A glimpse into the fascinating field that studies countries of the world
Full disclosure: I (Nirupama) don’t personally believe in borders, and dream of a borderless world like the poet Rabindranath Tagore. But that’s just me, and a long-dead poet.
The entire world is structured on the concepts of borders and nationalities. And these nations form friendships with a few nations, and have fractured relations with a few others. There are friendly neighbours and neighbours at odds. Some have a shared history or culture, while some have fought alongside or against each other in wars. Others are making trade agreements or fighting trade wars. That’s a lot, isn’t it?
International Studies, or Global Affairs, or International Affairs as it is popularly known is an interdisciplinary study of global issues/world politics including but not limited to all of these. It’s technically a branch of political science, but owing to the wide variety of issues that come under its purview, it borrows from other social sciences such as economics, culture, education, and psychology to a great extent. It examines the impact the kind of inter-nation interactions have on society, and how and why nations, governments and individuals respond to such issues. It emerged in the 20th century, as an increasingly complex world began to be influenced by globalisation, and a large number of issues emerged as a result.
Today, it is one of the most sought-after areas of study, especially at the Masters level. Episode two in an introduction to this field, and the opportunities that exist in it, with Archana Atmakuri.
If you have any queries can write to us at whatisnextpod@gmail.com or reach out to us on LinkedIn.
In this week’s additional resources, we have links to courses in this area offered by various institutions. As a bonus, here’s a fun article on why IR is so relevant today.
Schools and Courses
· Best IR Schools in the world- https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/20/top-fifty-schools-international-relations-foreign-policy/
· London School of Economics- http://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Graduate/Degree-programmes-2020/MA-Global-Studies-A-European-Perspective
· School of Oriental African Studies, University of London https://www.soas.ac.uk/cisd/
· For European schools- https://www.masterstudies.com/Masters-Degree/International-Relations/Europe/
· S Rajaratnam School of International studies, NTU, Singapore- https://www.rsis.edu.sg/
· Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi- https://www.jnu.ac.in/sis
· Other universities for MA IR in India- https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/featurephilia/story/ma-in-international-relations-247024-2015-04-03
