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Bilkent University

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Undergraduate and Graduate Programs 2024-2025


INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

İbrahim Özgür Özdamar, Ph.D., Chair

Academic Staff
Part-time Academic Staff
IR Courses

International Relations (IR) is a relatively new discipline. Its importance, however, has been rapidly growing in recent decades. All of us are affected by the international environment and foreign policy decisions. International issues are becoming increasingly significant, complex, and diversified. We often read and hear about such issues as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Aegean dispute, the post-Cold War period, the European Union, arms control negotiations, and problems of international trade and finance. All these issues lend themselves to conflicting interpretations and competing alternative solutions. In order to grasp the significance of these contemporary problems, we need to have not only a certain degree of specialized knowledge about the geographical regions in question, but also some theoretical understanding of International Relations.

Career opportunities in the field increase as Turkey's foreign relations diversify. The diplomatic service and other sectors of public bureaucracy continue to be an important source of employment. In addition to this, the media, private sector, professional organizations, and universities need increasing numbers of specialists in international affairs.

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

The undergraduate program is comprised of a broad set of integrated courses designed to provide the training and perspective necessary for future career responsibilities in the field of International Relations. These courses emphasize increased competence in IR specialties such as International Law, Diplomatic History, Politics of International Economy, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Relations Theory, Global Issues and Area Studies. The teaching objectives are to maintain the crucial balance between theory and practice and to ensure that every student is exposed to the latest understanding of all the key IR issues and to the conceptual and analytical frameworks underlying them.

The core set of courses provides the fundamentals of the field of IR while a wide variety of elective courses, to be taken from the department as well as from the Departments of Political Science, Economics and Management, permits students to develop a program that will meet personal needs and special career interests.

For students who choose to pursue a more advanced degree in the field, the Department offers a Master's degree program and a doctoral degree program with considerable flexibility for graduate students to develop specialized academic programs to suit their needs and interests.

CURRICULUM

FIRST YEAR

Autumn Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
ECON 107  Principles of Microeconomics  3    3  5
ENG 101  English and Composition I  5    3  5
GE 100  Orientation      1  2
HCIV 101  History of Civilization I  3    3  5
POLS 101  Politics I: What is it?  3    3  5
SOC 101  Introduction to Sociology  3    3  5
TURK 101  Turkish I      2  3.5

Spring Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
CS 121  Introduction to Computer Applications and Programming  2  2  3  5
ECON 108  Principles of Macroeconomics  3    3  5
ENG 102  English and Composition II  5    3  5
HCIV 102  History of Civilization II  3    3  5
IR 101  Introduction to World Politics  3    3  5
TURK 102  Turkish II      2  3.5

SECOND YEAR

Autumn Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
GE 250  Collegiate Activities Program I      -  1
HIST 200  History of Turkey  3    4  6.5
IR 205  Diplomatic History  3    3  5
IR 227  Research Methods in International Relations  3    3  5
MATH 103  Thinking Mathematically I  3    3  5
PHIL 243  Social and Political Philosophy I  3    6  8.5

Spring Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
GE 251  Collegiate Activities Program II      1  2
IR 236  20th Century World Politics  3    3  5
IR 335  International Relations Theory  3    3  5
LAW 210  Basic Concepts of Law (in Turkish)  3    3  5
MATH 104  Thinking Mathematically II  3    3  5
PHIL 244  Social and Political Philosophy II  3    6  8.5

THIRD YEAR

Autumn Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
IR 303  International Law  3    3  5
IR 338  International Political Economy  3    3  5
MATH 264  Statistics for Social Sciences  3    3  5
  Computing Methods Elective      3  -
  Humanities Core Elective      3  -
  IR Elective      3  -

Spring Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
IR 305  International Organizations  3    3  5
IR 333  Foreign Policy Analysis  3    3  5
IR 358  International Security  3    3  5
  Arts Core Elective      3  -
  IR Elective      3  -
  Science Core Elective      3  -

FOURTH YEAR

Autumn Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
IR 399  Summer Training      -  6
IR 439  Turkish Foreign Policy  3    3  5
  IR Electives (2)      6  -
  Unrestricted Electives (3)      9  -

Spring Semester

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
GE 400  Transdisciplinary Senior Project  4    6  8.5
  IR Electives (2)      6  -
  Unrestricted Elective      3  -

In addition to elective courses offered by the Department of International Relations, students are allowed to take electives from the departments of Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Faculty of Law, Management and/or Philosophy or foreign language courses, among others.

MINOR PROGRAM

The minor degree program in International Relations offers Bilkent University students with an interest in world politics a solid basis for understanding world politics in a globalizing world as well as Turkey's international relations. The minor degree program is made up of four must courses: Introduction to World Politics, 20th Century World Politics, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Relations Theory. Students also take three elective courses of their own choosing. The Department offers a wide variety of courses, all of which are open to minor degree students (subject to availability).

Prerequisite Courses: IR 101 Introduction to World Politics

CURRICULUM

Courses

Code Course Name Hours Credit ECTS
Credit
Lec. Other
IR 236  20th Century World Politics  3    3  5
IR 333  Foreign Policy Analysis  3    3  5
IR 335  International Relations Theory  3    3  5
  Electives (3)      9  -

GRADUATE PROGRAM

Master of Arts in International Relations

Admission: Prospective students must have completed the Bilkent University requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations or equivalent training. (Also refer to the "Graduate Admissions" section in the introduction of this catalog for the general graduate admission requirements.)

Degree Requirements: A completed program must satisfy the following criteria:

  1. Completion of at least 24 units of credit course work. The seven required courses include the following: International Relations Theory, Issues in Turkish Foreign Policy, Pre-Thesis Seminar, Academic Practices, Fundamentals of Social Research Design, Research Methods and Academic Publication Ethics, and Master's Thesis. The five elective courses can be selected from the offered graduate courses each semester.
  2. Completion of an M.A. thesis proposal before the start of the second year.
  3. An M.A. thesis must be submitted to and approved by the thesis defense committee.
  4. A cumulative grade point average of at least 3.00 must be maintained for the totality of Master's level work.

Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations

The doctoral program at Bilkent IR is a highly specialized program. Its purpose is to develop the skills of doctoral candidates in international political analysis and to increase their capacity to conduct research on theoretical issues, international security studies, strategic studies, comparative foreign policy, international political economy, regional integration, global environmental problems, international law, peacekeeping and conflict resolution as well as area studies such as the European Union, the Balkans, Russia, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus. The program is reserved for a limited number of students who are qualified and committed to spend several years conducting intensive research. The program is particularly suitable for students who wish to pursue an academic career.

Degree Requirements: Students accepted to this program must complete at least 26 credit hours of course work. Students may take elective courses from other departments in accordance with IR Ph.D. curriculum requirements. A cumulative grade point average of at least 3.00 must be maintained for the totality of Ph.D. coursework. A paper based on the candidate's thesis must be accepted or published in a reputable journal before the dissertation can be defended. The doctoral program must be completed in at most 12 semesters.

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