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The pace and complexity of international relations in the twenty first century defies simple explanations. Unprecedented economic integration creates winners and losers. A broader array of threats to peace and security pose challenges to policymakers. International norms reach deeper, securing human rights and environmental protection.

UVA’s International Relations scholars tackle these complexities with creativity and analytical rigor. Our substantive expertise covers the full range of international affairs, including military conflict and nuclear proliferation; international trade and finance; international institutions and order; and foreign policy.  Our varied analytical tools include statistical analyses, a variety of qualitative methods, and game theoretic models. Combined, these tools reveal and make sense of the multi-faceted puzzles we face. Interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars across Grounds continually invigorates our research.

We take pride in training future generations of International Relations scholars. Our graduate IR curriculum is organized around International Relations Theory, International Security, and International Political Economy. Students take these courses concurrent with the department’s methodology courses. After PhD students advance to candidacy they present dissertation research in an on-going, faculty-led seminar – an invaluable opportunity to learn and grow as a scholar. Our students routinely interact with prominent IR scholars from around the world in the department’s Lansing-Lee/Bankard Seminar. Our graduates are recruited by leading universities and colleges, governments, think tanks, and the private sector.

We invite you to further explore International Relations at the University of Virginia.