Introduction to International Relations

Aims of the course

Foundations & Interpretation:

Introduce core ideas relevant to international relations and world order, and develop students’ ability to identify, describe, and briefly interpret these ideas in historical and contemporary examples.

Basic Critical Awareness: 

Build a critical understanding of how diverse ideas, principles, and strategic cultures may shape state and non-state behaviour, encouraging students to compare perspectives, recognise assumptions and bias, and use basic evidence to support or question claims.

Introductory Evaluation & Application:

Enable students to apply key concepts to current global issues and debates, making clear, structured, and provisional evaluations (e.g., outlining strengths/limits of an argument, noting alternative explanations).

Target audience

Adult learners seeking continuing education in international politics and global affairs. Early-career professionals in government, policy, journalism, business, NGOs, and security sectors. Undergraduates and graduates in other disciplines (e.g. history, philosophy, economics, law, technology) seeking to broaden their knowledge of world politics.

Prior academic study in international relations is not required, but an interest in political ideas and current affairs and a willingness to read introductory academic research in international relations is expected.

Welcome week: Week 0

Learning outcomes:

• personal introductions
• useful reading
• introducing the four considerations of executive coaching
• personal objectives
• personal executive coaching skills audit

Teaching Week 1: Foundations of International Relations (IR) Theory

Purpose: 

This week will introduce fundamental concepts and theories in international relations (e.g. Realism, Liberalism and Constructivism) and relate these to the real world.  Show how these can be useful in interpreting world events.  Build a shared vocabulary; practise identifying core claims and briefly interpreting simple cases through different lenses.

Learning outcomes:

• identify and describe key assumptions of major IR traditions
• interpret a short case using two lenses
• compare what each lens explains or misses, in clear, non-technical language

Teaching Week 2: Ideas and the International Order

Purpose:

This week we will connect political ideas (democracy, nationalism, post/anti-colonial thought) to the real world and to claims about “order” and justice. 

Learning outcomes:

• describe how a political idea frames international order
• identify evidence of that framing in a policy speech or communique
• offer a provisional evaluation of its strengths/limits

Teaching Week 3: Institutions and Global Governance

Purpose:

This week we will see how international institutions structure cooperation, dispute settlement, and standards across issue areas.

Learning outcomes: 

• identify core functions of one institution (UN, WTO, WHO, IMF/World Bank, AU/EU)
• interpret how rules and norms shape behaviour in a simple case
• compare two institutions’ approaches using a short matrix
• understand the link between international institutions and actors, the US backed ‘Liberal’ order and emerging alternative power approaches

Teaching Week 4: Transnational Actors and Interdependence

Purpose:

This week we will recognise how non-state and transnational actors (NGOs, corporations, advocacy networks etc) shape outcomes; practise distinguishing scholarly analysis from advocacy.

Learning outcomes:

• identify the role of one transnational actor/network in an IR outcome
• interpret mechanisms (information, leverage, accountability)
• evaluate one limitation or bias in a chosen source

Teaching Week 5: Technology, Ethics, and International Relations

Purpose:

This week, we will build a basic critical awareness of how digital technologies and infrastructures shape interdependence, information flows, and governance debates (e.g. AI, disinformation, human rights) especially regarding regulating usage under ethical considerations.

Learning outcomes:

• describe one mechanism by which technology/information affects IR (e.g., platform governance, data standards, payments)
• assess the quality of evidence in a short policy/academic source
• propose one ethical trade-off in rights/security/economic policy

Week 6: what next? 

• assessment of student learning
• assessment of student satisfaction
• encouragement of further study

This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.  

Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences. 

Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course. 

Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours of self-study time, for example, reading materials, although this will vary from person to person. 

While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material). 

Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the VLE so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (using discussion boards etc).

Fees

The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes. 

Concessions 

For more information, please see our concessions information page. 

Alison Fordham Bursary

University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses. 

Application criteria: 

• applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
• applicants who can demonstrate financial need 

For more information, please see our bursaries information page.

A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.