Master of Arts in International Relations

Program Director: Lasha Tchantouridzé
Associate Program Director of Academics: Charles Lerche

The Master of Arts in International Relations will have three parts. The first two parts consist of taught seminars: the program will have required seminars followed by electives. After completing the required seminars, students will proceed to the electives. At the end of the program students will take their field exam in the discipline of International Relations.

The field exam will consist of issues from the required seminars, as well as those two seminars elected by a student. Satisfactory completion of the field exam will be required to graduate from the program. The third part of the program will consist of research elements – students will be expected to complete a Master’s research paper (MRP) of approximate length of 14 to 18 thousand words. Students will be encouraged to select their MRP or capstone topic as early as possible, and by the end of Seminar Four they will have advisors assigned. Students will be encouraged to choose their elective seminars according to their research interests. Master’s Research Paper will be a shorter version of MA thesis, with one important difference: students will not be asked to make original contributions to the field of international relations. Although it is not difficult to identify original theses statements in IR, even at Master’s level, fundamental difficulties exist in the field in terms of scholarly rigor and methodology of fully investigating the proposed research questions. Such challenges are common in the discipline at Master’s level and tend to exist even at wealthy schools – the challenges are connected with the limitations that naturally exist for those who study international security and history – it is seldom possible for Master’s students to do substantial field research, especially in the areas of conflict.

Curriculum Map

Core Requirements 

All students in the Master of Arts in International Relations program are required to complete the following courses in the order prescribed in the curriculum map for the degree.