About Program
The Department trains specialists in the field of international relations. The name of the Department, which was “The Section of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs (Political Section)” during the years 1955-1982 was renamed as “The Department of International Relations” in 1982 under the framework of the new Law of Higher Education.
Department of International Relations is made up of three different sections;
Diplomatic History
International Law
International Relations
The graduates from the four-year program of International Relations are awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the Department of International Relations of the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University. The first two years of the program offer common courses with the other departments, and third and fourth years are composed mostly of the departmental courses. The departmental courses provide students competence in the history, structure, and mechanism of international relations, transformation, and legal framework of international system and Turkey’s position within this system and its foreign affairs.
The Department, that is also an integral part of the Graduate School of Social Science, offers the following graduate programs:
International Relations Masters Program
International Relations Non-thesis Masters Program
International Relations African Studies Masters Program
International Relations Doctorate Program
There is a Center of International Economic and Political Research within the Department.
Since 1960, the Department publishes The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations, which is the first academic journal in the world that combines IR and Turkish Studies in English.
Additionally, the Department members serve in academic and executive positions in the following research centers of Ankara University:
European Research Center (ATAUM)
Center for Southeast European Studies (GAMER)
Employment opportunities for IR graduates are quite extensive. Graduates work as international relations specialists in the public sector, especially in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of European Union, the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In addition, IR graduates are also employed in the private sector, media, the finance sector and international organizations.
Goals
The aim of the program is to generally provide students the framework of the social sciences and specifically teach the diplomatic history, international law, international politics and theory field of the International Relations discipline. For that purpose, world history and Turkish foreign policy are covered, global and regional level of historical developments and current issues are analyzed, history of the international law, its development and norms are considered and theoretical debates relating with the current issues are focused. In addition to that the matters like human rights, identity and security politics which gain significance recently in International Relations are also given importance especially. Another determination of the program is to support students enhance their foreign language capacities.
Summary of Program Outcomes
Provide to have theoretical and methodological knowledge about the social sciences. Have theoretical, historical and actual knowledge about the international politics, international relations theory, diplomatic history and international law which are the main pillars of the International Relations discipline. Teach to define and analyze the historical and current questions. Teach to make research about the historical and current questions and express them in verbal and written ways.