Courses
Courses from many departments are available to International Studies students. Because some of these courses have prerequisites and not all courses are offered every year, students are advised to carefully plan their program of study in consultation with their faculty advisor, our Peer Advisors, and/or our Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Course Plans
IS majors and minors should fill out their Course Plans as they enter the program and update them each semester. Bring your Course Plan with you to your advising meetings each semester, and compare it to your official course audit to make sure your classes are properly designated in the UIS registration system. Here are links to the IS Major Course Plan form and the IS Minor Course Plan form. (These forms must be downloaded and saved to your computer before you fill them out.)
Pre-approved Courses
See below for a list of pre-approved courses offered in the coming semester for the IS major and minor. You can also view our central list of pre-approved electives, which lists all pre-approved courses but does not indicate whether they are taught in a given semester. (This is most helpful if you want to search or scan by class title or theme; it lists about 300 pre-approved courses and notes the concentrations for which each counts.)
Course Audits
Course Audits are reports from the BC registration system (accessible through the Agora Portal) that chart a student's cumulative progress toward fulfilling graduation requirements. The IS Program's Advising Handbook describes how to read a Course Audit. If a class you've taken (e.g. an elective for an IS major concentration) doesn't appear in the proper part of your Course Audit, fill out a Course Substitution Form to say where it should be placed. Other important forms can be found at the Academic Forms & Diploma Information page at the Office of Student Services.
International Studies Core courses
Pre-approved courses
The following Fall 2024 courses are pre-approved for the core requirements of the IS major.
Fall 2024 pre-approved course list
IS Core courses are also listed on the "IS Core" tab of the Fall 2024 pre-approved courses shreadsheet.
**All sophomore majors must enroll in one Introduction to International Relations lecture and one discussion section with the corresponding professor. See EagleApps for discussion section times
Where on Earth: Foundations in Global History (INTL 2200)
Professor TBA Lecture MW 4:30-5:45
Where on Earth: Foundations in Political Geography and Global Cultures (INTL 2204)
Prof. Joe Getzoff INTL 2204.01 Lecture Tue 1:30-2:45
Prof. Joe Getzoff INTL 2204.02 Discussion Wed 9:00-10:15
Prof. Joe Getzoff INTL 220403 Discussion Wed 10:30-11:45
Prof. Joe Getzoff INTL 220404 Discussion Wed 1:30-2:45
Prof. Joe Getzoff INTL 220405 Discussion Wed 3:00-4:15
Principles of Economics (ECON 1101)
There are many sections offered throughout the week. Register for one lecture and one discussion with the same professor.
Upper-Level Economics Electives
The list below only includes ECON2xxx classes (and INTL courses that count for the Econ requirement.). Any ECON elective at/above the 2000 level can fulfill this requirement, but you may need to be an ECON minor or major to take ECON courses at/above the 3000 level
ECON 2201 Microeconomic Theory (Multiple times)
ECON 2202 Macroeconomic Theory (Multiple times)
ECON2203 Honors Microeconomic Theory
ECON2204 Honors Macroeconomic Theory
ECON 2207 The Global Economy TuTh 12
ECON 2228 Econometric Methods (Multiple times)
ECON 2231 Financial Forecasting - Online Asynchronous
ECON 2246 Impact of News on Financial Markets TTh 3-4:15
ECON 2876 Development and Social Justice in Korea TTh 12-1:15
INTL 2862 Comparative Economic Systems TTh 1:30-2:45
Notes on ECON electives:
You must take (or AP out of) ECON 1101 before taking an ECON elective, but some ECON 2xxx classes have additional prerequisites (commonly, calculus and/or econ stats); double-check that you meet those requirements. If department permission required, please email the ECON administrator (Ms. Rowley) well in advance of registration..
Comparative Politics
POLI2402 Comparative Revolutions
POLI2407 Introduction to South Asian Politics MW 4:30
POLI2408 Religion-State Relations in the Modern Middle East
POLI2410 Latin American Politics
POLI2412 Political Parties, Voters and Party Systems in Comparative Perspective
POLI2416 Politics of Inequality
POLI2440 A Continent on the Move: Immigration in Contemporary Europe TTH 1:30-2:45
POLI2442 African Politics
POLI2445 European Political Development
Ethics, Religion & International Politics ["ERIP"] (INTL 5563)
Prof. Erik Owens
Lecture: [choose one]:
INTL5563.01 Lecture: MW 1:30 - 2:45pm
INTL5563.02 Lecture: MW 3:00 - 4:15pm
Discussion: [choose one]:
03 Discussion: Th 1:00 - 1:50pm (Mcguinn 11)
04 Discussion: Th 2:00 - 2:50pm (Mcguinn 11)
05 Discussion: Th 3:00 - 3:50pm (Gasson 308)
06 Discussion: Th 4:00 - 4:50pm (Gasson 308)
Conflict and Cooperation
Pre-approved courses
The following courses are pre-approved for the C&C concentration in the IS major and minor. Students may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to consider courses that are not on this list toward their elective concentration.
Fall 2024 pre-approved course list
** See the "CC" tab on the linked spreadsheet for specific information about the Conflict & Cooperation concentration.
** IS minors should also consult the "Minor" tab for a list of Foundation I and Foundation II courses.
Global Cultures
Pre-approved courses
The following courses are pre-approved for the GC concentration in the IS major and minor.
Please note: Majors and minors who concentrate in Global Cultures should take only those electives that are pre-approved for their cluster ("Cultures at Work" or "Cultures and Social Movements"). Students can seek approval to count other courses -- including courses from the other cluster -- as electives by sending a course abstract and/or syllabus to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Prof. Nakazato) before the first week of that class (and ideally during registration period).
Fall 2024 pre-approved course list
** See the "GC-CW" and "GC-SM" tabs on the linked spreadsheet for specific information about the Conflict & Cooperation concentration.
** IS minors should also consult the "Minor" tab for a list of Foundation I and Foundation II courses.
Political Economy & Development Studies
Pre-approved courses
The following courses are pre-approved for the PEDS concentration in the IS major and minor.
Please note: Majors and minors who concentrate in Political Economy and Development Studies can take electives approved for EITHER the PE or DS cluster and count them for their own cluster. Students can seek approval to count other courses as electives by sending a course abstract and/or syllabus to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Prof. Nakazato) before the first week of that class (and ideally during registration period).
Fall 2024 pre-approved course list
** See the "PEDS" tab on the linked spreadsheet for specific information about the Conflict & Cooperation concentration.
** IS minors should also consult the "Minor" tab for a list of Foundation I and Foundation II courses.
Senior Seminars and Thesis Courses
2024-25 Academic Year
Senior Thesis
Senior Thesis writers enroll in INTL4951 (Prof. Hiroshi Nakazato)
** Your first semester of INTL4952 will count as an elective in your concentration; the second semester will fulfill your senior project requirement.
Senior Seminars:
Fall 2024:
(Re-) Imagining Environmentally-just Futures
Prof. Brian Gareau
INTL 4941.01
Mondays 3:00 - 5:25pm (Stokes 111S)
In this seminar, students will explore the intersection of environmental sustainability and social justice through the lens of speculative science fiction. Drawing on contemporary literature and critical international studies perspectives, students will engage with narratives that envision diverse futures shaped by the ongoing climate crisis. By analyzing texts such as Kim Stanley Robinson's "Ministry of the Future" and NK Jemisin's "Broken Earth" trilogy, students will critically examine how authors portray the complexities of environmental challenges and the possibilities for equitable solutions on a global scale.
A Cinema of Dissent
Prof. Jonathan Kirshner
INTL4941.02
** Required film screening Wednesdays 7:00-9:30pm (Higgins 300)
** Seminar meets Thursdays 4:30-6:55pm (Stokes 101N)
What is a cinema of dissent? For more than a century now, the movies – principally a form of mass entertainment – have also commonly been vehicles to express critical and even radical opposition to the prevailing practices (and the powers that be) of the day. Raising the stakes in these endeavors, since their inception the movies have been subject to strict and often draconian censorship by dangerous, frightened governments (and abetted by timid studios). Yet throughout history many brilliant films expressing subversive and forbidden ideas have been able to find production, even under the ominous, watchful eyes of brutally repressive dictatorships (and hypocritical censorious democracies). This class looks closely at a number of dissident masterpieces produced under chilling circumstances from around theworld—and the contentious political contexts in which they were crafted.
Spring 2025:
Critical Appropaches to Development
Prof. Joseph Getzoff
INTL4941.01
Thursdays 3:00 - 5:20pm
Development, since World War II, reigns as the mandate for addressing inequality in the Global South. Development’s promise has been to equalize the uneven relations between the former colonized and colonizers. And yet, many post-colonial states face continued poverty, exploitation, and environmental degradation, what some call neo-colonial relations. Students will engage with interdisciplinary scholarship that spans many engagements with development, including Third Worldist critiques, postcolonial theory, environmental issues, the politics of expertise, social justice, biopolitics, and case studies of developmental efforts in the present. Our goal, as a class, will be to reimagine development for the challenges facing not only the Global South, but for the North as well.
Geopolitics, Religion & Security
Prof. Elizabeth Prodromou
INTL4941.02
Mondays 1:30-3:50pm
What is geopolitics? This seminar explores geopolitics as a way of making sense of territorial (classicalgeopolitics) and identity (critical geopolitics) geographies and their implications for politics, in order tounderstand international relations as a geopolitical contest for hegemony waged by state and non-stateactors. The seminar analyzes the significance of religion for defining geographies, for competitivestruggles, and for affecting security. Introducing country, regional, and transregional case studiesprimarily drawn from Eurasia, the seminar uses cross-disciplinary literatures and presentations by guestexperts with diverse professional expertise at the intersections of religion and security in historical andcurrent geopolitics.
New Courses offered in 2024-2025
These courses are new and/or newly approved for the IS major.
Fall 2024:
- Global Institutions and Rising Powers (INTL 3516), Prof. Frank O'Donnell
- Wars and Revolutions in the Middle East (INTL3515), Prof. Ali Kadivar
- China and the West: Law, Power and Fantasy (INTL 4051), Prof. Stacie Kent
- Comparative Economic Systems (INTL 2862), Prof. Aaron Medlin
Spring 2025:
- Preparing the Whole Person for Global Citizenship (FORM 2253)
Prof. Erik Owens
ESJ, GC-CW, GC-SM elective credit
- The U.S. Foreign Service around the World (INTL 2305), Prof. Peter Martin
Approved Summer Abroad Courses
Contentious History and the Politics of Contemporary Korea: Decolonization, Division, Development, and Democratization (INTL/HIST 2856)
Prof. Ingu Hwang
June xx-July xx, 2024, based at Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea
Approved for CC, GC-SM, PEDS-PE/DS electives; also History elective
This introductory immersion course surveys the contentious intersection between history and politics in contemporary Korea on the topics of decolonization, division, development, and democratization. In addition to the class discussion, students will be guided to actively participate in the historical and cultural immersion/excursion programs, including the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, the DMZ tour, and the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum.
Food, Power and Politics (INTL 2251)
Prof. Hiroshi Nakazato
late May - late June, 2024, based at University of Parma, Italy
Approved for CC, GC-SM, PEDS-PE/DS electives
Description TBA
History of the Italian Mediterranean: Una Faccia, Una Razza (INTL 2251)
Prof. Elizabeth Shlala
Located in Venice, Italy
NB: Electives are abbreviated as follows: CC = Conflict & Cooperation; ESJ = Ethics & Social Justice; GC-CW = Global Cultures/Cultuers at Work; GC-SM = Global Cultures/Social Movements; PEDS-DS = Political Economy & Development Studies/Development Studies focus; PEDS-PE = Political Economy & Development Studies/Political Economy focus
- Art and Patronage in Renaissance and Baroque Rome and Beyond
Location: Rome, Italy
Professor: Guendalina Serafinelli
Approved for: GC-CW
- Borders and Refugees: The Ethics of Migration
Location: Athens, Greece
Professor: Micah Lott (Philosophy)
Approved for: CC, ESJ
- Contentious History and the Politics of Contemporary Korea: Decolonization, Division, Development, and Democratization
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Professor: Ingu Hwang
Approved for: CC, GC-SM, PEDS-PE, PEDS-DS
- The European Union: The Economic Shaping of Europe (ECON 2110)
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Professor: Rui Albuquerque
Approved for: 2000-level Econ requirement; PEDS-PE/DS concentration elective
- Global Health Perspectives
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Professor: Rosemary Byrne, M.S.N
Approved for: ESJ, PEDS-PE
- History of the Italian Mediterranean: Una Faccia, Una Razza
Location: Venice, Italy
Professor: Elizabeth Shlala
Approved for: GC-CW
- Imagination and Creativity in the Irish Landscape
Location: Ballyvaughn, Ireland
Professor: Candice Ivy
Approved for: GC-CW
- Modernism in Paris
Location: Paris, France
Professor: Thomas Epstein
Approved for: GC-CW
- Principles of Public Health: In the Happiest Place/ Public Health in a Global Society
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Professors: Joyce Edmonds, Summer Hawkins
Approved for: ESJ, PEDS-DS
- Provence: Art, Culture, Cinema, Diversity
Location: Aix-en-Provence, France
Professor: Andréa Javel
Approved for: GC-CW
- Saints and Sinners
Location: Rome, Italy
Professor: Liam Bergin
Approved for: GC-CW
- Restorative Justice and Prison Reform in Global Contexts: Australia
Location: Sydney, Australia
Prof. Julia DeVoy // July 16 - August 13, 2022
Approved for: ESJ
- Spanish Art History: from Al-Andalus to Picasso
Location: Madrid, Spain
Professor: Ana Peláez
Approved for: GC-CW - An Innovative Economy: Smart Cities and the Start-Up Culture in Tel Aviv, Israel
Location: Tel Aviv, Italy
Professor: Edward Chazen
Approved for: GC-CW, PEDS-DS
- The Business, History & Politics of Sport
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Professor: Michael Cronin
Approved for: GC-CW
- The Ethics of Capitalism: Flourishing in a Commercial Society
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Professor: Jeremy Evans
Approved for: ESJ, PEDS-PE, PEDS-DS
- The Imaginary City: Why Writers Love Venice
Location: Kevin Newmark
Professor: Venice, Italy
Approved for: GC-CW
- Which is Better? An Economic Comparison of Health and Health Care in France, the UK and the US
Locations: London, UK + Paris, France
Professor: Tracy Regan
Approved for: ESJ, PEDS-PE, PEDS-DS