Major in International Relations

In addition to the requirements below, students must meet all of the general requirements of their Faculty as outlined in the Academic Calendar.

In accordance with the Arts Faculty requirements, students may not count more than 60 credits of International Relations courses (i.e., required courses and those on Lists A, B, and C below) toward the B.A. degree (Language courses do not count as part of these 60 credits).

First and Second Year Course Requirements

Students take the following courses:

  1. [ECON 101 or ECON 310] and [ECON 102 or ECON 311]
  2. HIST 102 or HIST 103 (both of these courses are 6 credits)
  3. POLI 260
  4. Twelve credits of one language other than English, in addition to the Faculty of Arts language requirement. The language can be the one used to satisfy the Faculty of Arts requirement carried to a higher level, or it can be an additional language. For more information on the language requirement – please click here.

While it is advisable to complete all of these requirements prior to the third year, it is permissible to complete some of them in the third year.

Suggested courses: Prospective IR students may find the following first and second year courses interesting and relevant. These courses are not required for application to the IR program or for graduation: ASIC 200, ECON 255, ENVR 200, FNIS 100, FNIS 210, FNIS 220, FRST 100, GEOG 121, GEOG 122, GEOG 250, HIST 101, HIST 104, HIST 105, HIST 200, LING 100, LING 101, SOCI 100.

Third and Fourth Year Course Requirements

A minimum of 33 credits in International Relations. These 33 credits must include the following:

  • 3 credits from Economics 355 or 356 – Note: The prerequisites for these courses are [Economics 101 or 310] and [Economics 102 or 311].
  • 6 credits from History 425 (6) or History 432 (6) or History 408 (3) and History 409 (3).
  • 3 credits from one of: Political Science 360, 361, 362, 364, 367, 369, 371, or 378
  • 3 credits from an International Relations seminar taken in the final year. The IR Seminars are: ECON 457, HIST 403, POLI 464, or one of the other seminars that may be designated by the Chairs of the Program. A list of designated seminars for the following year and a description of their content is available from the International Relations Program in the spring. Note: These seminars are not available for third-year students and students are only allowed to take one of these seminars.
  • 18 credits from the lists below. Of these 18 credits, at least 9 must be from List A or 9 must be from List B. The remaining 9 credits can be from either Lists A, B, or C. Please note: a course used to satisfy one of the other IR requirements, cannot also be used to satisfy this requirement. E.g., if POLI 360 is used to satisfy the Political Science requirement noted above, it cannot be counted as part of these 18 credits.