International Relations Major

For more information about the program, honors/high honors, transfer credit, etc., visit the international relations program page.

Major Requirements

Students are strongly encouraged to complete most required courses by the end of the junior year. As a general rule, the only requirements students can complete off campus are the elective and History courses as well as appropriate language courses; in all such cases, students must seek prior approval from the IR director.

For students seeking a major in international relations and a minor in political science, no courses may be counted toward both.

POSC 152 - Global Peace and War (IR) , does not ordinarily count toward the IR major. Students who take POSC 152 before deciding on an IR major must also take POSC 232 , but may count POSC 152 as one of the two IR electives with written permission from the IR program director.

Students who have AP credit for ECON 151 must take one additional elective course.

The major program consists of the following requirements:

Foundational Course

POSC 232 - Fundamentals of International Relations (IR) (a prerequisite for upper-level courses for IR majors)

Core Political Science Subfield Courses

At least two of the following POSC courses:

Economics Courses

All of the following:

ECON 151 - Introduction to Economics
ECON 249 - International Economics (Students who have completed the relevant prerequisites may take ECON 349 in place of ECON 249 .)
Students are strongly encouraged to take ECON 249 before their senior year

History Courses

One of the following:

IR Seminar

Unless the director grants specific permission, the seminar must be taken on campus. The seminar must be taken by the first term of the senior year, unless special permission of the IR director is granted in advance. Students pursuing honors must take an IR seminar in addition to the honors seminar.

One of the following:

HIST 479 - Seminar on Problems in the History of U.S. Foreign Policy (US)
HIST 489 - Seminar on Problems in Military History (TR)
POSC 430 - Seminar: Problems and Issues in Post-Mao China
POSC 433 - Seminar: Topics in Globalization
POSC 434 - Seminar: Immigrants, Refugees, and the Politics of Borders
POSC 436 - Seminar: Continuity and Change in International Politics
POSC 437 - Seminar: Democratization and Prospects for Peace and Prosperity
POSC 451 - Seminar: Africa in World Politics
POSC 454 - Seminar: The Cold War and After
POSC 455 - Seminar: American Foreign Policy
POSC 456 - Seminar: War - Theories and Practices
Other seminars in the Division of Social Sciences may count with permission of the program director.

Elective Courses

Two electives from the list below or students may substitute an additional core subfield course or IR seminar.

Language Requirement

For both majors and minors, reading proficiency in a Western European language equal to that attained by completion of two 300-level courses with a grade of at least C.

Alternatively, for students interested in a non-Western European language, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Russian, etc., the requirement can be satisfied by completion of four Colgate University courses, or their equivalents, in an approved language with a grade of at least C.

To receive credit for courses taken off campus, arrangements must be made in advance with the director of the IR program.

GPA Requirement

For all nine courses counted toward the major, a grade of at least C must be achieved.