The primary aim of the İstanbul Kültür University International Relations Department is to foster a profound comprehension of the discipline. This involves a focused exploration of states as primary actors in the international system, alongside international organizations and non-governmental entities, delving into their qualifications, historical backgrounds, and interactive dynamics. Acknowledging the growing impact of globalization, the program seeks to instill in students a heightened awareness and nuanced understanding of ongoing international affairs.

Going beyond state-centric relationships, the program directs attention to the intricate dynamics among states and other international actors, including non-governmental organizations and transnational bodies. The analytical focus encompasses key concepts within international relations such as power, security, foreign affairs, and claims of authority and liberty. Students are encouraged to critically analyze these concepts, fostering the development of fresh insights and comparative perspectives.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the program aspires to broaden its scope beyond traditional international relations topics. It aims to cultivate knowledge in areas such as history, economics, political science, law, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and statistics by the completion of the undergraduate degree. In addition to honing skills in explanation, comparison, and analysis, the program places a strong emphasis on fostering the ability to question. Students are trained to inquire about the 'how' and 'why' when confronted with specific situations, promoting a more profound understanding of complex international dynamics.

The overarching goal is to equip students not only with fundamental knowledge but also with a scientific perspective in the field of international relations. The program aims to produce graduates capable of understanding international developments analytically and interpreting them effectively. With this comprehensive knowledge and a diverse set of skills, graduates are expected to seamlessly access various career opportunities in diplomacy, media, academia, as well as the private and government sectors.

Objectives: International Relations discipline examines states as main actors within the international system, international organizations, and non-governmental actors within the scope of all their qualifications, their historical backgrounds, and mutual interactions. With increasing globalization being experienced all around the world, to have an awareness and understanding of current international affairs has become more and more important.

Besides the relations among the states, the relationships between states and other international actors such as nongovernmental organizations or transnational bodies and the relations among these non-state organizations form the focus of the discipline. In this program the main conceptions of international relations; power, security, foreign affairs and claims of authority and liberty; are critically analyzed by students enabling them to make new explanations and comparisons. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the scope is not limited to these issues and knowledge on history, economics, political science, law, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and statistics is also aimed to be generated at the end of an undergraduate degree in the department. Besides the abilities of explaining, comparing, and analyzing, the students are trained to attain the ability of questioning; that is asking about ‘how’s and ‘why’s when they confront a certain situation. 

The primary aim of İKU International Relations Department is to equip its students with the fundamental knowledge and scientific perspective of the field of international relations and to train them as experts who can understand international developments analytically and interpret them. Equipped with this abundance of knowledge and such enriching qualities, the graduates of the program will be able to easily obtain job opportunities in different areas such as diplomacy, media, academia, or private and government sector.  

Students who have successfully completed the courses in the education plan and a total of 240 AKTS and have at least 2.0 weighted grade point average out of 4.0 are entitled to receive a bachelor's degree in International Relations.

Students who have successfully completed the courses in the education plan and a total of 240 AKTS and have at least 2.0 weighted grade point average out of 4.0 are entitled to receive a bachelor's degree in International Relations.

Graduates of IKU International Relations Department can work in foreign politics bureaucracy of Turkey (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Development Institutions, International Relations Offices of State Institutions), as academicians in the universities, as researchers in think tanks. in international organizations such as the United Nations or in Institutions of European Union, in international non-governmental organizations, in media, most of all local and multinational companies, in banks and finance institutions as well. 

The IKU International Relations has a close interaction with the Global Political Trends Centre (İKU-GPoT) which provides possibilities for students to follow studies in the fields. Additionaly, our students can participate the Center’s events, projects and publications as well.
Global Political Trends Center (GPoT) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution established under the auspices of Istanbul Kültür University in January 2009. The aim of the Global Political Trends Center is to discuss Turkey’s attitude in the presence of global trends while creating a platform for examining global developments in the international politics arena through the different activities accomplished by the center and its publications.
Our mission is to conduct high quality, independent and innovative research and education, acting as a link between policy-making institutions, academia, civil society and the media. The Center aims to achieve this by routinely bringing together opinion leaders, government officials and other policy-makers, analysts and members of the media from Turkey, the region and elsewhere.
Besides, international organizations, international meetings and various visits are organized. In this context, it is ensured that the theoretical knowledge students learn with their departmental courses is reinforced with practical experiences.

Thanks to the dynamic and competent academic staff of our department, the students are ready for their professional lives with the scientific knowledge and theoretical background they have in their education life.

The students of our department have the opportunity to study abroad for 6 months and 1 year, besides the Erasmus program, thanks to bilateral agreements made by our school. For bilateral agreements, see http://www.iku.edu.tr/eng/14/358/ogrenim-hareketliligi.html

The interest in the discipline of international relations has been on the rise with the impact of rapidly globalizing political and economic relation on the world in the last quarter of the last century and in the first two decades of the 21st century. One of the factors that make our department attractive for our students is the presence of publicly recognized strong academic staff, universally built undergraduate and graduate level courses and the existence of diplomats and media members who shed light on our students with their experience. In addition to these features, there is no doubt that the increase in the worldwide interest in international relations in theory and practice has played a role in this attraction. In the list of attractive and promising professions of our age, ‘international relations expertise’ has already taken its place among the leading ones.

The courses included in the IKU International Relations Department education program demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of our field. After following the introductory courses in the first two years, we encourage our students to specialize in specific areas through lectures and seminars aimed at specializing in subjects such as European Union, Middle East and Turkish Foreign Policy. In this context, the richness of the elective courses offered to our students paves the way for specialization in the regions they are interested (such as European Union or Middle East) or in problem-oriented issues (such as terrorism or security).

Although the language of instruction in our department is English, it is possinle that our students choose courses of French or German as a second foreign language. The successful students of our department are also encouraged to graduate with 2 diplomas within the double major program. In addition those students who are interested find the possibility to obtain a certificate in the various programmes by making minors. Another option offered to our students in our department is to have the chance to study one or two terms of their education in one of the universities in EU countries by using Erasmus exchange program which is a European Union program. Another opportunity is that they will have the chance to do internship in an EU institution for three months in summer thanks to Erasmus internship scholarships and thus they will have the opportunity to get to know the professional areas they want to work in while they are still students.

The students of the department are highly encouraged to participate in social and cultural activities. We attach great importance to the participation of our students in the extracurricular activities of our department with an approach to support our academic program through practical studies. Our students have the opportunity to improve themselves by attending conferences, panels and seminars organized by the Global Political Trends unit of IKU International Relations Department. As actors in International Relations Club, they can also organize conferences and seminars, with participants from other departments, to enhance their participation in knowledge production and exchange. 
 
 

 

Head of the Department: Prof. Dr. Çağla Gül Yesevi

Email: c.yesevi@iku.edu.tr

Deputy Department Head: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Ahmet Cemal Ertürk

Email: a.erturk@iku.edu.tr