International Politics Major
Tackle the unprecedented opportunities and challenges of globalization
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Major Overview
The International Politics major (IPOL) takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding international relations with courses in diplomacy, religion, economics, security, media, and gender. IPOL provides geographically specific courses to explore how countries and regions address cooperation and competition.
Associate Professor Paul Musgrave
Curricular Field Chair
Julien Moutte
Curricular Dean
Why Study IPOL At-a-Glance
The globalization of ideas, goods, and communication presents the world with unprecedented hopes and challenges. How do individuals, states, and organizations cooperate for mutual gain, and how do they compete against each other? The IPOL major encourages deep exploration of these questions and provides opportunities for advanced coursework in comparative politics, international relations, and political theory.
2
Core courses
7
IPOL electives
Career Paths
IPOL alumni have pursued careers in diplomacy, government, consulting, education, sports, security studies, nonprofit and international organizations, law, and publishing.
Declaring Your Major
You will declare your major during the first semester of your sophomore year in consultation with your advisor. When declaring a major, you will prepare a proposal outlining the reasons why you want to pursue the IPOL major and how it aligns with your academic interests and career goals.
Skills You’ll Learn in the IPOL Major
- Build political analysis skills using both qualitative and quantitative methods
- Understand the challenges of regional competition and cooperation
- Strengthen your critical thinking, argumentation, and writing skills
- Develop critical analyses of arguments and counter-arguments in the political sphere
- Apply relevant theoretical literature and historiographical debates to current events
Alumni Spotlight
What you can accomplish
Pragyan Acharya, charting a career in education
Brought up in Nepal during and after the 1996-2006 war, Class of 2024 graduate Pragyan Acharya says, “the impact of conflict and political turmoil on my education was significant, and inspired me to pursue education and conflict as a course of study.”
Working with his advisors, the 2024 Outstanding Student in the Major winner personalized his International Politics major with an Education, Inquiry, and Justice minor, completed during a semester abroad at the Washington, DC campus. An Education and Social Justice Fellowship, and an Honors thesis allowed him to conduct substantive research on “Schooling Revolution, Seeking Justice: Rural Schoolteachers and the Quest for New Nepal.”
“I think my biggest achievement was to form meaningful relationships with faculty and staff mentors, and peers that have pushed me to be better throughout my time at GU-Q,” he said. This translated into a first job as a Research and Projects Assistant at his alma mater, where he is contributing to ongoing faculty research, and managing special projects focused on improving operations management across the university.
