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 Spring 2024 courses are pre-approved for the core requirements of the IS major.

**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

Introduction to International Relations (INTL 2501) 
Prof. Jennifer Erickson.   INTL 2501.01  Lecture TTh 9-10:15
Prof. Jennifer Erickson    INTL 2501.02 Lecture. TTh 1:30-2:45
Prof. Frank O'Donnell    INTL 2501.08 Lecture TTh 3-4:15

 

Principles of Economics (ECON 1101)

  Section 1  Lecture MW 3:00 - 4:15 + discussion (see EagleApps)
  Section 11  Lecture TTh 1:30 - 2:45 + 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 2201    Microeconomic Theory (Multiple times)
ECON 2202    Macroeconomic Theory (Multiple times)
ECON2203    Honors Microeconomic Theory TTh 3-4:15
ECON2204    Honors Macroeconomic Theory TTh 1-2:45
ECON 2207  The Global Economy M 6-8:45
ECON 2228  Econometric Methods (Multiple times)
ECON 2231    Financial Forecasting - Online Asynchronous
ECON 2242   Public Policy in an Aging SocietyTTh 3-4:15
ECON 2246   Impact of News on Financial Markets TTh 3-4:15
ECON 2876   Development and Social Justice in Korea TTh 12-1:15

 

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 2404.  Populism and the Rise of Anti-Democracy. MW 4:30-5:45
POLI 2405   Comp. Politics of the Middle East TTH 10:30-11:45
POLI 2407   Intro to South Asian Politics  MW 3-4:15 [note pre-reqs] POLI 2409  Revolution, Nationalism, and State Building in the Middle East MWF 2:00
POLI 2413   The New Worlds of Welfare Capitalism: Economic Reform, Redistribution, and Social Policy.  MW 4:30-5:45 
POLI 2404.  Populism and the Rise of Anti-Democracy MW 4:30-5:45
POLI 2440   A Continent on the Move: Immigration in Contemporary Europe  TTH 1:30-2:45
POLI 2453    Europe and the Muslim World  TTH 9-10:15

 

Ethics, Religion & International Politics  ["ERIP"] (INTL 5563)
Prof. Nelly Wamaitha 

Lecture: [choose one]:
  01 Lecture: TTh 1:30 - 2:45pm (Stokes 117S)
  04 Lecture: TTh 10:30 - 11:45am (Campion 328)

Discussion:  [choose one]:
  02 Discussion: Th 3:00 - 3:50pm (Mcguinn 437)
  03 Discussion: Th 4:00 - 4:50pm (Mcguinn 437)
  05 Discussion: Th 5:00 - 5:50pm (Mcguinn 437)
  06 Discussion: Th 6:00 - 6:50pm (Mcguinn 437)


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.

Spring 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.  


Ethics and Social Justice

Pre-approved courses

The following courses are pre-approved for the ESJ 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.

Spring 2024 pre-approved course list 

** See the "ESJ" 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).   

Spring 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).

Spring 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

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:

Spring 2024: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.

Fall 2023:

Rethinking Security  
Prof. Hiroshi Nakazato
INTL 4941.01
Mondays 3:00 - 5:20pm (Stokes 111S) 

It is a given in IR Theories that states pursue their national interest, and for many theorists and policymakers, it is equally clear that a state’s security is the uppermost concern. But how is the national interest determined, by whom, and for what purposes? This seminar begins with a traditional approach to unpacking the concept of national interest and national security, before delving into critical approaches and broader conceptions of what “security” can encompass. Among the questions considered are: which discourses and practices do actors use, and which logics of security do they relate to? What explains the success of populist and authoritarian parties in many countries? Is it possible to justify closed borders and increased security control from a normative point of view, and if so how? How does discourse about human security matter for activists and policymakers?

 

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.

 

New Courses offered in 2023-2024

These courses are new and/or newly approved for the IS major. See the Approved Fall 2023 Courses sheet or the "Central List of Approved  

Fall 2023:

  • Rethinking Security (INTL 4941.01 IS Senior Seminar)
    Prof. Hiroshi Nakazato
    [See full description under "Senior Seminars and Thesis" tab above]

  • Orthodox Christianity in Global Context (INTL/THEO 3615)
    Professor Elizabeth Prodromou
    CC, ESJ, GC-SM elective credit

  • Concepts, Cases, and Contexts of Nationalism (INTL 2453)
    Prof. Elizabeth Prodromou
    CC elective credit

  • Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Religion and Education (FORM 2254)
    Prof. Caitlyn Bolton
    GC-CW and GC-SM elective credit

 

Spring 2024:

  • Democratization in the Middle East (INTL 2425)
    Prof. Prof. Elizabeth Prodromou
    Satisfies Comparative Politics IS core; CC, PEDS-DS, and GC-SM  elective credits; meets 2x/week
    This course is an introduction to democratization in the Middle East, using social science literatures on regime type (e.g. democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian, hybrid) to explore how history, geopolitics, and leadership shape comparative experiences of democratization in the region.  The course considers democratization patterns shaped by disputes over tradeoffs between security versus pluralism and equality before the state, tensions between economic equity and growth, and competition between religious versus secular forms of nationalism.  Through case studies (e.g. Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Iran, Syria) and engagement with regional and international scholar-practitioners, the course situates the region within current debates about democracy worldwide. 

  • Critical Appropaches to Development (INTL 4941.01 IS Senior Seminar)
    Prof. Joseph Getzoff 
    [See full description under "Senior Seminars and Thesis" tab above]

  • Geopolitics, Religion & Security (INTL 4941.02  IS Senior Seminar)
    Prof. Elizabeth Prodromou 
    [See full description under "Senior Seminars and Thesis" tab above]

  • The Social Construction of Travel (COMM 2471)
    Prof. Kalemba Kitzio 
    GC-CW elective credit

 

Approved Summer Abroad Courses