Michigan State University International Studies and Programs

Technology and the forces of cultural and economic integration appear to reduce the distances between societies, which now impinge on one another on many dimensions. At the same time, ethnic, religious and economic conflicts erupt within and between societies, often in violent form. Both the proximity of other societies and the remaining divides within and between them demand a better understanding of their cultures and institutions. Societies cannot be understood in isolation or at a single point in time, however; they are shaped by global and regional environments-political, military, economic, cultural-and their pasts. Individuals and societies in turn shape those environments as they reinterpret their histories.

Using different disciplinary lenses, the International Studies Major explores the interaction between international and national, global and local, contemporary and historical. The program builds on the strengths of existing international specializations at UCSD. International relations and comparative politics are established and distinguished fields of political science. The comparative study of societies and cultures lies at the core of sociology and anthropology. Literature and linguistics offer a rich array of courses dealing with languages and traditions outside the English-speaking societies. Area studies programs provide comprehensive understanding of particular countries and regions.

The International Studies major provides students with both a firm grounding in a discipline and the flexibility to permit exploration from alternative perspectives. The primary and secondary tracks chosen by each student contain the disciplinary foundations of the major. International Studies majors also complete two core courses that serve as gateways to disciplinary approaches and to central international and comparative issues that cut across disciplines. Among these subjects are cultural boundaries and identities, economic and social development, international and regional integration and their effects, the evolution of political and social institutions, and forms of communication and language. A required capstone seminar permits the completion of a research paper in close association with a member of the faculty. International Studies majors benefit throughout from the activities and programs of the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), the home for International Studies at UCSD.