About the Department

The vision of the Department of International Studies posits as its core objective providing undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Miami with a firm grounding in the social sciences (especially political science and economics), and the humanities disciplines to foster creative exploration of the global system from alternative perspectives. The Department's MA program will prepare students for professions in international diplomacy, business, trade and finance, as well as for service in government and non-governmental organizations and international institutions.

This is an exciting time in the field of international studies:

Powerful political and socio-economic transformations, embedded in complex and far-reaching processes of globalization of the world economy are rapidly transforming or rendering obsolete traditional notions of national identity, national security, and international relations. The vertiginous pace of these transformations, driven by technological progress and forces of cultural and economic integration, reduces the distance between societies, which now impinge on one another across multiple dimensions. Simultaneously, religious, ethnic, nationalist and economic conflicts frequently erupt within and between societies, often in violent form. Growing interdependence among the world’s states, economies and societies, as well as the enduring divides within and between them, demand new and more sophisticated explanation: Societies simply can no longer be understood in isolation or at a particular point in time. Contemporary societies are shaped by interwoven legacies from the past within rapidly shifting environments—political, military, economic, social and cultural—posing complex dilemmas of national and global governance.

The INS Department has designed an integrated curriculum to allow students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to study cutting-edge international issues such as globalization, transnationalism, international political economy, post-Cold War conflicts and security threats, new forms of civil society mobilization and cultural expression in world politics, global environmental challenges and the management of the global commons. These themes revolve around the accelerating process of globalization and its far-reaching impacts on states, societies, economies, and individuals. The INS faculty invoke various theoretical and analytical approaches and methodological techniques intended to offer UM students an integrated program of study focused on the exploration of the interaction between the international and the national, the local and global, from the historical to the contemporary, while tracking possible alternative future scenarios or developments in the international system.

 One of the Department's highest priorities is the encouragement of research and study abroad initiatives for undergraduates and the participation of majors in international exchange programs. The Department's promotion of a combination of research and study abroad initiatives, international internships, and intersession and summer courses taught by faculty overseas supports a variety of stimulating learning and international research experiences for our majors as well as for students from other departments in the College.

Bruce M. Bagley, Ph.D.

Department Chair