1997-98 University Bulletin Entry for:

International Studies Program

S = Objectives

The undergraduate International Studies Program (ISP) is designed to deal with the fundamental features of, and contemporary issues in, the affairs among nations. ISP not only encompasses the interactions among national governments, international institutions, and international private actors, but it also includes the effects that those international interactions have on the economy, populace, and society within nations. ISP therefore deals with the interactions (or "feedback effects") between the domestic and international environments. International studies will deal fundamentally with the interdependence so characteristic of the modern world.

S = How to Become a Program Member

ISP requires students to take six courses: a basic one in international relations, two in economics, one in international diplomatic history, one in comparative studies, and, finally, the Senior Research Seminar. The course in international relations will acquaint students with the fundamental features of international anarchy, of what makes international politics different from domestic politics. The year of economics will require students to master the fundamentals of modern micro and macroeconomics. The course in international diplomatic history will give students a sense of the important international issues of the past, of how we have arrived at where we are today, and of what is feasible for tomorrow. The course in comparative studies will teach students the modern methods of comparative analysis--of how to compare different nations--and give them a familiarity with selected societies. Finally, the Senior Seminar will be an interdisciplinary one and will build on the disciplinary work done earlier.

The program is open to students irrespective of their departmental concentration. Satisfactory completion of the program will be noted on the student's permanent records and transcripts.

S = Committee

Steven Burg, Director

(Politics)

Silvia Arrom

(History)

Robert Art

(Politics)

Eugene Black

(History)

Seyom Brown

(Politics)

F. Trenery Dolbear

(Economics)

Robert Hunt

(Anthropology)

Attila Klein

(Biology)

Rachel McCulloch

(Economics)

Wellington Nyangoni

(African and Afro-American Studies)

Peter Petri

(Economics)

George Ross

(Sociology)

S = Requirements for the Program

Participants in the program will be expected to meet the following requirements:

A. Satisfactory completion of POL 15a (Introduction to International Relations), ECON 2a (Introduction to Economics), and ECON 8b (Analysis of Economic Problems), all normally by the end of the sophomore year. All program students, when they take ECON 8b, must write the required research paper on a topic selected from the international economics section of the course.

B. Satisfactory completion of one course each from the international history and comparative studies components listed below, normally by the end of the junior year.

C. Satisfactory completion of POL 163a (International Studies Seminar), normally taken in the senior year after completion of the five requisite program courses cited above.

D. Students may count only one course from their major towards ISP program credit. (Economics majors, for example, must take three electives, all of which must be done outside the economics department.) No course in the ISP program may be taken pass/fail.

E. Normally, ECON 2a, ECON 8b, POL 15a, POL 163a, and one elective must be taken at Brandeis. Students who study abroad may count one elective taken abroad toward ISP credit, with the prior approval of the ISP director.

S = Courses of Instruction

POL 163a Seminar: Human Rights and International Relations

[ ss ]

Prerequisite: POL 15a or equivalent. Signature of the instructor required.

How human rights issues are affecting and being handled by the nation-state system. Traditional vs. reformist views. Universal vs. cultural relativism. Contemporary case studies. Usually offered in even years.

Mr. Brown

L =

Required of All Students

ECON 2a

Introduction to Economics

ECON 8b

Analysis of Economic Problems

POL 15a

Introduction to International Relations

L =

International History

Students must choose one of the following:

AAAS 18b

Africa and the West

HIST 71a

Latin American History, Pre-Conquest to 1870

HIST 71b

Latin American History, 1870 to the Present

HIST 80a

Introduction to East Asian Civilization

HIST 80b

East Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

HIST 137a

Evolution of the International System, 1815 to the Present

HIST 142b

Europe since 1945

NEJS 147a

The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800

POL 160b

World Politics since 1945

L =

Comparative Studies

Students must choose one of the following:

AAAS 126b

Political Economy of the Third World

AAAS 158a

Theories of Development and Underdevelopment

AAAS 167a

African and Caribbean Comparative Political Systems

AAAS 175a

Comparative Politics of North Africa

ANTH 171a

Crosscultural Inquiry in Social Science

ECON 25b

Transition and Institutional Economics

ECON 32b

Comparative Economic Systems

ECON 60a

International Economic Policy

ECON 175a

Introduction to the Economics of Development

NEJS 145b

The Making of the Modern Middle East

PHIL 112b

Philosophy and Public Policy

POL 11b

Introduction to Comparative Government: Europe

POL 127b

Seminar: Managing Ethnic Conflict

POL 129a

East European Politics

POL 130b

Politics in Russia and Ukraine

POL 140a

Politics of Africa

POL 144a

Latin American Politics I

POL 144b

Latin American Politics II

POL 150a

Politics of Southeast Asia

POL 156b

West European Political Systems

SOC 114b

Modern Capitalism: Society and Economy

SOC 125b

U.S.-Caribbean Relations

SOC 161a

Society, State, and Power: The Problem of Democracy