Innovative international relation dissertation topics for post-grad students

International relations is an extremely broad field. Its importance as a subject can neither be undermined nor ignored due to its scope of application. International relations shape the strategies, foreign policies, and roadmap for countries. International relations are always changing, every new development around the globe has the tendency to impact the international relationship strategies of the countries.

To define international studies or international relations, a student needs to understand that global powers and their counterparts act in ways that benefit them the most. The scenario is vividly summed up by Madeleine Albright, in the following words:

“A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it’s not a game of chess where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It’s more like a game of billiards with a bunch of balls clustered together.”

These words sum up the complexities and implications of the decisions made by the strategists and think tanks. Each decision will set the balls rolling and colliding. Every collision will generate more collisions until each ball loses its energy to continue.

Since we have established the importance of strategic decisions in international relationship management, let us define the subject formally. According to a leading international relations website, the subject of international relations can be defined as:

“International relations is the study of the interaction of nation-states and non-governmental organizations in fields such as politics, economics, and security.”

International relation is an amalgam of multiple fields and it's more art than science. Understanding the subject requires intensive knowledge of politics, geopolitics, economics, geography, and global conflicts.

As a researcher having a sound grip on the basics of the international relation’s pillar is highly important. Many graduate students make these pillars and their impact on international politics and relations, their key research question. The four pillars of international relations are:

1. Protection
2. Profits
3. Principles
4. Pride

A simple yet very helpful method that postgraduate students can adopt is to create a dissertation topic list before making a decision on a specific topic do their research on.

The field of international relations is vast and encompasses multiple sub-domains that can be a potential candidate for your international relations dissertation.

International Law Dissertations

International law is a set of rules, agreements, and treaties between countries about how the nations interact with each other, citizens of other countries, and international businesses. There are multiple international relations dissertation topics pertaining to international law and its sub-domains. The following topics can be potential research topics.

1. The role of the international court of justice in human rights violation cases amidst war in Africa.
2. Impact of international environmental laws on controlling the carbon emission in developing countries
3. Mediation of IJC in conflict elimination in various cases to reduce tensions between nations

Geo-Politics Dissertations

The impact of geography is immense on global politics. There several conflicts between the nations emerging from the acquisition of strategic geographical locations including passes, water channels, and trade routes.

1. The historical analysis of the silk road in the development of subcontinent trade.
2. The Kashmir conflict between Indo-Pak and its global impacts
3. The importance of the Suez canal on global trade and implications if the waterway is closed

Foreign Policy Dissertations

Foreign policy is the backbone of any government. Students can consider foreign policies and strategies as their international relations dissertation topics.

The topics that we discussed here can be used as-is but make sure to consult with your supervisor before finalizing any research topic. It is essential to choose a topic that intrigues you the most and grabs your attention.