International Politics
Features
• Prepares students for employment in a wide range of professional positions: government, international organizations such as the United Nations, consulting firms, public interest organizations, and nonprofit research institutes.
• Provides a conceptual foundation for analyzing and understanding the political, economic, and military components of international policy-making, as well as expertise on specific economic and security issues.
Faculty
The International Politics career track is led by Barbara Walter, Richard Feinberg, and Stephan Haggard.
Required Courses
IRGN 400 - International Relations of Asia Pacific
IRGN 449 - Making US Foreign Policy
IRGN 475 - International Negotiations Three additional International Politics electives.
Recommended Capstone: IRGN 490 - Institutional Engineering
Electives
IRGN 401 - Ethnic Conflict/Civil War
IRGN 404 - Chinese Politics
IRGN 416 - Postwar Politics in Japan
IRGN 435 - Topics in International Trade
IRGN 441 - WTO and the Law
IRGN 446 - Applied Data Analysis and Statistical Decision Making
IRGN 448 - Civil Society and Development
IRGN 454 - Current Issues is US-Latin American Relations
IRGN 463 - Politics of Southeast Asia
IRGN 479 - Politics and Institutions in Latin America
IRGN 484 - Korean Politics
IRGN 490 - Conflict, Terrorism and the Media
IRGN 490 - Critical Issues in US Foreign Policy
IRGN 490 - International Strategies Toward Fragile States
IRGN 490 - Korean Security
IRGN 490 - Media and Democracy in Asia
IRGN 490 - Politics of Mexico
IRGN 490 - Rise of China
The UC San Diego Political Science Department also offers a selection of track elective courses.
Student Groups
Policy Consulting and Advocacy
Region-focused groups such as the Latin America Student Organization or China Focus
International Politics Student Intern
“My duties have been to provide planned market research on specific sector industries, edit industry summaries, and create databases for upcoming trade events. My upcoming project is to develop a city profile database for the Shanghai office, looking specifically for cities in the region. I am working with a team of three other people who are in charge of the telecom, chemical, and finance sectors.”
Jessica Graham ’09, U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, Shanghai, China
Global Employers for International Politics Graduates
Graduates are qualified for employment in a wide range of professional positions: government, multilateral organizations such as the United Nations, consulting firms, public interest organizations, and nonprofit research institutes.
Bainbridge Consulting
Bearing Point Consulting
Central Intelligence Agency
Executive Office of the President - Office of Management and Budget
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
Grameen Foundation
International Trade Administration
Ministry of Finance, Korea
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexico NGO Committee on Disarmament
Renewable Ventures
Sony
UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UN Development Programme (UNDP)
U.S. Commercial Services
U.S. Department of Defense - Office of the Secretary
U.S. Dept. of State
U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO)
U.S. Navy
For a full list of relevant organizations, access the Employer Database in IRPSCAREERS.
