Five College Opportunities
International Relations Certificate Program
The International Relations Certificate offers students an opportunity to pursue an interest in international affairs as a complement to their majors and shows graduate schools or future employers that they have a strong interest in world affairs. The Certificate is designed to encourage motivated students to develop a global perspective on the origins of the current international system, the salient concerns in international relations today, and the emerging challenges humanity will face in the years ahead. The Certificate encourages students to explore how global, regional, and domestic factors influence relations between actors on the world stage. Students are advised to make interdisciplinary connections between the complexities of numerous global challenges, such as competition among the great powers, nuclear proliferation, transnational terrorism, regional and ethnic conflict, migration, environmental degradation, demographic stress, global climate change, socioeconomic and cultural globalizations and wide disparities in global economic development.
Earning the certificate requires demonstrating competence in a contemporary foreign language (four semesters of a single college-level contemporary foreign language) and earning at least a B in each of seven courses on world politics and institutions, the international economy, the history of the international system, US foreign policy, and the politics, history, economy, or culture of one or more foreign areas.
The courses listed in these sections of the IR Certificate program can be used to fulfill your International Relations Certificate. It is important to know that courses listed below may or may not be offered during each academic year at Amherst College. However, you may be able to take similar courses at the other four participating institutions or while studying abroad. There may be additional courses offered which fulfill your requirements during the academic year which do not appear in the printed catalog but can be found in the on-line version of the course catalog.
Please confer with Professor Javier Corrales, Pavel Machala, Eleonora Mattiacci, Ruxandra Paul or Kerry Ratigan (on leave 2023-24) in selecting such courses when trying to fulfill your requirements for the International Relations Certificate.
Course requirements for the certificate cover the following areas of study:
(Please visit this link for courses taken in the other five colleges)
1. A course on introductory world politics.
2. A course on global institutions or problems.
3. A course on the international financial and/or commercial system.
4. A course concerning the historical development of the international system since 1789.
5. A course on contemporary American foreign policy.
6. Proficiency in a contemporary foreign language through the completion of two years of the language at the college level or its equivalent. Please note, Amherst College students can fulfill this requirement by completing one of the following:
- Four college-level courses in any foreign language.
- At least one intermediate II course or higher of foreign language instruction.
- A class in any discipline other than language-instruction taken at a university whose primary language of instruction is not English; or,
- proof of having been raised in a non-English speaking community outside the U.S. Heritage speakers from the U.S. may be asked to provide proof of proficiency.
7. Two courses on the politics, economy, and/or society of foreign areas, of which one must involve the study of a Third World country or region.
Here are a few basic things to consider:
1. There are seven requirements.
2. No more than four courses in any one discipline can be counted towards the Certificate.
3. No single course can satisfy more than one requirement.
4. Candidates must complete the required courses (except for the foreign language courses) with grades of at least B or better (no Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory grades). Pandemic-related exception: Any eligible course taken in S20, F20, J21, and S21 will count regardless of the grade, if the grade is not an F; courses with a Pass grade will count as well. Non-Hampshire students should request grades for Hampshire courses. The Hampshire advisor will certify that Hampshire students have satisfied the requirement.
5. Not all the courses listed are presented every year. Consult your college catalogue and relevant departments in this regard.
If you have questions whether a course counts for one of the seven requirements, please contact your campus advisor.
There is at least one advisor on each campus for the International Relations Certificate and can be found here https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/international-relations#certificate.
Once you have satisfied the ALL 7 requirements, you should print and fill out a International Relations Certificate Completion Form. Then take this student record form and your official transcript to your IR Certificate advisor, who will complete processing of the form and send it to fcacademics@fivecolleges.edu.
Typically, none of the certificates are mailed to students' addresses until sometime in August. The notation on your transcript, however, appears much more quickly.
International Relations Certificate Courses Offered at Amherst College
1. A course on introductory world politics.
- HIST 130 World War I
- POSC 122 Power and Revelence of International Organizations. The Case of the UN and Other IOs
- POSC 200 Topics in International Relations
- POSC 214 Geopolitics and American Foreign Policy
- POSC 216 International Relations Gone Viral
- POSC 236 Introduction to International Relations
- POSC 317 International Political Theory
- POSC 329 Sovereignty State Empire
- POSC 352 History of International Relations
- POSC 363 Geopolitics and American Foreign Policy
2. Global institutions or problems, such as international law, transnational organizations, development, the history of imperialism, arms control and disarmament, the origins of war, diminishing resources, international threats to the environment, hunger, and conduct of diplomacy.
- AMST/SOCI 302 Globalization, Inequality and Social Change
- AMST 315 The War of 1898: U.S. Empire in the Caribbean and Pacific
- ANTH/ASLC 255 Modernity's Media in South Asia
- ANTH/ASLC 317 Researching China
- ANTH 331/ASLC 341 Anthropology and the Middle East
- BLST201/HIST 267 Power and Resistance in the Black Atlantic
- BLST 342/HIST 358 The Local and Global 1970s
- ECON 223 Economics of Migration
- ECON 262 Development Economics
- ENST 260 Global Environmental Politics
- ENST 330 Environmental Justice
- GEOL 109 Climate Change: Global Warming and Energy Resources
- HIST 101 World War II in Global Perspectives
- HIST 105 Global Environment History of the Twentieth Century
- HIST 174/ASLC 174 Introduction to Modern South Asian History
- HIST176/ASLC 247 Japan's Modern Revolutions: 1800-2000s
- HIST 181/BLST 121 Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
- HIST 191/ASLC 148 The Modern Middle East: 1800-Present
- HIST 231/EUST 231 Race and Empire: The British Experience from 1760
- HIST 263 Struggles for Democracy in Modern Latin America, 1820 to the Present
- HIST 265 Environmental History of Latin America
- HIST 271/ASLC 271 Caste and Politics of Inequality in India
- HIST 294 The History of Israel
- HIST 312 History and Politics of Human Rights
- HIST 325 War, Occupation, and Genocide: The Experience of World War II in Europe
- HIST 370/ASLC 370 Japan's Empire in Asia, 1868-1945
- HIST 419 On Nationalism
- HIST 474/ASLC 474 Anticolonial Nationalism in India
- HIST 488/BLST 321 Riot and Rebellion in Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
- HIST492/ALSC 459 Inside Iran
- LJST 206/ BLST 307/ BLST 217 Apartheid
- LJST 231 Social Movements and Social Change
- LJST 348 Law And War
- POSC 109 Pandemic Politics: Democracy versus Disease
- POSC 112 The International Politics of Climate Change
- POSC 131 Wars and Refugees
- POSC 145 Work
- POSC 147 Displacement and Migration from/in the Middle East
- POSC 151 Political Identities
- POSC 154 The State
- POSC 160/SWAG 160 Sexualities in International Relations
- POSC 170 Building Nation-States, Market and Democracy in Europe
- POSC 230 Nuclear Structures and Political Leaders
- POSC 232 Political Economy of Development
- POSC 235 Globalization Through the Lens of Border Culture
- POSC 259 (En) Gendering Development: Historical Genealogies/Contemporary Convergences
- POSC 270 European Union Politics: Integration and Disintegration
- POSC 307/SWAG 307 States of Extraction: Nature and World Politics in the Americas
- POSC 313 Reading Politics
- POSC 320 Rethinking Post-Colonial Nationalism
- POSC 321 Populism in the Era of Global Capitalism
- POSC 329 Sovereignty State Empire
- POSC 370 Cyberpolitics
- POSC 411/SWAG 411 Indifenous Women and World Politics
- POSC 421 Indigenous World Politics
- POSC 432 Amazonia in International Relations
- POSC 467/SWAG 467 Social Movements, Civil Society and Democracy in India
- POSC 470 International Migrations and Politics in the Era of Globalization
- POSC 486 U.S.-Latin American Relations
- POSC 489 Markets and Democracy in Latin America
- SOCI 341 Making Peace with the Planet: Environmental Movements and Ideas
- SWAG 207/ASLC 207/POSC 207 The Home and the World: Women and Gender in South Asia
3. A course on international financial and/or commercial relations course requirements for the certificate cover the following areas of study:
- ECON 227 International Trades
- ECON 237 Financial Globalization, Growth and Crises
- ECON 435 Topics in Open-Economy Macroeconomics
4. A course concerning the historical development of the international system since 1789 course requirements for the certificate cover the following areas of study:
- ASLC 102 World War II in Asia
- HIST 157 The U.S. in the World: 1898 to the Present
- HIST 325 War, Occupation, and Genocide: The Experience of World War II in Europe
- POSC 122 Power and Revelence of International Organizations. The Case of the UN and Other IOs.
- POSC 170 Building Nation-States, Market and Democracy in Europe
- POSC 270 European Union Politics: Integration and DisintegrationPOSC 207
- POSC 352 History of International Relations
- POSC 380 Kremlin Rising: Russia's Foreign Policy in 21st Century
- SWAG 400/POSC 407 Contemporary Debate: Women and Right-Wing Populism
5. A course on contemporary American foreign policy course requirements for the certificate covers the following areas of study:
- BLST347/SWAG 347 Race, Sex, and Gender in the U.S. Military
- HIST 156 US in World: 1756-1898
- HIST 157 The U.S. in the World: 1898 to the Present
- HIST 254 American Foreign Policy Since the End of the Cold War
- HIST 259/ASLC 259 US Security Policy in the Middle East
- HIST 260 Human Rights and National Security: Seeking Balance in the United States
- HIST 459 America and Vietnam
- HIST 460 Intelligence and U.S. National Security Policymaking
- POSC 214 Geopolitics and American Foreign Policy
- POSC 370 Cyberpolitics
- POSC 434 Grand Strategy
- POSC 470 International Migrations and Politics in the Era of Globalization
- POSC 486 U.S.-Latin American Relations
6. Proficiency in a contemporary foreign language through the completion of two years of the language at the college level or its equivalent. Please note, Amherst College students can fulfill this requirement by completing one of the following:
- Four college-level courses in any foreign language.
- At least one intermediate II course or higher of foreign language instruction.
- A class in any discipline other than language-instruction taken at a university whose primary language of instruction is not English; or,
- proof of having been raised in a non-English speaking community outside the U.S. Heritage speakers from the U.S. may be asked to provide proof of proficiency.
7. Two courses on the politics, economy, and/or society of foreign areas, of which one must involve the study of a Third World country or region.
- AMST 374 WWII and Japanese Americans
- ANTH 317/ASLC 317 Researching China
- SPAN 335//FAMS 324 New Latin American Documentary
- FREN 340 Colonial Cultures: Images of the French Colonial Empire
- FYSE 114 Racial Inequality in the "New World"
- GERM 316 German Cultural History from 1800 to the Present
- HIST 172/ASLC 172 Modern China
- HIST 176/ASLC 176 Japan's Modern Revolution: 1800-2000s
- HIST 181/BLST 121 Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
- HIST 190/ASLC 126 Middle East History
- HIST 191/ASLC 148 The Modern Middle East: 1800-Present
- HIST 230/EUST 230 The French Revolution
- HIST 234/EUST 234 Nazi Germany
- HIST 235/EUST 245 Stalin and Stalinism
- HIST 236/EUST 238 Soviet Union During the Cold War
- HIST 263 Struggles for Democracy in Modern Latin America, 1820 to the Present
- HIST 265 Environmental History of Latin America
- HIST 271/ASLC 271 Caste and Politics of Inequality in India
- HIST 276/ASLC 276 Perspectives on Chinese History
- HIST 283/BLST 222 South African History
- HIST 294 The History of Israel
- HIST 330 German Conservative Revolution and the Roots of the Third Reich
- HIST 474/ASLC 474 Anticolonial Nationalism in India
- HIST 488/BLST 321 Riot and Rebellion in Colonial and Post-Colonial Africa
- HIST 492/ALSC 459 Inside Iran
- POSC 108/ASLC China: Continuity and Change
- POSC 208/ASLC 208 Power and Politics in Contemporary China
- POSC 215 Democratic Backsliding
- POSC 231 The Political Economy of Petro States: Venezuela Compared
- POSC 233 Introduction to Contemporary African Politics
- POSC 235 Globalization Through the Lens of Border Culture
- POSC 247 Power, Politics, and the Middle East
- POSC 248 Cuba: The Politics of Extremism
- POSC 270 European Union Politics: Integration and Disintegration
- POSC 301 Terrorism and Revolution: A Case Study of Russia
- POSC 320 Rethinking Post-Colonial Nationalism
- POSC 380 Kremlin Rising: Russia's Foreign Policy in the 21st Century
- POSC 403/ASLC 403 Social Policy in China
- POSC 431/ASLC 431 Health Policy in China
- POSC 467/SWAG 467 Social Movements, Civil Society and Democracy in India
- POSC 470 International Migrations and Politics in the Era of Globalization
- POSC 486 U.S.-Latin American Relations
- RELI 281/HIST 81 Muslim Reformers of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- SPAN 237 Art as Protest in Spain and Latin America
- SPAN 241 Towards a Latin American Poetics of Liberation
- SPAN 345 Puerto Rico: Diaspora Nation
- SPAN 385 Multicultural Spain
- SWAG 207/ASLC/POSC 207 The Home and the World: Women and Gender in South Asia