Rationale
The Core Requirements constitute the foundation of knowledge that is needed by all majors in International Relations, regardless of your ultimate career plans or plans for postgraduate study. That is, before you can pursue the study of international relations in depth, we believe that you must complete a basic survey of the field of international relations, as well as basic courses in economics, history, US foreign policy, and theories of society and culture. In addition, majors in International Relations need advanced preparation in a second language and at least one literature or arts course in the same language area as their language requirement.

All majors in International Relations will complete one course in each of the seven core areas (listed below), four courses in their thematic concentration of choice, one senior seminar, and 8-semesters (or the equivalent) of a language to fulfill the IR Foreign Language requirement.

1. International Relations
2. Principles of Economics
3. International Economics
4. United States Foreign Policy
5. Theories of Society and Culture
6. The Historical Dimension
7. IR Culture Requirement
   • Arabic
   • Chinese
   • French
   • German
   • Hebrew
   • Italian
   • Japanese
   • Russian
   • Spanish

Below is the list of all the courses Tufts has offered over the past few years that fulfill the old curriculum Core Requirements. The Historical Thematic Concentration list and Historical Seminar list are also available. This is not the list of currently available courses. For currently available courses, please see the Course Announcement on the courses page.

Core Requirement #1: International Relations
Majors in International Relations require an introductory overview to the history of the field and its subject matter, the major concepts and factual background in the field, and the major philosophical, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the study of the field and how they can be applied to historical and contemporary problems in international relations.

This is done in PS 61 from the perspective of Political Science. At the level of concepts and facts, the course introduces such topics as nationalism, sovereignty, deterrence, power, interdependence, comparative advantage, exchange rates, rationality, and spurious reasoning, among others. At the level of epistemology, theory, and methodology, the course introduces classical and recent (neo) variants of liberal, Marxist, "realist", modernist, and critical theory and applies these frameworks to such diverse problems as war and peace, world order, deterrence, imperialism, international trade, international environmental cooperation, and arms control.

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Core Requirement #2: Principles of Economics
A core course in principles of economics introduces students to the fundamentals of microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. Topics covered in microeconomics include (1) how markets determine the composition and pricing of outputs and inputs and (2) how individual consumers and businesses respond to market forces. Topics covered in macroeconomics include (1) the determinants of economic growth and (2) the effects of fiscal and monetary policy on unemployment, inflation, and capacity utilization.

Note: Transfer/AP Courses
Students who intend to transfer principles of economics courses into the major have three options:

• If they have transferred EC 1 (microeconomics) or have AP equivalent credit, they must take EC 5 to complete the basic principles sequence. They will be awarded two units of academic credit.
• If they have transferred EC 2 (macroeconomics) or have AP equivalent credit, they must take EC 5 to complete the basic principles sequence. They will be awarded two units of academic credit.
• If they have transferred/received AP credit for both EC 1 (microeconomics) and EC 2 (macroeconomics) or a similar microeconomics/macroeconomics combined course (equivalent to EC 5), they place out of the basic principles sequence and will be awarded one unit of academic credit.

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Core Requirement #3: International Economics
A core course in international economics acquaints students with the evaluation of international commercial arrangements. The main areas addressed include trade, finance, development, comparative and environmental economics, but attention is also given to economic history, philosophy and strategic analysis where relevant to analysis of international relations. All courses presume a previous foundation in principles of macroeconomics and microeconomics (i.e., EC 5).

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Core Requirement #4: United States Foreign Policy
A core course in US foreign policy primarily includes a review of a) the global structure of the cold war; b) major US issues of concern (such as economic policy, nuclear weaponry, international institutions, democratization and relations with non-democratic states); and c) domestic sources of US foreign policy (involving both civil society and the country's political structure).

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Core Requirement #5: Theories of Society and Culture
A core course in society and culture provides theoretical frameworks for studying how human beings in different societies form individual or group identities and social structures that shape inter- and transnational affairs. This focus is addressed through theoretical perspectives from anthropology, sociology, literature, philosophy, psychology, religion, the performing arts and/or the visual arts. (Thus, courses that emphasize historical narratives or the role of state power are NOT acceptable to fulfill this requirement.)

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Core Requirement#6: The Historical Dimension
A core course in the historical dimension serves to emphasize the way international relations are deeply grounded in identities, values, and prejudices that are themselves the products of long historical processes and the interaction of different peoples. Appropriate courses will include either (1) narratives that deal with the origin and development of contemporary regional, national, and ethnic cultures, (2) thematic approaches that substantially address the historical development of aspects of those cultures important in understanding international relations, or (3) the historical development of ideologies that have had an important impact on contemporary international relations.

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Core Requirement #7: IR Culture Requirement
An IR Culture course is an advanced course in literature and/or the arts that studies primary texts in literature, the fine arts, film, drama or music in their historical context and with regard to their contemporary relevance. Most students should complete the requirement by taking one course in the same language area as their Language Requirement from the following lists of courses.

Only those students who are exempt from the IR Language Requirement may select one of the approved courses in literature and the arts from a language area other than their own. Alternatively, they may select any course in the Department of English numbered English 35 or higher, or they may select a course listed under the heading of World Literature if that course deals with material outside of their native language. Courses offered exclusively by the World Civilizations Program (e.g., CIV 1) and English 1 and 2 (including AP or other exemptions) may not be used to satisfy this requirement.

*All students, even those exempted from the IR Language Requirement, must complete the IR Culture Requirement.

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