all General Education Requirements) to graduate.  NOTE: of the twenty (20) C.U.s taken outside of the major, a minimum of sixteen (16) C.U.s must be in the College.