International Studies

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary research field of Transitional Justice which may include both judicial and non-non-judicial mechanisms, with different levels of international involvement and individual prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking, institutional reform, vetting, and dismissals. The course explores the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, the aftermath of colonialism in Africa and Indonesia, the aftermath of communism, truth and reconciliation in South Africa, and different types of retributive justice in dealing with the Rwandan genocide. This course looks at the effectiveness of the Transitional Justice mechanisms, its measure of effectiveness on a state level, and statistical outcomes.

The goals and contents of this course can be summarized as; to identify the academic differences between the study of foreign policy analysis (FPA) and that of international relations (IR); to enhance the academic knowledge of the decision-making process of foreign policy and the roles of main actors who participate in it; to understand the changed or continued environmental situations in Korean foreign policy; to analyze the domestic and international political meanings of Korean foreign policies; and to understand the historical backgrounds of Korean foreign policies. 

Assessment: Midterm (35%), Final (30%), Presentation and Final Report (15%), Assignments (10%), Attendance (10%)

Recent years have seen a debate about the waning of war, though for millions of people around the world, wars and violence are part of their everyday lives, with implications far beyond the war-torn states’ borders. This course explores major trends in warfare (types of wars, the actors engaged in wars, targets in wars, funding of warfare, technology of warfare), theories explaining these trends, the relationship between warfare and state-building, and ethical questions concerning how wars are fought.

The course introduces and discusses basic building blocks of International Relations theories and major analytical frameworks. It discusses ways to explain and interpret international political events. The unique aspect of this course is to blend theories with international security issues in depth. This is a graduate reading seminar that requires students’ active participation in verbal and written forms. The objectives of this course are (a) to understand mainstream theories of International Relations; (b) to examine the explanatory power of these theories; (c) discuss how to apply them to the study of international politics; and (c) to demonstrate how these theories can be used to analyze issues in international security.

This course examines the stages, characteristics, and evolutionary trends of international relations after the Cold War; major events, and changes in relations between major countries; international relations to distinguish it from specific country-specific foreign policy.