Our Department is committed to providing high quality education in Political Science and International Relations that enable our graduates to make significant contributions to the field both intellectually and professionally. To this end, our program seeks to cultivate an in-depth understanding of political, economic, social and cultural aspects of the rapidly changing field of International Relations with an emphasis on the vitality of an interdisciplinary approach.
"The main matters on which all men deliberate and on which political speakers make speeches are some five in number: ways and means, war and peace, national defense, imports and exports, and legislation. A comprehensive view of these questions cannot be gained solely from experience in home affairs; in order to advise on such matters a man must be keenly interested in the methods worked out in other lands." Aristotle
Thus, in our times, a critical understanding of social and political realities facing the global community increasingly requires an intellectual training based on cross-disciplinary accumulation of skills and knowledge. A cross-disciplinary perspective endows the students and researchers with a plurality of approaches necessary for the awareness of the broad range of social and political problems in an increasingly changing global environment. In that regard, the goal of our program is to turn out social scientists with appropriate analytical abilities to critically analyse, interpret and evaluate the current local, domestic and international issues and place them in broader intellectual, social and historical contexts.
Our program seeks to help its students achieve the following learning outcomes:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the main theories, ideas and concepts associated with Political Science and International Relations and apply theoretical and conceptual knowledge on topics of Political Science and International Relations.
- Acquire an interdisciplinary perspective based on the synthesis of related disciplines (sociology, economics, psychology, law, history…).
- Think critically and creatively, including the ability to formulate clear and logically coherent questions and arguments regarding local, national and global politics.
- Make policy analysis regarding political and social developments individually and/or in interdisciplinary teams.
- Acquire in-depth knowledge on research methods and academic ethics and use this knowledge in conducting theoretical and/or empirical research projects.
- Identify ethical issues in local, domestic and international politics and implement social, scientific and professional codes of ethical conduct.
- Identify and follow credible social science literature and develop skills to utilize diverse types of information sources.
- Demonstrate high skills in oral and written communication both in Turkish and English and apply non-discriminative language.
- Use a second foreign language (aside English) at an intermediate or high level of proficiency.
- Appreciate the plurality of and respect for differences of opinion, lifestyles, cultural practices and identities.
- Practice good working habits, time management and self-discipline with a strong vision of social responsibility.
- Engage in life-long learning and enrich personal, social and professional development by exploring interests in diverse disciplines.
"A critique does not consist in saying that things aren't good the way they are. It consists in seeing on just what type of assumptions, of familiar notions, of established and unexamined ways of thinking the accepted practices are based... To do criticism is to make harder those acts which are now too easy." Michel Foucault