The program at Reed in international and comparative policy studies (ICPS) is designed to meet the academic needs of students interested in pursuing a major involving interdisciplinary work in the areas of globalization, international relations, comparative policy, and international economic development. Course offerings reflect the interests of faculty members working in this general domain. Courses applicable to the ICPS major come from relevant areas within the departments of economics, history, political science, and sociology, and are listed on the ICPS website at www.reed.edu/icps/courses.html; students are expected to combine their ICPS course of study with work in one of these four departments, providing students with a firm disciplinary basis within the social sciences. ICPS majors will be identified respectively as ICPS–economics, ICPS–history, ICPS–political science, or ICPS–sociology.
Admission to the Major
To be admitted to the ICPS program, a student must petition the ICPS Committee for acceptance to upper-division standing prior to declaring their major. The petition process is normally initiated in the second semester of the sophomore year, and the petition must be submitted by the end of the fourth week of the first semester of the junior year. Since acceptance into the ICPS program is not automatic, applicants should be prepared to pursue an alternative course of study. Please see www.reed.edu/icps/major.html for details and deadlines.
Requirements for the Major
A. ICPS Core Requirement
1. ICPS primary fields (eight units). Any two from a–d:
- Economics 201 (Introduction to Economic Analysis) and three ICPS–economics courses.
- Political Science 220, 240, or 260 and three additional ICPS–political science courses, two of which must be upper-level.
- Any four ICPS–history courses, only two of which may be in American history.
- Sociology 211 and three ICPS–sociology courses.
2. ICPS secondary field (two units). Any one from a–d in an additional field not used as a primary field:
- Economics 201 (Introduction to Economic Analysis) and one ICPS–economics course.
- Political Science 220, 240, or 260 and one upper-level ICPS–political science course.
- Any two ICPS–history courses, only one of which may be in American history.
- Sociology 211 and one ICPS–sociology course.
B. Home Department Requirement
Students must fulfill the following course requirements in their respective home department (these may include courses listed above to fulfill the ICPS core requirement):
ICPS–economics major:
1. Economics 201; 311 or 312; 313; and either 304 or 314.
2. Three additional ICPS–economics courses.
ICPS–history major:
1. Six units of history, including History 411 or 412 (the junior seminar). Four of the units are to be drawn from a list of ICPS–history courses. In addition, the six units must include at least one unit each in American history, European history, and the history of a region of the world other than America or Europe; and at least one must focus on the period before 1800 and one after 1800.
2. Statistics: one of Political Science 311, Mathematics 141, Economics 311 or 312, Sociology 311, or Psychology 348.
ICPS–political science major:
1. Five units in political science. This must include two empirical introductory political science courses (220, 240, or 260), and three upper-level political science courses, two of which must be ICPS.
2. Statistics: one of Political Science 311, Mathematics 141, Economics 311, Sociology 311, or Psychology 348. Political Science 311 cannot count as one of the five required political science units if used for the statistics requirement.
3. Junior Seminar.
ICPS–sociology major:
1. Sociology 211.
2. Sociology 311.
3. Five additional sociology courses, three of which must be ICPS–sociology courses.
C. Junior Qualifying Examination
ICPS students will take the junior qualifying examination required in their respective home department as well as the ICPS qualifying examination. Please see www.reed.edu/icps/major.html#qual for details and deadlines.
D. Thesis
Each student must complete a thesis appropriate to the ICPS major, dealing with international relations or a comparative policy study. The thesis adviser will ordinarily come from the ICPS Committee, or, with the committee’s approval, from the student’s home department. The ICPS Committee will approve one additional committee member according to the recommendation of the thesis adviser.