International Relations

Overview

The International Relations (IR) Major is an interdisciplinary program which allows students to develop a solid background in related areas of political science, history, Indigenous studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, and modern languages. The IR program stresses critical thinking and essential communication skills. 

A bachelor's degree in IR provides a solid foundation for diverse career options, including those associated with law, business, politics, foreign service, international organizations, teaching, economic development, and most professional programs. Via the Go Global program, students in the IR Major program are encouraged to study and travel in other countries as part of their B.A. Major requirements. Post-graduate programs in IR are available at many universities in Canada and around the world. 

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

Demonstrate Understanding:

• Analyze the key classical and contemporary theories of international relations, their origins, their assumptions, and their implications for our understanding of the world.
• Explain core concepts of economics, such as supply and demand, opportunity costs, comparative advantage, competition and monopoly, public goods and market failures.
• Compare and draw connections between key events, movements, and figures in global history, especially from the twentieth century onward. 

Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create:    

• Critically evaluate empirical claims about different substantively important aspects of world politics, such as war, nationalism, state formation, economic development, and democratization, using case studies, basic statistics, or other forms of analysis.
• Apply economic models to predict the behavior of individual actors, such as firms, and macro-economic phenomena, such as growth, prices, and trade.
• Critique and weigh different forms of historical evidence, such as letters, ledgers, records of meetings, and texts of past laws and regulations.
• Place current news in its broader social, cultural, and political context and identify gaps and possible biases in its coverage.
• Design rigorous research projects that generate fresh findings on substantively and theoretically important topics or formulate innovative and feasible policy proposals. 

Demonstrate General Skills:  

• Synthesize or adjudicate between contrasting arguments.  
• Write clearly and persuasively, with proper documentation of claims.
• Read sophisticated academic and policy analysis.
• Attain a moderate to high level of skill with one or more foreign languages.
• Engage others’ ideas in a respectful and thorough manner. 

Requirements for the International Relations Degree Program

• B.A. requirements;
• Admission to the International Relations program is conditional on maintaining an average of 70% on either: a) the last three terms as a full-time student, or b) the last 30 credits as a part-time student;
• Second Language. Students must take 12 credits in preferably one or a maximum of two languages other than English. This is in addition to the language requirements embedded within the Communications requirement of the Bachelor of Arts degree. Students are encouraged to make completion of the language requirement a priority as early as possible in their program. In approved cases students may satisfy the second language requirement by taking a proficiency exam in lieu of language courses. However, the second language credits will need to be substituted by up to 12 credits of elective courses.

Major in International Relations

Admission Requirements

Admission to the IR Major occurs in Winter Term 2 of a student’s second year, for the following academic year. Students must submit a formal application to the coordinator of the IR program. Contact the IR Program Coordinator for more information.   

Admission to the International Relations program is conditional on maintaining an average of 70% on either: a) the last three terms as a full-time student, or b) the last 30 credits as a part-time student. 

Note: Students are encouraged to begin meeting their second language requirement as early as possible in their program. 

Degree Requirements
 

Note: Some program requirements may be applied to Foundation and Distributional requirements; see B.A. Requirements.

Program Requirements
 

¹ Although there are not required first- or second-year courses for Anthropology, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, and Sociology, many of the third- and fourth-year courses required for the IR program have prerequisites. In choosing courses, students should not assume that the same courses will be offered two years in a row. 
²  Some special topics courses, such as POLI_O 309, 391 and HIST_O 495, may be approved by the IR program coordinator if the courses are sufficiently global in their content.  
³ Credit will only be granted for one of POLI_O 464 or POLI_O 489 when topics are of the same nature.  
⁴ This requirement is in addition to the language requirements embedded within the Communication requirement of the Bachelor of Arts degree. In approved cases, students may satisfy the second language requirement by taking a proficiency exam instead of language courses. In this case second language credits can be substituted by up to 12 credits of elective courses.