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The International Relations major is a multi-disciplinary course of study on the ways in which people, private groups, and governments from differing sovereign states relate to each other in the global political and economic systems. States are inevitably a main focus of IR analysis, but the emergence of non-state actors, such as international organizations, multinational corporations, and private groups ranging from religious and peace groups to terrorist organizations are important features of our time. Likewise, the military and economic power of states is inevitably a main focus of IR analysis, but not to the exclusion of cultural interactions, or the broader environment of politics as defined by patterns of population, wealth, resources and technology. In short, we want to encourage imaginative, but hardheaded study of the intercourse among governments and people around the world. Our plan for achieving this goal is twofold: first, to insist that our majors receive a firm grounding in the methods of analysis used in the disciplines of political science, history, and economics; second, to provide them maximum flexibility later on to specialize in disciplines and areas of the world of their own choosing. This curriculum if assiduously pursued, offers well-rounded liberal arts education valuable in all walks of life. But it is also designed to prepare students for law or business school, graduate school in the social sciences, the Foreign Service, and international careers of all sorts.
As an inter-disciplinary major, we expect our students to be well trained in the three major disciplines of international relations: Political Science, History, and Economics. In addition, we encourage our students to be intellectually adventurous---to explore the analytical approaches of other academic disciplines.
The International Relations Program was one of the first at UPenn to require all undergraduates to write a senior thesis. A senior thesis should be an exploration of an original topic of the student's choosing, bringing to bear the mulit-disciplinary analytical tools the student should have acquired over the course of his or her studies. It is meant both as a capstone requirement, as well as a genuine opportunity for the undergraduate student to make an original contribution to the understanding of international relations.
For more information about the specific requirements of the curriculum, please consult the new IR curriculum page.
Prospective majors are required by The College to declare their major by the end of sophomore year. Students who are changing majors or adding a second major are urged to file an application for admission with the IR office and College Advising no later than the first semester of their junior year - preferably prior to the end of the drop/add period. Students are encouraged to apply earlier, of course, especially if they plan to study abroad during their junior year (see below). Because of staffing and enrollment contingencies pertaining to the Senior Seminar for Thesis Research no one will be admitted to the major after their junior year or after they have reached senior status.
In any case, all applicants are required to have a pre-admission interview in order to plan a schedule for the completion of their prerequisites and major requirements. You should do this at your earliest possible convenience. Students are obliged to complete requirements in force at time of admission to the major, and are cautioned against completing requirements noted below without consultation with the IR advisor. Please call the office to make an appointment rather than use email.
Applicants for the IR major should also have completed specific prerequisites outlined below, and must do so prior to acceptance to the major.
Sigma Iota Rho: National Honor Society: SIR is the national honor society for students in International Relations. The Epsilon chapter at Penn requires a 3.3 GPA in the major and a 3.2 overall for applicants. Interested majors can pick up applications at the IR office, or visit the SIR website att: http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~irusa/sir.
IRUSA (The IR Undergraduate student organization): The IR major is a chance to tap into the best courses of several departments concerned with international affairs. But it is not itself a department, and does not have its own faculty. This means that IR students may feel "betwixt and between" when it comes to forming an intellectual community of like-minded students. One of the solutions to this problem is IRUSA, an organization of, by, and for the undergraduate majors in International Relations. IRUSA is an organization that encourages intellectual, academic, and social interaction among IR majors. But it depends on student participation for its success -- so we encourage everyone to check it out. For information, contact the IR office.
We plan activities throughout the year to involve students in our growing intellectual community. They will include such events as guest speaker programs, student participation colloquia on current foreign policy issues, and clubs of interest to IR students with various specialties. The IR office also maintains relations with the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and various research units here on campus. We have a guide to careers in IR after graduation. And most of all, we invite you to use our own office and library in hopes that you will help us build a congenial home for our students in international relations.
| Copyright 2007: International Relations Program University of Pennsylvania |
Maintained by: Tomoharu Nishino Last Modified: November, 2007 |