Academic Skills I, II, III

This class places emphasis on writing skills although all four skills—reading, listening comprehension, speaking, and writing—will be incorporated into the class structure. Content/content-based materials will be used. While this course emphasizes academic writing skills, including the basics of writing, structuring what they write, using effective transitions, sourcing, and paraphrasing, students will develop reading as well as speaking skills in numerous ways including research activities, discussions, summaries, and presentations.

Academic Skills encourages students to write researched, structured and referenced essays on a theme related to international studies, using APA style, while incorporating the reading, speaking, and listening comprehension elements into the class structure. Topics in international studies topics that are covered will help to students with input materials for their writing. Critical thinking strategies will be explored in addition to the emphasis on reading extensively in the area of international studies.

Theories of International Relations

This course will introduce students to the basic theoretical approaches to international relations. The aim of the course is to learn about a variety of distinct perspectives and how they highlight different aspects of international relations.

Politics for Global Studies

This course uses the history of Western political thought to explore and introduce wider issues in politics such as the roles and responsibilities of political organisations, their leaders, and their subjects / members; as well as concepts such as democracy, communism, utilitarianism, and others; and how these have evolved over time. With classes covering the era from ancient Greece to the mid-20th century, the major ‘classic’ works of European political thought are examined. The content of the course also introduces students to key concepts and ideas which form the basis of both the academic discipline of politics and the origins of International Relations as a distinct field of academic inquiry.

Economics for Global Studies

This is an introductory course in economics designed for international relations students. It covers both microeconomics and macroeconomics. Topics include (but are not limited to) gains from trade, supply and demand, elasticity, consumer and producer surplus, national income, fiscal and monetary policies, economic growth, and the open economy.

Sociology for Global Studies

This course introduces students to the study of sociology. The goal of the course is to provide students with the analytical tools to better understand the social world around them. To reach this goal, the class will ask some specific questions, such as how did each student come to be at Ritsumeikan University at this moment in history? What social forces helped guide you here, and what can those forces tell us about the social world? The class will start by examining our understandings of our individual identities and our interactions with the people around us. The class will then move to more macro-level analyses, looking at the various groups we belong to, including our gender, race, ethnicity, and social class. The class will examine various social institutions, such as religion, education, and the family. The class will end by looking at social change.

Global Simulation Gaming

In this unique course, students take on roles such as the UN Secretary General, heads of state and government, NGO officials and media representatives and debate environmental degradation, development issues and other key international topics.
Through this course, students have the opportunity to learn about the workings of international politics and the world economy and also develop presentation and negotiation skills.