International Politics (Qatar), BSFS

The International Politics major (IPOL) makes sense of an increasingly volatile, complex, and uncertain world by taking a multidisciplinary approach to understanding international relations. With courses in diplomacy, religion, economics, security, media, and gender, IPOL provides geographically specific and culturally inclusive courses to explore how countries and regions address cooperation and competition.

Nine courses total required for the IPOL major:

• IPOL 2170 Scope and Methods for Political Science (Spring of Year 2)
• IPOL 3270 Quantitative Methods (Year 3)
• 1 course from the Comparative Politics concentration 
• 1 course from the International Relations concentration 
• 5 courses that have been approved for the IPOL major program 

Writing in the Major

International Politics is an interdisciplinary major that explores the processes between actors in the international system. There are currently two core requirements in this major – Scope and Methods for Political Science (IPOL 2170 ) and Quantitative Methods for International Politics (IPOL 3270). The student must also take 7 other courses that have been approved for the IPOL major program. These courses come under the headings of Political Theory, International Relations and Comparative Politics.

The IPOL major’s interdisciplinary nature does not lend itself to a narrow set of guidelines, and there is a recognition that no one means of written assessment or writing style should be required across IPOL approved courses. Some will require several shorter papers in the form of book reviews, responses, course papers or assessed quizzes. Others require longer final papers or written examinations. Others again require a combination of both. All tend to combine written assessments with other demonstrations of learning and development including, but not limited to, graded oral presentations.

That said, IPOL is a writing-intensive major and student needs to be able to absorb, analyze and disseminate information on a wide range of issues and topics in written form. There are some commonalities in terms of this writing requirement across IPOL approved courses.  All IPOL courses have the goal of building on the core concepts and theories provided to students in Introduction to International Relations (GOVT 1600) and Comparative Political Systems (GOVT 1400). Inherent in this is the objective of further developing the student’s foundational writing skills to reach a level that is commensurate with the analytic tradition and which provides those planning to progress to graduate study with the necessary writing skills to succeed at that level.

Quantitative Methods, for example, trains students how to use statistical tools, analysis, and inference in writing with the expectation that these skills will be applied where relevant in the writing requirements in other IPOL courses.  There is also a commitment that writing in the Major will develop:

• The skills necessary to conduct research and use citation styles correctly.
• An awareness of the centrality of structure and clarity in scholarly writing.
• An ability to offer argument-driven analysis that examines critically arguments and counter-arguments.
• An ability to apply the relevant theoretical literature and historiographical debates.

Core Curriculum Requirements

All GU-Q students complete the same core curriculum requirements as students in Washington, D.C. There are, however, some slight differences in the sequencing of certain core courses at the Doha campus.

GU-Q students fulfill the core Writing and core Humanities: Art, Literature, and Cultures (HALM) requirements in one of the following ways:

1. Take WRIT 1155 (Fall Year 1) followed by WRIT 1165 (Spring Year 1) or
2. Take WRIT 1155 (Fall Year 1) followed by any HALM course (before Fall Year 3)

HALM courses cannot double count between the core and any other academic program.

GU-Q students must fulfill the core government requirement as follows:

1. GOVT 1400 Comparative Political Systems (Spring Year 1)
2. GOVT 1600 International Relations (Fall Year 2)

Failure to complete the core government sequence as described above will adversely affect a student’s ability to declare the IPOL major and/or register for upper-level courses in government and politics.

GU-Q students are required to take two Engaging Diversity courses, one domestic and one global. At GU-Q, domestic diversity is defined as pertaining to the Arab World and global diversity is defined as pertaining to the rest of the world.

Students are expected to complete most of the core curriculum courses during their freshman and sophomore years.

Honors in the Major

The honors program allows the student to examine a significant scholarly issue in detail and to focus his or her time and attention on an important issue in which he or she is deeply interested. Honors theses are original works of thought and research, not merely summaries of the work and ideas of others. 

By writing an honors thesis, the student gets a sense of how much he or she enjoys the kind of original research done in graduate school. The student also demonstrates that he or she can independently design and carry out a long-term research project – a skill that both employers and graduate and professional schools find very attractive.

To apply for IPOL honors:

• Cumulative GPA of 3.5 and Major GPA of 3.67, or strong evidence of the capacity to achieve these.
• By the stipulated deadline in the student’s junior year, submit a thesis proposal to IPOL field advisor.

To earn IPOL honors:

• Complete both Honors seminars (Research and Thesis) in the senior year.
• Final written thesis must gain the approval of a faculty committee, which usually includes the seminar instructor, the curricular dean, and the IPOL field advisor. The thesis should be in the range of 50-80 pages. The student should speak with his or her thesis advisor to determine a paper length. The student will give a formal presentation attended by all IPOL faculty in residence during the spring semester in which the thesis is completed.
• Earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 and a grade point average of 3.67 in the major by the date of graduation.

For more details, please see the Honors in the Major Policy for Georgetown University in Qatar SFS students.