Functional Area

What are Functional Areas?

Functional Areas are broad themes within the International Affairs requirements that help students explore key global issues from multiple disciplinary perspectives. These areas allow students to tailor their major to their interests while gaining depth in a specific aspect of international affairs. The four Functional Areas are:

  • Development and Culture (Functional Area I) explores how cultural practices, social change, and development policies shape global communities and influence international interactions.
  • International Economics, Business, and Political Economy (Functional Area II) focuses on global markets, economic systems, trade, and the political forces that influence international economic relations.
  • Political Geography, International Security, and Foreign Policy (Functional Area III) examines the role of geography, state power, conflict, and diplomacy in shaping global politics and security.
  • International Institutions, Rights, and Norms (Functional Area IV) analyzes the influence of international organizations, legal frameworks, and global norms on state behavior and human rights.

For a list of classes offered in each semester, see our IAFS semester course lists. The full list of Functional Area courses on our permanent course list are below, however, courses are not offered each semester.

ANTH 4020           Explorations in Anthropology (approved topics only)
ANTH 4500           Cross-cultural Aspects of Socioeconomic Development
COMM 3410         Intercultural Communication
ECON 3784          Economic Development & Policy
ECON/GEOG 4292   Migration, Immigrant Adaptation and Development
ECON 4774         Topics in Economic Development, History and Political Economy
ECON 4784          Economic Development
ECON 4794          Economic Growth
GEOG/WGST 3672     Who Runs the World? Sex, Power, and Gender in Geography
GEOG 3682         International Development: Economics, Power, and Place
GEOG 3692         Introduction to Global Public Health
GEOG 4632         Development Geography
GEOG 4852         Health and Medical Geography
IAFS/JWST 3600   Contemporary Jewish Studies
IAFS/SCAN 3631   Arctic Society and Culture
IAFS/ENVS 3640   Data Analysis for Global Environmental Affairs
IAFS 3670/GEOG 3622 Cities of the Global South
LING 3545            World Language Policies
MDST 3201           Media, Culture and Globalization (Open to IMC students only)
MUEL 3862           Music and Global Health
PACS 3860           Environmental Conflict and Conflict Resolution
PSCI 4012            Global Development
PSCI 4283            International Migration and Policy
PSCI 4732            Critical Thinking in Development
SOCY 3002          Population and Society
SOCY/WGST 3012  Gender and Development
SOCY 4007         Global Human Ecology
SOCY 4052         Social Inequalities of Health
WGST 3500        Global Gender Issues
WGST 4300        Sex, Power & Politics: International Perspectives

ECON 3403        International Economics and Policy
ECON 3545        Environmental Economics
ECON 4413        International Trade
ECON 4423        International Finance
ECON 4504        New Institutional Economics
ECON 4545        Environmental Economics
FNCE 4060        Special Topics: London Summer in International Finance
INBU 3300          International Business & Management 
INBU 3450          International Business & Marketing 
INBU 4200          International Financial Management
PSCI 3092          Comparative Political Economy
PSCI 3213          International Political Economy 

ANTH/JWST 4580   The Holocaust: An Anthological Perspective
GEOG 3742         Place, Power, and Contemporary Culture
GEOG 4712         Political Geography
GEOG 4742         Topics in Peoples and Environments (approved topics only)
GEOG 4762         Geographies of Political Islam
HIST 4050            A Global History of World War II
HIST 4126            US Foreign Relations since 1941
HIST 4146            US Military History since 1898
HIST 4166            The War in Vietnam in Politics and Culture
IAFS 3010             Islam, Geopolitics and Society: Gender, Identity, and Place
IAFS 3500/HIST 4190  French Connections (Bordeaux Global Seminar)
IAFS/JWST 3650   History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
PACS 3800           Security Studies
PHIL 3190             War & Morality
PSCI 3123            War, Peace and Strategic Defense
PSCI 3143            Current Affairs in International Relations
PSCI 3163            American Foreign Policy
PSCI 3193            International Behavior
PSCI 4243            Modern Warfare: Terrorism, Ideology, Identity 

ANTH 4525          Global Islams
HIST 4820            Human Rights: Historical Perspectives
IAFS 3630/SCAN 3301 Radical Nationalism in Contemporary Northern Europe
INVS 4402           Nonviolent Social Movements
JRNL 4411           International Media and Global Crises (Open to IMC students only)
MUEL 3882          Music and Violence
PACS 3850          International Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding
PACS 3870          Nonviolent Civil Resistance: Movements and Strategies
PHIL 3260            Philosophy & International Order
PRLC 3810          Global Issues in Leadership
PSCI 3062           Revolution and Political Violence
PSCI 3183           International Law
PSCI 4173           International Organizations
PSCI 4252           Politics of Ethnicity and Nationalism
PSCI 4783           Global Issues
SOCY/ENVS 4027      Inequality, Democracy, Environment
SOCY 4121         Sociology of Religion
WGST 3220         Women in Islam
WGST 3712        Topics in Global Gender/Sexuality Studies (approved sections only)
WGST 4010/SOCY 4000     Gender, Genocide, and Mass Trauma
WGST 4500/PSCI 4391       Gender Politics and Global Activism