Honors Track

The International Relations honors program offers qualified students the opportunity to conduct a major independent research project under faculty guidance. Such a project requires a high degree of initiative and dedication, significant amounts of time and energy, and demonstrated skills in research and writing.

IR Honors Track

The IR Honors Track is the traditional IR Honors pathway. The program is interdisciplinary and enables students to undertake a wide variety of research projects. Previously, students have written theses on topics such as international political economy, international security, regional integration, human rights, domestic issues in foreign countries, international education and regional issues (this list is by no means exhaustive). Students can select to work with faculty throughout the university, and will be equipped with the professional “tools” to undertake their own independent research, analyze the findings, and write a final research thesis.

CDDRL Track

The Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University now offers a track within the International Relations Honors Program. Like the IR Honors Track program, the CDDRL track is interdisciplinary, and its goal is to specifically pursue the interactions between democracy, development, and the rule of law in countries undergoing political and economic transitions. Our task at CDDRL in general is to apply high-quality research to concrete policy problems. Part of this is creating a community at Stanford actively engaged in the issues of democracy promotion, economic development, and the establishment of rule of law in countries where such things are in short supply. We would like to include interested and motivated undergraduates in our growing community of scholars. We hope to build a cohort of Stanford graduates with the knowledge, capacity, and ambition to advance democracy, economic development, good governance, and the rule of law in the developing world. We seek to arm students with the intellectual tools and policy knowledge to do so effectively. For more information about CDDRL and its affiliated faculty, go to http://cddrl.stanford.edu.

Below are recommended timelines, and policy issues to help you begin your honors thesis work.

Prerequisites: