Welcome

Welcome to the Department of International Affairs at The University of Georgia.  One of three departments in the School of Public & International Affairs, we are also affiliated with the Center for International Trade & Security (CITS) and the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS).  Our faculty are leading scholars in their fields of study and are dedicated to the department's three-fold mission: instruction, research, and service.  Currently in the department there are 16 full-time faculty members, 3 staff, 60 graduate students, and over 700 undergraduates.  We are a degree-conferring academic department; if you have any questions regarding immigration issues or overseas travel, click here.

In the Department

The Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) will be hosting a forum on North Korea, April 20-27, 2008. The Forum will be a five-day intensive immersion consisting of both seminar-type classes and panel discussion fora. The program will be directed by expert scholars with firsthand knowledge of the DPRK, drawn from around the world. All facets of the DPRK will be covered in-depth, including its politics, culture, social structure, domestic and foreign policy, history, and economics. For more information, click here.

Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Allen on being named a recipient of the 2008 Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Profesorship. This campus-wide award recognizes excellent in instruction at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The award is named after Josiah Meigs, president of the university from 1801 to 1810.

Graduate students Matt Furhmann and Bryan Early have an article published in the January, 2008 edition of Foreign Policy Analysis, entitled, "Following START: Risk Acceptance and the 1991-1992 Presidential Nuclear Initiative." The article can be found through the eJournals feature of the UGA Main Library's web site. Search for the journal's name under the eJournal tab.

Congratulations to International Affairs alumnus, Kate Vyborny (2005) and major, Deep Shah, on being named Rhodes Scholars.  Read more here.

Dr. Mia Bloom appears in the May 2007 "Countering the Terrorist Mentality" edition of the U.S. Department of State's electronic journal, eJournalUSA. Her article, Women as Victims & Victimizers, describes how and why women have made the move from supporting to more active operational roles in terrorist activities, including suicide bombings. Click to access the journal.

Congratulations to Ms. Jayanthi Narain on receiving the Outstanding Honors Student in the Social Sciences award. Ms. Narain was also recently named a Marshall Scholar, the first female UGA student to receive that honor, and was featured as an outstanding student on the UGA homepage.

Two International Affairs majors, Samantha Meek and Mark Smith, have been accepted as 2007-2008 Undergraduate Fellows with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Read More.

Congratulations to Deep Shah, a double major in international affairs and genetics, on being named a recipient of a 2007 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. This national award recognizes juniors who excel academically and who plan on pursuing careers in public service. Read more.

Our Occasional Papers Series is now available. Launched in December 2006, the series represents one aspect of a broad range of exciting and innovative research and activities undertaken by the Department of International Affairs. Hard copies of the series are available by contacting the department, but articles can also be downloaded from our publications page.

Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Sullivan on receiving the Peace Science Society's 2006 Walter Isard Dissertation Award for her thesis on “The Utility of Force: War Aims and Asymmetric Outcomes.” The Walter Isard Award for the Best Dissertation Award in Peace Science is given every two years. The winner is selected on the basis of the importance and scientific significance of the dissertation with respect to the field of peace science and its contribution to the understanding of international behavior more generally. A previous recipient of the Isard Award is also on faculty with the Department of International Affairs: Dr. Jaroslav Tir (2002).

Dr. Abdulah Osman writes of the violence and economic downturn experienced by many African nations since 1990 in his forthcoming book, Governance and Internal Wars in sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Relationship. Much of the optimism that greeted the independence decade of the 1960s, when Africa was called the “continent of the future” has turned into failure and disappointment. The increase in these conflicts has been blamed on several variables, including colonialism, ethnic diversity, end of the Cold War and economic decline. While many African countries have managed to maintain a modicum of peace, stability and growth, some have clearly failed woefully in this regard. This raises a very fundamental question:  How and why did some countries manage to avert internal wars while others did not? The book measures and provides rich details of governance from contextual, structural and policy perspectives. It systematically and uniformly compares two categories of countries: those that experienced internal war and those that did not.

Will immigration undermine the welfare state? Dr. Markus Crepaz' new book, Trust beyond Borders, draws on public opinion data and case studies of Germany, Sweden, and the United States to document the influence of immigration and diversity on trust, reciprocity, and public support for welfare programs. Dr. Crepaz demonstrates that we are, at least in some cases, capable of trusting beyond borders: of expressing faith in our fellow humans and extending help without regard for political classifications. For more informtion or to order the book, click here.