International relations

International relations as a discipline was founded after World War I and has evolved over the course of the 20th century. However, its core purposes remain the same: to explain seemingly intractable global problems and the political nature of responses to them, and to consider whether there are global responsibilities. The discipline advances critical knowledge about the causes, consequences and challenges of mitigating conflict and promoting cooperation within and across states and societies. It is concerned with the relationships between international structures, processes and political institutions including states, non-government organisations (NGOs), social movements, and international organisations such as the United Nations and its specialised agencies, the World Trade Organisation, NATO, and the European Union. Concepts of power, sovereignty, security and the state are central to the subject matter of international relations. Students are encouraged to develop critical thinking, creativity, team work, research-based learning and analytical writing skills in order to understand contemporary changes and historical continuities in international relations.

International relations at Monash aims to offer students an understanding of many aspects of contemporary global politics and economics, coupled with a solid intellectual grounding in the key debates, historical events, and political institutions in which the discipline is immersed. The international relations major at Monash focusses on four broad areas: international security studies, global governance, international political economy and foreign policy.

Availability

International relations is listed in A2000 Bachelor of Arts at Caulfield and Clayton and 0202 Bachelor of Letters at Clayton as a major or minor, and A0502 Diploma of Liberal Arts at Caulfield and Clayton as a major.

Outcomes

In addition to achieving the broad outcomes of their course, students successfully completing this major will be able to:

• recognise, interpret and analyse mainstream and critical theoretical perspectives and conventional and alternative concepts in the study of international relations across its four subfields (security studies, international political economy, foreign policy, global governance)
• apply these perspectives and concepts to illuminate and examine a new or existing problem in the study of international relations
• comprehend and constructively engage with current affairs, international relations scholarly articles and books, and put them in an appropriate theoretical and empirical context