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 anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology, and are listed on the ICPS website at reed.edu/icps/courses.html; students are expected to combine their ICPS course of study with work in one of these five departments, providing students with a firm disciplinary basis within the social sciences. ICPS majors will be identified respectively as ICPS–anthropology, ICPS–economics, ICPS–history, ICPS–political science, or ICPS–sociology.
Admission to the Major
To be admitted to the ICPS program, a student must apply to the ICPS Committee for acceptance to upper-division standing prior to declaring their major. Applications for the major are due by Monday of the 12th week of the second semester of the sophomore year. First-semester juniors may apply by Friday of the first week of the first semester of their junior year. Since acceptance into the ICPS program is not automatic, applicants should be prepared to pursue an alternative course of study. Please see reed.edu/icps/ for details and deadlines.
A. ICPS Core Requirement
1. ICPS primary cross-disciplinary field (four units). Any one from a–e not in the home department—ICPS–anthropology and ICPS–history must choose one from a–c:
- 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.
- Sociology 211 and three ICPS–sociology courses.
- Any four ICPS–history courses, only two of which may be in American history.
- Anthropology 211 and three ICPS–anthropology courses.
2. ICPS secondary cross-disciplinary field (two units). Any one from a–e in an additional field not in the home department or 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.
- Sociology 211 and one ICPS–sociology course.
- Any two ICPS–history courses, only one of which may be in American history.
- Anthropology 211 and one ICPS–anthropology course.
B. Home Department Requirement
Students must fulfill the following course requirements in their respective home department:
ICPS–anthropology major:
1. Six units of anthropology, including Anthropology 211, at least one area course (but preferably two), and at least one 400-level course. Four of the units are to be drawn from a list of ICPS–anthropology courses.
2. Statistics: one of Political Science 311, Mathematics 141, Economics 311 or 312, Sociology 311, or Psychology 348.
3. Language: Proficiency in a non-English language as demonstrated by successful completion of secondary education in that language, successful completion of two units of college-level courses in that language at a second-year level or one unit at a higher level, successful completion of a language placement examination approved by the committee, or approval of the committee.
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
Students may take the ICPS junior qualifying examination during either semester of the junior year. Please see reed.edu/icps/qual.html 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.
International and Comparative Policy Studies 300 - Special Topics in International and Comparative Policy Studies
Full course for one semester. This course is an advanced seminar for juniors and seniors with sufficient background in international relations and/or foreign policy. It grounds a survey of multi-method approaches to conducting research in international and comparative policy studies in substantive contemporary interdisciplinary topics. The course will be particularly useful both for students who will be writing their junior qualifying examination in ICPS or related fields and for students who are in the first semester of their thesis research. Prerequisites: junior standing and Political Science 240 or History 370. Conference.
Not offered 2020–21.
International and Comparative Policy Studies 470 - Thesis
Full course for one year.