DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
ENGLISH CURRICULUM
1st Year
1st Semester
Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution I
This course is centered on the notions of revolution and reform with special reference to the Turkish War of Independence and its aftermath. It covers a review of the pressures building up on the Ottoman Empire, both inside and outside. It demonstrates the struggles of the nationalist elite under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, in order to defeat the Great Powers invading the Empire. The course offers insight into the Erzurum and Sivas congresses,
the foundation of the first Turkish Grand National Assembly, Ä°zmir Economics Congress, Lozan Peace Conference and the annulment of the sultanate.
Turkish Language I
This course provides an introduction to the basic characteristics, rules and functions of the Turkish language. It elaborates on writing, pronunciation and punctuation rules. The course involves numerous writing samples for every occasion: letters, petitions, declaration and the like.
Academic Reporting and Communication in English I
This course focuses on the application and correct use of language structures and vocabulary in academic and professional speaking and writing. The course is centered on texts related with developments in international relations. These texts cover such sources as daily newspapers, policy papers, and primary sources. The course is interactive in content with an aim to help students contemplate upon and present their own view about international affairs.
Computer I
This course initiates the students into the basic computer literacy skills for academic and professional purposes. The course introduces basic computer concepts and covers fundamentals of DOS and Microsoft Windows as well as Microsoft Office applications.
Microeconomics
This course is centered on the notions of consumer theory, demand and supply, production, cost-benefit analysis, markets, welfare, and the role of public sector. It lays the groundwork for how societies control and organize the production and distribution of goods and services in a system of imperfect information. The course offers several cases in order to explain the behavior of employers, employees and customers in a globalizing world.
History of Civilization
This course provides on overview of pre-modern, early modern and modern civilizations. The course puts emphasis on Roman and Greek civilizations that left their imprint on modern Western culture, philosophy, law, politics and economy.
Sociology
This course provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the nexus between the society and individual. It introduces the students with the basic concepts of and approaches to the  discipline in a historical and comparative perspective. The course widely involves cases from
everyday experiences in society and seeks to explain contemporary phenomena like immigration, terrorism and globalization.
Introduction to Political Science
This course aims to familiarize students with the basic concepts,
theories, processes and institutions of politics and policymaking.
Drawing upon case studies, the course offers comprehensive
analysis of different legislative, executive and judiciary systems in
various parts of the world.
2nd Semester
Ataturk's Principles and History of Turkish Revolution II
This course is centered on the notion of reform in the early years of
the Turkish Republic. The course offers insight into the principles on
which the newly founded Republic rested. It introduces the basic
contours of Turkish foreign policy during the Ataturk era.
Turkish Language II
This course is a continuation of TDL 101 and is centered on the
understanding and appreciation of advanced Turkish in spoken and
written forms. The emphasis is on preparing curriculum vitae and
resume, making interviews, writing papers with references, and
managing symposia, panels, forums and seminars.
Academic Reporting and Communication in English II
This course involves advanced academic reading, writing and
speaking exercises. It is based on discussion and interactive
dialogue on critical issues. The course helps students develop their
own perspective on various themes and put them into advanced
arguments.
Computer II
This course initiates the students into the advanced computer
literacy skills for academic and professional purposes. The course
introduces fundamentals of Microsoft Access, PowerPoint as well
as Internet applications.
Macroeconomics
This course initiates the students into the basic concepts and
theories of macroeconomics. The main headings include calculation
of gross domestic and gross national product, money theory,
inflation, economic growth, employment and unemployment,
international economics and foreign trade.
Introduction to Law
This course initiates the students into the basic tenets of law, its
sources and theories. It introduces the actors, procedures and
branches of law.
Management Science
This course initiates the students into the basic concepts and
major approaches to management like the classical, neoclassical,
modern and postmodern approaches. It introduces to students the
management process involving planning, organization, execution,
coordination and control. The course also equips the students with
institutional dynamics against the background of power, authority,
and team work.
Introduction to International Relations
This course introduces the basics of international relations through
theoretical and historical means. The course begins with the
identification of main concepts like war, peace, conflict and
globalization, and continues with an overview of world history
through the lens of various theories like realism, liberalism,
constructivism and postmodernism. It also explains how foreign
policies are formulated at the individual, state and the system
level.
2nd Year
3rd Semester
Comparative Politics
The course offers introduction to the general history, political
systems, socioeconomic aspects and foreign policies of major
countries like the United States of America, the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, Russian Federation, Mexico, China, Japan and
Nigeria.
World History I
This course aims to provide students with an introduction to the
mostly European based diplomatic history between 1648 and 1918.
The course focuses on major political, economic and diplomatic
developments as of 1815. Main themes include the Vienna
Congress of 1815 and the European Concert, 1830 and 1848
Revolutions, Italian and German Unifications, Bismarck's alliance
systems, the development of socialism, nationalism and
imperialism, the Russian and Bolshevik Revolutions, and the World
War I.
History of Political Thought
This course provides an introduction to early modern political thought in a historical context. The philosophers under consideration are Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Ibn-i Haldun Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Mill, Kant, Hegel, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx.
Ottoman Diplomatic History
This course surveys Ottoman foreign affairs and evolution of
Ottoman diplomatic traditions and institutions. The course also
traces the Ottoman legacy in the diplomatic rearrangements of the
early Turkish Republic.
Professional English I
The course surveys techniques to read and explain intermediate
level academic texts. The course also aims that students develop a
critical understanding of the texts and explain their own views
accordingly.
Constitutional and Administrative Law
This course begins with the major concepts and debates in
constitutional and administrative law, and surveys the evolution of
constitutionalism and administrative structure from the Ottoman era
onwards. The course provides the students with detailed
information about administrative activities as well as the body of
rules that regulate the relations between administration and
individuals in the Ottoman and Turkish context.
Comparative Political Ideologies
This course involves various political ideologies in comparative perspective. Basic tenets, worldviews, proponents and critics of liberalism, conservatism, facism, socialism, communism, social democracy, nationalism, feminism, green politics and multiculturalism will be analyzed.
World History II
This course aims to provide students with a survey of key political,
economic and diplomatic developments in international arena from
the end of World War I to the end of the Cold War (1918-1990).
Main themes include the Great Depression, rise of fascism and
communism, World War II, bipolar international system, NATO and
the United Nations, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Third World,
rise and fall of détente, and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Objective The aim is to provide in depth knowledge about the international
developments of the 20th century and their repercussion
International Political Economy
This course aims to provide an understanding of the major schools
of thought in political economy and world economics. Main themes
include classical, Keynesian, neo-classical, Marxist and public choice
approaches, along with major concepts such as market socialism,
stake holding, distributive justice, globalization and multinational
companies. The course analyzes various actors ranging from failed
states to transitional and developed states as well as international
financial institutions.
Professional English II
This course equips the students with political and diplomatic jargon
through various texts. It is built upon developing students’
speaking, writing and translating skills
3rd Year
5th Semester
Theories of International Relations
The course begins with defining theory, model and method in international relations. It covers not only major theories like realism, liberalism, Marxism and constructivism, but also offers
insight into theories on geopolitics, international political economy and decision making analysis.
International Current Issues
This course provides a wide-ranging overview of the main issues in contemporary world politics. Key topics include: globalization, nationalism, regionalism, environmental issues, global trade and finance, human rights, security, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, poverty, hunger, sustainable development.
International Law
The course examines rule of law in international relations, with a view to establishing the role and scope of application of international law in the relations between international legal
personalities. Major themes include the nature and sources of public international law, statehood and recognition, the law of treaties, jurisdiction, state responsibility, diplomatic immunity, law of the sea, the United Nations system and international mechanisms for
the settlement of disputes. These topics are evaluated against such cases as the use of force, human rights and international criminal responsibility.
Turkish Foreign Policy I
This course outlines the major contours, trends, successes and
failures of Turkish foreign policy between 1923 and 1989. Starting
with the Lausanne Treaty, it analyzes major foreign policy issues
and turning points during the foundational period and the Cold War
era, with a view to studying Turkey's security and foreign policy
concerns in a theoretical and case-oriented framework.
Theories of European Integration
This course aims to explore the historical context and economic theories of European integration since 1945. Main themes covered in the course include the evolution of the European Community, theories of economic integration, theoretical analysis of wider European integration and the Economic Community and its relations with the rest of the world.
Foreign Policy Analysis
This course is related with the making and implementation of foreign policy in theory and practice. The course offers theoretical literature on foreign and security policymaking and complements them with various case studies. Main themes include the bureaucratic model, rational actor model, game theory, and groupthink.
EU Law
This course begins with the foundational laws of the EU, and the EU’s primary and secondary legal sources, and surveys in detail such institutions and practices like the EU Court of Justice, direct actions against member states, judicial review of community acts,
actions for annulment/failure to act, indirect challenge and damages against community institutions.
Turkish Foreign Policy II
This course analyzes Turkey's position and role in the region and in the world from the last decade of the 20th century onwards. Among the issues treated in depth are Turkey's relations with the EU, the Turkish-Greek dispute and Turkey's policy toward major post-Cold
War international crises and conflicts including the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, the Caucasus, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the rise of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
International Organisations
This course provıdes an understanding of both the theory and functioning of international organizations in promoting international cooperation. This course will cover both traditional such as international security, the global distrÅŸbution of wealth, and social welfare issues and non-traditional issues such as migration and environmental problems. Due to its unique position particular attention will be given to the activities and influemce of the United Nations.Â
Politics of the European Union
This course is designed to investigate the problems and debates in the establishment and evolution of the European Union. Key topics include: development of the idea of European integration, founding treaties, reform process, establishment and development of the common policies, enlargement waves, problems and debates related to the accession of the new member countries.
Applied Research Methods I
This course aims at providing students with knots and bolts of the research design in social sciences.
International Security
This course will seel to deepen students’ understanding of various perspectives on security. We will answer questions such as What is security? What is being secured? Who provides for security and how? Some of the theoretical perspectives we will deal include: political realism, liberalism, socialism, peace studies, and feminism as well as transnational security issues such as migration, environment, health, and organized crime.
Politics and Government in the Middle East
This course surveys the state-building, political change, and ideological trends across the Middle East. It is organized around a critical investigation of themes such as Islam and modernity, nationalism and independence, authorianism, Arab-Israeli conflict, and political Islam and democracy.
Applied Research Methods II
Students are expected to practically apply the theoretical framework taught in IR 415.
Departmental Electives:
Theories of Nationalism
A critical introduction to the primordialist, perennialist, modernist, ethno-symbolist and post-constructivist approaches to the study of nations and nationalism will be provided.
Identity Politics
This course aims to familiarise students with various contemporary theoratical approaches to identity politics.
Politics in the Caucasus and the Central Asia.
Post-Soviet dynamics of politics and state building in the newly independent republics in the Caucasus and the Central Asia.
Modern State and Society in Europe
This course is designed to investigate the socio-economic structures of the European Union countries. Key topics include: Establishment and evolution of the welfare state in Europe, different types of welfare state in the EU countries, social policy of the European Union, impact of globalisation on the welfare state, overview of the EU member countries.
Terrorism
Critical survey of ethnic and religious terrorist groups.
