How to study international relations: theories, history and cases

If you're looking up how to study international relations, here's the short answer: the major is about reading the world through theory, not about collecting news. Following current events helps, but it isn't enough. Exams ask you to explain why states do what they do, and that takes three things at once: the theories (realism, liberalism, constructivism and their offshoots), the history of the international system, and how international organizations and international law actually work.

What makes IR tricky is that everything is connected and everything feels like a matter of opinion. The same war can be explained by the balance of power, by institutions that failed, or by how each country sees itself, and all three explanations have serious scholars behind them. Lectures tend to be slide decks full of maps, timelines, acronyms and theorists' names, and behind each one sit long readings. Most exams are essays, and plenty of courses add presentations, Model UN style simulations or a final paper.

It's not my major: I study computer engineering. What follows comes from looking closely at how IR is studied and graded, and from what we know about how people learn. It overlaps a lot with political science, and what works there for nailing definitions and writing essay answers works here too.

Put the theories in one chart, with the same rows

IR theory is the spine of the major. It shows up in your intro course and comes back in every other one: diplomatic history, foreign policy, international political economy. If the theories are fuzzy, every new course feels like starting over.

The most useful way to study them is a chart where every theory answers the same questions:

1. Who acts. Only states, or also international organizations, companies, NGOs and individuals?
2. What they want. Security and power, shared gains, or whatever their identity tells them to want.
3. Whether cooperation is possible. And how long it lasts.
4. What it explains well. The case where the theory shines.
5. What it struggles with. The case that leaves it in trouble.

You learn IR theories by contrast, not one at a time. Realism says that, with no government above states, each one looks after its own security and distrusts the rest. Liberalism answers that trade, institutions and democracy make cooperation worth it. Constructivism adds that anarchy has no fixed meaning: it depends on how states see each other. Side by side, each one makes more sense because of what the others miss.

Those last two rows are what save you on exam day. When a prompt says "analyze this conflict from two theoretical perspectives," you already know which case trips up each one.

Put the history on one timeline, with concepts

The other half of the major is history: the state system that dates back to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Congress of Vienna, two world wars, the founding of the UN, the Cold War and how it ended, and everything after. It's a lot, and a list of dates won't hold.

Build one timeline for the whole degree, and at each turning point write down three things:

• How the distribution of power changed. Who rose, who fell, whether the world ended up with one, two or several poles.
• Which institution or rule was born. The League of Nations, the UN, a treaty, a trade regime.
• Which theory explains it best. And which one gets used to push back.

That way history stops being a separate subject and becomes the case bank for your theories. The end of the Cold War, for instance, is the classic case for arguing over which theory saw it coming and which didn't. I go deeper into ordering processes and interpretations in how to study history.

Organizations and treaties: a card that says who decides

Acronyms are a trap in this major: UN, WTO, IMF, NATO, EU, ASEAN. Memorizing what they stand for doesn't get you far. What exams ask is how they work and how much power they really have.

One card per organization, with these rows:

• Who's in it and how you join.
• How it decides. Majority, consensus, weighted voting or veto.
• What it can enforce. Whether its decisions are binding or just recommendations.
• One case where it worked and one where it didn't.

The key question for any organization is who can block it. On the UN Security Council, the five permanent members hold a veto, and that explains a good part of what the Council does and doesn't do. With that question on the card, an organization stops being an acronym and becomes a case you can argue with theory.

If your program leans toward economics, trade and regional blocs carry their own weight. I cover that in how to study international business, which overlaps a lot with this one.

One headline, three theories

The upside of IR is that practice material shows up every day: a summit, a round of sanctions, a trade deal, a UN vote, tension on a border. The risk is reading it the way everyone else does, with opinions and no concepts.

A fifteen minute drill, once or twice a week:

1. Pick one international story from that week.
2. Explain it like a realist. What power is at stake? Who fears whom?
3. Now like a liberal. Which institutions, agreements or trade interests matter?
4. Now like a constructivist. Which identities, norms or narratives explain each country's position?
5. Decide which one explains it best and write why in three lines.

Done this way, every headline is an essay question you've already answered. And when the real prompt comes, you have your own cases for each theory, which land much better than the textbook examples everyone repeats.

Long readings, without reading everything twice

You'll read a lot in this major, and some of the classics are dense. You don't need to read everything twice: you need to read once with a purpose and leave yourself something useful for later.

Before each reading, look at the lecture slides on that topic: they tell you who the author is, what they're arguing against and which concepts to look for. Afterward, a short note:

• The question the text asks, in one sentence.
• Its answer, in two.
• Three key concepts, with page numbers.
• Which theory it belongs to and who it argues with.

Write the note without the text in front of you, then go back and fill in what you missed. It feels slower, but recalling what you read sticks far better than rereading it. If you're reading in a second language, write the note in your own: if you can explain it in your own words, you got it.

Lecture slides and presentations

IR slides tend to be maps, org charts of institutions, timelines and theory tables. In class your professor walked through the story behind every arrow; in the PDF you're left with boxes and names.

For that part you can use Filmina, a web app that explains your lecture slides out loud, one at a time, pointing at the part it's talking about. It reads each slide as an image too, so it explains a map or a diagram along with the text. If something doesn't click, you ask Mina, the chat that answers from your material ("why does the veto explain the Council not acting here?"), and then you can practice with questions built from that lecture. PDF readings go in too, so you can read them and ask about a passage, though those aren't explained out loud. It has limits: it needs a connection, the free plan has a monthly minute cap, and a scanned photocopy gets read through text recognition, which can slip on small print. The theory chart and the timeline are still yours to build.

Presentations and negotiation simulations are prepared out loud. Rehearse your position with a classmate arguing the other side: whatever you can't defend against an objection, you don't have yet.

Frequently asked questions

What do you study in international relations?

IR theory, the history of the international system, public international law, international organizations, foreign policy, international political economy and political science. Depending on the program, also languages, geography and research methods.

Is international relations a hard major?

There's no heavy math, apart from the economics courses, but it takes a lot of reading and clear argumentative writing. The hardest shift at first is moving from having opinions about current events to explaining them with theory.

How do you study IR theories?

With a chart that asks every theory the same questions: who acts, what they want, whether cooperation is possible, what it explains well and what it struggles with. Then apply them to real cases from history and from the news.

How do you answer an IR essay question?

Define the concepts in the prompt, choose the theory or theories that best explain the case, and show with concrete facts why. A five minute outline before you write keeps the answer organized.