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 2023 courses are pre-approved for the core requirements of the IS major.
**All sophomore majors must enroll in both "Where on Earth" courses.**
Where on Earth? Foundations in Global History (INTL 2200)
Prof. Devin Pendas TTh 4:30 - 5:45pm (McGuinn 121)
Where on Earth? Foundations in Global Culture & Political Geography (INTL 2204)
Prof. Joseph Getzoff
** Students register for the lecture and one of four Geo Studios **
2204.01 Lecture: Tu 1:30 -2:45pm (Higgins 300)
2204.02 Geo Studio: Th 9:00 - 10:15am (Stokes 361S)
2204.03 Geo Studio: Th 10:30 - 11:45am (Stokes 361S)
2204.04 Geo Studio: Th 1:30 - 2:45pm (Higgins 265)
2204.05 Geo Studio: Th 3:00 - 4:15pm (Higgins 265)
Principles of Economics (ECON 1101)
Section 1 Lecture MW 3:00 - 4:15 + discussion (see EagleApps)
Section 11 Lecture MW 4:30 - 5:45 + discussion (see EagleApps)
Section 21 TTh 1:30-2:45pm + discussion (see EagleApps)
Upper-Level Economics Electives
The list below only includes ECON2xxx classes. 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 2000 The State of Affordable Housing in the States Tu 4:30-6:30pm
ECON 2201 Microeconomic Theory - Multiple, see EagleApps (Prereqs: MATH 1100 Calculus)
ECON 2202 Macroeconmic Theory - Multiple, see EagleApps (Prereqs: MATH 1100 Calculus)
ECON 2203 Honors Microeconomic Theory TTh 12:00-1:15pm (Prereqs: MATH 1100 Calculus, dept permission)
ECON 2204 Honors Macroeconomic Theory TTh 10:30-11:45am (Prereqs: MATH 1100 Calculus, dept permission)
ECON 2212 Geographic Information Systems for Planning and Decision-Making Mon 7:00 - 9:30pm
ECON 2228 Econometric Methods - Multiple, see EagleApps (Prereqs: MATH 1100 Calculus and ECON 1151 Stats)
ECON 2231 Financial Forecasting - Online Asynchronous
ECON 2242 Public Policy in an Aging Society TTh 3:00 - 4:15pm
ECON 2246 Impact of News on Financial Markets. TTh 3:00 - 4:15pm
ECON 2269 Aspects of Economic GrowthTTh 9:00 - 10:15pm
ECON 2277 Environmental Economics and PolicyTTh 10:30-11:45
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
POLI 2412 Political Parties, Voters and Party Systems in Comparative Perspective MW 3:00 - 4:15pm
POLI 2440 A Continent on the Move: Immigration in Contemporary Europe MW 4:30-5:45p
POLI 2442 Comparative Social Movements MWF 3:00 - 3:50pm
POLI 3404 The Anatomy of Dictatorship Wed 9:30am - 12:00pm
POLI 3406 Irish Politics 1916 to Present TTh 9-10:15
Ethics, Religion & International Politics ["ERIP"] (INTL 5563)
Prof. Erik Owens
Lecture: [choose one]:
01 Lecture: MW 1:30 - 2:45pm (245 Beacon Street room 204)
02 Lecture: MW 3:00 - 4:15pm (245 Beacon Street room 204)
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 (Mcguinn 11)
06 Discussion: Th 4:00 - 4:50pm (Mcguinn 11)
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 2023 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 2023 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 2023 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
2022-23 course offerings
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 2023:
Is Globalization Destiny? Historical Perspectives on Global Capitalism
Prof. Danial Lashkari
INTL 4941.01
Mondays 3:00 - 5:20pm (Stokes 111S)
Recent events like Brexit, the rise of nationalist leaders across the world, the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have revived fundamental questions about the nature and future of globalized capitalism and the liberal order. Do these events portend the end of the current wave of globalization and democratization that had accelerated after the fall of the eastern bloc? Or do these events simply pose challenges that global capitalism and the liberal order will be able to overcome? Is globalization destiny or was it just a moment? This course aims to address these questions through a historical lens. Since its inception in 17th century Britain and the Netherlands, global capitalism has faced many challenges and insurgencies. We will examine the ways in which political and economic crises helped shape and were shaped by globalization in the process, with a particular focus on the structural transformations happening in the last century. The course also emphasizes the genealogies of ideas and institutions that lie at the core of global capitalism.
Human Rights in East Asia
Prof. Ingu Hwang
INTL4941.02
Tuesdays 3:00-5:25 (Gasson 308)
This course introduces students to the post–1945 development of global human rights talk, activism, and politics from an East Asian perspective. Through an examination of specific conflicts over self-determination and sovereignty, economic development and disparity, democratization, the legacies of decolonization, and global justice, the course delves into how and why actors in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and North Korea translated local struggles into international human rights agendas that gained attention on the global stage. In exploring this process of translation and appropriation, we will also analyze how these local conflicts transformed international human rights issues.
Contentious Iran
Prof. Ali Kadivar
INTL4941.03
Tuesdays 3:00 - 5:25
Abstract to come....
Spring 2024:
Critical Appropaches to Development
Prof. Joseph Getzoff
INTL4941.01
Time/Date TBA
Abstract to come
Geopolitics, Religion & Security
Prof. Elizabeth Prodromou
INTL4941.02
Time/Date TBA
Abstract to come
New Courses offered in 2023-2024
Info to come soon:
Approved Summer Abroad Courses
[Summer 2023 courses will be listed here soon...]
Contentious History and the Politics of Contemporary Korea: Decolonization, Division, Development, and Democratization (INTL/HIST 2856)
Prof. Ingu Hwang
June 25-July 23, 2022, 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
May 22 - June 18, 2022; taught in Parma, Italy
Approved for PEDS-PE and GC-CW electives
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 and Lisbon as an Economic, Political & Cultural Gateway
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Professor: Rui Albuquerque
Approved for: PEDS-PE/DS
- Food, Power & Politics
Location: Parma, Italy
Professor: Hiroshi Nakazato
Approved for: GC-CW, PEDS-PE
- 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