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international relations

mysticwarrior

what is international relations?
What do you study/ learn about
is it interesting/ boring?

Reply 1

cksiu

Original post by mysticwarrior

what is international relations?
What do you study/ learn about
is it interesting/ boring?

https://youtu.be/Dk45VZ9hJzs?feature=shared

Reply 2

Szara_SOAS

Official Rep

Original post by mysticwarrior

what is international relations?
What do you study/ learn about
is it interesting/ boring?

Hi!

International Relations (IR) is a broad, interdisciplinary field that explores interactions between states and other actors on the globe stage. It covers topics like foreign policy, security dilemmas, the global economy, and international human rights. It also with subjects like law, history, and economics, making it a diverse and dynamic area of study.

In my ‘Introduction to IR’ module, we covered foundational concepts like sovereignty, states, and war, as well as major theoretical traditions such as realism, liberalism, and constructivism. These theories help us to make sense of international politics and provide us with different accounts of the world.

Different universities teach IR from different angles. Some focus heavily on security, delving into war, intelligence, and military strategy, while others emphasize economics, exploring trade, development, and financial markets. At SOAS, we examine world politics through a non-eurocentric and decolonial lens, and put more emphasis on critical theories such as postcolonialism and feminism than other places.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed studying IR from this perspective and some of my favourite modules have included Globalisation and Global Governance, War and the International, Political Economy and Decolonising World Politics. Areas I haven’t enjoyed as much are the bureaucracy aspect of foreign policy and some readings on republicanism that I found a little dull.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!