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