International Relations
in·ter·na·tion·al re·la·tions · inter: between · natio: birth, people
International relations is the study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities.
- Pick a specific relationship, treaty, or conflict rather than ‘foreign policy’ broadly.
- Primary documents (treaties, UN records, government statements) are more useful than news summaries.
- State your theoretical lens (realism, liberalism, constructivism, etc.) explicitly if you're using one.
- Compare at least two cases if you're making a general claim about how states behave.
Related areas & concentrations
International relations borrows from across the social sciences. Those neighbors give you theories, data, and the history behind today's headlines.
Related research areas
- Economics & business: trade, sanctions, aid, and global markets
- Political science: how governments and institutions make decisions
- History: the wars, treaties, and empires that shaped today's world
- Gender studies: how gender shapes security, conflict, and diplomacy
- Criminology: transnational crime, trafficking, and international law
Sample concentrations
- Globalization and international migration: how people, goods, and ideas move across borders
- European integration in comparative perspective: the EU and other regional unions
- Political risk and prediction: forecasting instability within states
- Global risk and prediction: anticipating crises that cross borders
Four ways into a question
Most international relations papers work through one of these lenses. All are reachable for a student through public documents and open datasets.
Conflict & Security
Why wars start, how they end, and how states try to keep themselves safe.
How did a ceasefire agreement change the frequency of border clashes?
Cooperation & Institutions
How the UN, the EU, and treaties get states to work together — and when they don't.
Why do some countries comply with a treaty while others don't?
Global Political Economy
Trade, sanctions, aid, and development — where money and power meet.
How did sanctions affect one country's trade partners over five years?
Migration & Human Rights
How people move across borders and how states protect — or fail to protect — them.
How do two neighboring countries' asylum policies compare?
Turning an interest into a question
A topic isn't a research question. Narrow to specific countries, a specific period, and evidence you can actually find in public records.
Start from an event or relationship
A treaty, a conflict, a trade dispute, a migration wave — something with a clear start and real documents behind it.
Narrow to specific actors and a time frame
Not “global trade” but two countries, one agreement, and a set number of years.
Make it a “how / why” or comparison
Compare two cases or two periods so you have something to explain, not just describe.
Check the sources and the lens
Can you find primary documents and data, and which theory will you use to make sense of them?
Methods & where to look
Pair a method you can carry out with the documents and datasets international relations scholars actually use.
Common methods
- Comparative case study: setting two or more countries or events side by side.
- Document analysis: reading treaties, speeches, and UN records closely.
- Quantitative analysis: working with conflict, trade, or migration datasets.
- Process tracing: following the chain of decisions behind an outcome.
- Forecasting: using indicators to assess political or global risk.
Name your theoretical lens early — it tells readers which evidence matters and why.
Where to find data
- Official records: the UN Digital Library and the UN Treaty Collection.
- Datasets: the World Bank's open data and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
- Migration: UNHCR's refugee statistics and the IOM's Migration Data Portal.
- Journals: International Organization and Foreign Affairs, via Google Scholar or JSTOR.
Government foreign-ministry websites publish speeches and statements you can cite directly.
Reading sources across borders
Every country tells its own version of events. Three habits keep your analysis balanced and convincing.
Perspective
Ask whose voice a source represents. A government statement, an NGO report, and a news story frame the same event differently.
Comparison
Read sources from more than one country — and more than one side — before you draw a conclusion.
Theory
Use a lens like realism, liberalism, or constructivism to explain why actors behaved as they did, not just what happened.
Cite every treaty, dataset, and study, and note the date — international situations change quickly.