Detailed information

Detailed information

MASTER IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (MAIN)

The programme, our teaching philosophy, student competences

The programme aims at providing students with a deep understanding of the problems of international and European politics. Throughout the curriculum, we put emphasis on two cornerstones of our graduates’ success.

First, over the course of the programme, our students build a solid substantive knowledge of the problems of contemporary international politics. The curriculum covers especially the following areas:

  • International Relations as a discipline investigating the behaviour of states in world politics, with a focus on great powers, and the nature of the international system.
  • International Economics and Security, as the two key issue areas of international life.
  • European Union as the most profound project of inter-state integration in the history.
  • International Organizations and International Law as the key instruments of the management of global affairs.

Second, throughout the curriculum, students acquire specific, tangible skills relevant for their future professional careers:

  • Empirical analytical skills. Our students undergo robust introductory training in both qualitative and quantitative analytical skills.
  • Critical thinking. The ability to think outside of the box is essential in the environment in which constant adaptation and change is the need.
  • Languages and transferable skills. The success of our graduates depends not only on their hard analytical skills and their knowledge of international politics, but also on their writing, presentation, and communication skills.

Future careers

Career prospects of our graduates reflect the prestige of the programme they have studied and the demands the programme puts on their abilities and on their academic, professional and personal development. Our graduates succeed in very diverse fields:

  • national administrations
  • diplomacy
  • international and European institutions
  • transnational corporations, businesses, or NGOs
  • media or think-tanks
  • academia

Please see the MAIN Student Prospectus at the main programme site for more information about our student community and our graduates.

 

Course Structure

The study curriculum is centred on the first year’s set of common compulsory modules and the second year’s individual specialization and master’s thesis research. The Table below summarizes the programme structure. In the first semester students attend modules concerning the nature of the international system in general – modules on the theories of international relations, the introduction to international economic relations, and the introduction to conflict studies. In the second semester, we build on this basis a block of courses dealing with regional and global institutions and problem-solving. Specifically, students attend courses that cover the evolution of the European integration process and contemporary European politics, as well as international organizations and international law. Over the course of the first study year, they also obtain systematic training in the methods and techniques of empirical political analysis.

In the second year, students choose from a broad range of elective courses that deepen their understanding of the individual areas of international and European politics. These courses come from the selection offered by the department of international relations and from other departments and institutes of the Faculty. In general, the programme offers a broad range of possible thematic specializations, including in general questions of international politics, in security, economics, environment, and other areas. Yet, a large share of the members of the Faculty specialize in their research in European studies, International Organizations and in the current global order more broadly, so these are the fields in which the expertise offered is particularly broad.

Throughout the second year, students work on their master’s theses, under the individual supervision of one of our faculty. In addition, during the second year students are welcome to spend one or even both semesters at one of our numerous partner universities across Europe and over the world.

The state exam at the end of the studies is composed of compulsory exams in International relations and in European studies, and of a choice from specializations in International Organizations, International Law, or International Economic Relations.

 

International Relations, Security & Economy

European Studies & International Institutions

Research Methods & Individual Master's Thesis Research

 

SEMESTER 1

Theories of International Relations

International Economic Relations

Conflict studies

  

Researching International Politics: Quantitative Methods

 

SEMESTER 2

 

European Union

International Law

International Organization

Researching International Politics: Qualitative Methods

 

SEMESTER 3

SEMESTER 4

 

Individual specialization through elective courses at Charles or on Erasmus/stay abroad

 

Individual specialization through elective courses at Charles or on Erasmus/stay abroad

 

Master's Thesis Research

Every year, our Department offers to students of International Relations guest courses taught by professors coming from leading European and global universities and research centers. In the last several years, these included such globally renowned scholars as Prof. Kenneth Abbott (Arizona State University), Prof. Tapio Raunio (University of Tampere), Prof. Gerald Schneider (University of Konstanz), and Prof. Robert Jervis (Columbia University, New York).

In the course of the programme, students obtain in a total of 120 ECTS credits. Out of these, students obtain 59 from compulsory courses, 20 from seminars attached to these compulsory courses, and 41 from electives.