The International
Studies Minor
As an International Studies Minor you’ll take classes spanning international disciplines like international relations, international development and economics, global environmentalism, global health, and more. You’ll also receive personalized support from Dickey Center staff to tailor your unique academic path, find internationally-focused internships, programs, and more.
The minor’s core courses ensure a well-rounded understanding of international issues, preparing you to enter an increasingly globalized world and workforce with a unique understanding of how different global forces interact.
New Course for 26W: INTS 80.07 – Geopolitics of Energy and Natural Resources
This new course for winter term (10A) is part of the International Studies Minor. It will examine the global politics of natural resources, focusing on how scarcity, distribution, and access shape international relations and environmental security.
Students will also explore energy geopolitics (oil, gas, renewables, nuclear), freshwater scarcity, food systems, rare earths, and critical raw materials.
We’ll discuss the impact of energy production and use on the environment, the importance of resources for national security, and the development of affordable access to energy in different regions in terms of population growth, economic growth, and national strategies.
Taught by Professor Klaus Dieter Barbknecht, a Harris visiting professor with The Irving Institute.
ISM Courses Offered for 26W
International Development
- INTS 16/GEOG 8.01 (Intro to International Development)
- ECON 24 (Development Economics)
- ECON 64 (Topics in Development Economics)
- GEOG 33.01 (Geopolitics and Third World Development)
International Security
- INTS 15 (Violence and Security)
- GOV 5 (International Politics)
Global Health
- INTS 18/GEOG 21.01 (Global Health & Society)
- ANTH 55 (Anthropology of Global Health)
- ENVS 28 (Global Environmental Health)
Global Environment
- ENVS 2 (Intro to Environmental Science)
World Languages and Culture
- WGSS 13 (Transnational Feminisms)
- GERM 42.07 (Intercultural Communication)
Great Issues Seminar
- INTS 80.07 (Geopolitics of Energy)
Pre-Approved Thematic Courses for 2025-26
International Development
- INTS 16 / GEOG 8.01 (Intro to International Development)
- ECON 24 (Development Economics); GEOG 22.02 (Global Poverty and Care)
- GEOG 33.01 (Geopolitics and Third World Development)
- GOVT 44 (Power and Development in the Global Economy)
- ECON 29 (International Finance and open-economy macroeconomics)
- ECON 39 (International Trade)
- ECON 64 (Topics in Developing Economics)
- SOCY 22 (The Sociology of International Development)
- ENVS 55 (Ecological Economics)
International Security
- INTS 15 (Violence & Security)
- GOVT 4 (Politics of the World)
- GOVT 5 (International Politics)
- GOVT 53 (International Security)
- ANTH 28 / AAAS 88.08 (Ethnography of Violence)
- GOVT 50.02 (Civil War, Insurgency, and the International Response)
- GOVT 50.04 (War and Peace in the Modern Age)
- GOV 50.19 (Development Under Fire)
- HIST 53 (World War II: Ideology, experience, legacy)
- HIST 62 (The First World War)
Global Health
- INTS 18 / GEOG 21.01 (Global Health & Society)
- ANTH 06 (Intro to Biological Anthropology);ANTH 55 (Anthropology of Global Health)
- ANTH 26 (Gender & Global Health)
- ENGS 16 (Biomedical Engineering for Global Health)
- ENVS 28 (Global Environmental Health)
- HIST 8 (Body Parts, Body Wholes: An introduction to the comparative history of medicine)
Global Environment
- ENVS 2 (Introduction to Environmental Studies)
- ENVS 3 (Environment & Society);
- ENVS 62 (Science Policy & Diplomacy)
- ENVS 30 (Global Environmental Science)
- ENVS 15 (Environmental Issues of the Earth’s Cold Regions)
- ENVS 60 (Environmental Law)
- ENVS 65 (Global Environmental Politics)
- EARS 18 Environmental Earth Sciences
- GEOG 15.01 (Global Climate Change)
- GEOG 16.01 (Climate for Human Security)
- EARS 6 (Environmental Change)
- INTS 80.05 / GEOG 70.04 (Imagining Polar Geographies)
World Languages and Culture
- One advanced foreign language or literature course (above 1, 2, 3 introductory sequence)
- INTS 17.09 / COLT 49.06 (Multilingualism)
- SPEE 27 (Intercultural Communication)
- ANTH 3 (lntro to Cultural Anthropology)
- ANTH 9 (Language and Culture)
- COLT 1 (Read the World)
- WGSS 3 (Global Race x Global Migration)
- WGSS 41.06 (Transnational Feminisms)
- WGSS 36.01 (Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective)
- GERM 42.07 (Intercultural Communication)
- COCO 21 (What’s in Your Shoebox?)
- COCO 26 (What’s in Your Toolbox?)
Great Issues Seminar
- INTS 19 (Dissent and Democracy)
- INTS 80.04 / GOVT 85.50 (Diplomacy in a Complex World Meeting Challenges, Creating Opportunity, and Pushing for Peace)
- INTS 80.06 (Multilateralism and US Leadership)
Note: if a Great Issues Seminar is not available for your D-plan, please select a second course from one of the other five Thematic Course categories.
The International Studies Minor Steering Committee
Chair: Graziella Parati
Members: Lisa Adams | Melody Burkins | Maron Greenleaf
Victoria Holt | Carlos Cortez Minchillo | Paul Novosad | Bill Wohlforth
Requirements
A total of six (6) thematic courses (one from each theme): International Development; International Security; Global Health; Global Environment; World Language & Culture; Great Issues Seminar.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss how to make the minor work with your particular D-Plan.
Questions?
Reach out to Casey J. Aldrich