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Is there an undergrad program in international relations at Brown or not? if so, how good is it?

By Jnatkins (Jnatkins) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 02:12 am: Edit

Yes, I'm planning on being it...It's not Georgetown, but I'm sure it's pretty good.

By Jschuman3 (Jschuman3) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 11:09 am: Edit

I've heard Georgetown is cutting funding for SFS, plus you get no freedom in that so it wasn't an option for me. But does anyone else know more details on Brown's IR department and its prestige, etc?

By Dcircle (Dcircle) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 02:39 pm: Edit

IR is very popular at Brown and one of our most celebrated and amazing departments. The home of international relations at Brown is the Watson Institute (www.watsoninstitute.org) which is world famous for the research it produces...a small sampling of the faculty that quickly comes to mind includes:

Fernando Cardoso (the most recent former president of Brazil)

Sergei Kruschev (Nikita Kruschev's son and confidante)

Xu Wenli (co-founder of the Chinese democratic party, recent political prisoner)

Catherine Lutz (world famous anthropologist)

James Blight (among other things, he co-authored a book with Robert Macnamara that became the inspiration for the oscar-winning Fog of War, and was the principal consultant for that film)

Omer Bartov (world's leading authority on genocide)

..and many others. you can check out the list of scholars for yourself on the website
Additionally the board of overseers includes many powerful notables such as Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, Sir Brian Urqhart, former UN secretary general, etc.

The watson institute also sponsors many incredible lectures throughtout the year at Brown that are open to everyone...as a result, in recent years I have had the priviledge of listening to Janet Reno, Mikhail Gorbachev, Dennis Ross, Ehud Barak, and many others.

We also publishe the influential Brown Journal of World Affairs, a biannual book that has a lot of undergraduate involvement--through this journal my friends have had the opportunity to interview and interact firsthand with world diplomats, dignitaries, and other politicians, as well as have their work read on a wolrd-wide level.

Check out the link =)

--Neel

By Thejuiceisback (Thejuiceisback) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 07:25 pm: Edit

Jschuman3, whats that about georgetown and lack of freedom? do you mean in class selection or something? hit me back with info cuz georgetown's on my list so im gathering thoughts. thanks.

By Jnatkins (Jnatkins) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 07:59 pm: Edit

Brown's got an open curriculum...There's so much more freedom than at any school with a core

By Jschuman3 (Jschuman3) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 09:17 pm: Edit

If you take Georgetown SFS you will take no math and no science (although you could maybe try to squeeze in one or two sciences if youre lucky. one of my good friends does SFS and loves it because he didnt want to take any sciences/math but i think its dangerous. to begin with you are singing yourself into a career before you have even graduated high school and secondly its often what you know that others dont that gets you jobs. knowing science AND IR could be a good combination (global warming, nuclear issues, etc), and its hard to get a science background in SFS, while Brown gives way more freedom.

By Thejuiceisback (Thejuiceisback) on Sunday, June 13, 2004 - 10:40 pm: Edit

I see, thanks.