GLOBAL STUDIES

Academic English Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ

(Academic English Ⅰ Level B)This is a four-skill-based course with relative emphasis on reading. Students will read the young reader’s edition of Al Gore’s Our Choice, and Clashing Views on Global Issues. Students will also watch films such as An Inconvenient Truth along with televised news programs and DVDs such as DAVOS and COP 16. Discussions and writings will be based on these viewings and readings. Finally, students will examine global issues from the perspective of developing countries and emerging economies as well as from advanced countries by watching programs and reading articles produced by the media in these different regions. By exploring global issues from many perspectives, the course will help students improve critical thinking skills and expand their media literacy.

Introduction to International Relations

The aim of this course is to familiarize with the policy issues and debates in contemporary international affairs, and to start to think about these issues in a theoretical manner. By studying for this course, students should be able to understand the key debates in the international arena and to develop their own views on the policy issues prevalent in international relations today.

Introduction to the United Nations

This course is an introduction to the United Nations System: its history, functions and structures. The central objective of the course will be to bring students to critically reflect on the changing roles of the organization and its contemporary challenges. How has the UN coped with such paradoxes embedded in its very founding Charter? Has its ideals systematically been hijacked by power politics? Can the UN today meet the challenges of globalization? What reforms should be promoted to ensure that the organization meets such challenges?

Introduction to Peace Studies

This course is designed to introduce students to the emerging field of Peace Studies - the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the causes of violent conflicts and the conditions of peace.
Students are expected to engage in critical discussion of assigned readings in a book of Peace and Conflict Studies which chronicles many important global topics from prehistory to the present and aims to respond to current challenges.
Students are also required to select the ideas and achievements of one laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize and present their findings within a group, or as an individual, oral presentation. This assignment provides a 20th century dimension to the course, reveals the diversity of contemporary peace thought and peace activism, and gives opportunities to link the present to the past philosophies of peacemaking.

Computer Literacy

Practical using personal computer is one of the basic skills to learn and study at a university. In this course, students will not only learn the basic skills to create and manipulate documents via word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases and other software tools, but also improve skills to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively information. Learning the “information literacy” facilitates and extends our abilities to study the international relations in the class and seminar.

Global Simulation Gaming

In this unique course, students take on roles such as the UN Secretary General, heads of state and government, NGO officials and media representatives and debate environmental degradation, development issues and other key international topics.
Through this course, students have the opportunity to learn about the workings of international politics and the world economy and also develop presentation and negotiation skills.

Advanced Topics in International Relations

After gaining a well-rounded understanding of international studies, students will once again focus on interdisciplinary international studies.

Introduction to Economics

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the basic elements of international economic theory in order to better appreciate how relevant concepts of international economics can be used in the study of international political economy. No prior training in the discipline of economics is required.
The first half of the course covers international economics relevant to trade relations, the second half the economics of international monetary and financial relations. The course aims to make international economics accessible by applying theory to issues in actual international economic policy-making. The course is designed to complement the Global Political Economy course.

Introduction to Law

Introduction to law is a rewarding area of study. We live in a society in which everyday life is touched by rules more than at any other period in history. This course is designed for undergraduate students to introduce most of the foundational legal concepts. Students will be familiar with both common law and civil law systems. The Japanese legal system itself evidences a rich history and vivid present. Students will be introduced with the Japanese legal system along with a comparative study of the major legal systems of the world. In our age of globalization, international law is playing an important role in harmonizing different legal systems and domestic laws. Students will benefit with the knowledge of emerging dynamics and linkages between domestic laws and international laws.

Introduction to Sociology

This course introduces students to the study of sociology. The goal of the course is to provide students with the analytical tools to better understand the social world around them. To reach this goal, the class will ask some specific questions, such as how did each student come to be at Ritsumeikan University at this moment in history? What social forces helped guide you here, and what can those forces tell us about the social world? The class will start by examining our understandings of our individual identities and our interactions with the people around us. The class will then move to more macro-level analyses, looking at the various groups we belong to, including our gender, race, ethnicity, and social class. The class will examine various social institutions, such as religion, education, and the family. The class will end by looking at social change.

Introduction to Politics

What does the term ‘politics’ mean? Posing the question a little broader, what does the term ‘politics’ or its similar rendition in other languages/cultures mean? What do we actually study about ‘politics’? This introductory course adopts a ‘Keywords’ approach to initiate students of politics to the language of the craft. Students will spend eight lectures exploring eight basic groups of key conceptions that are commonly used in the study of politics. Following this, the class will examine the fundamental concerns of the four main branches of political science. The course will end with a foray into post-structural and post-modern tangents in the study of politics.

Introduction to Geography

This course is focused on an introduction of contemporary human geography.
As you know, globalization is most pressing and touchy issue all over the world in various dimensions. So this course will provide you some critical geographical perspectives on the globalization. The course will basically follow with a text book.
First, you can appraise the concept and process of globalization from geographical perspective. And analyze the interconnected economic, political and cultural geography of globalization. Moreover, examine the impact of global transformation on the ground. Finally, you will discuss the challenge for the environment and the Third world created by globalizing processes.

Japan and the West

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the utmost important relations between Japan and the West. Those relations can be said to have basically transformed a Far Eastern country into a modern industrialized nation, decades before any other State in Asia History, economics, human and cultural exchanges will be studied.

Peace Studies Seminar

The primary objective is for students to learn about the reality of the atomic bombing and citizens’ wishes for peace in Japan and the world and to think how they can contribute to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Students will visit Hiroshima Memorial Peace Museum, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and so forth.

Kyoto and the Japanese Arts

A comprehensive survey of the intimate relationship between the ancient capital and the birth and development of Japanese art, with an emphasis on architecture, garden, performing arts and the culture of the tea ceremony. Kinugasa campus being at walking distance of several places of world interest in the artistic field, some classes will include short excursions on the spot.

Modern World History

The aim of this course is to provide historical context to the practice of international relations today, through the development and expansion of international society. By studying for this course, students should be able to make historically nuanced and sensible judgment about contemporary international debates.

Peace Museum Seminar

Including the International Peace Museum, a source of Ritsumeikan pride, students study about world-class peace museums. Through peace museums, students will obtain a better understanding about war and peace.

International Organizations

In this course, students study topics involving international organizations. Students will also come to understand the roles and history of international organizations that act as public enforcement bodies.

International Human Rights

This course will go over the framework of human rights protection institutions including the UN and historical details about international human rights.

Global Environmental Issues

From economical and political standpoints, students study global environmental issues like global warming and biodiversity and also the policies that aim to resolve these issues.

International Development Cooperation

While considering the causes of development problems within developing countries such as frequent poverty and food problems, students also empirically examine the role of foreign and development aid from advanced countries.

Cross-Cultural Communication

Keeping in mind the many diverse cultures and languages around the world, we think with other students about how to understand and deal with peoples from different areas and countries.

Media in World Politics

This course examines the role of international media in reporting issues in international affairs and in shaping international public opinion. It focuses on international news reporting in Japan and gives students the opportunity to learn about Japan’s relationships with other members of the international community, particularly in Asia.

Professional Workshop

In these Workshops, people who are working on the front line of international affairs in fields such as politics, business and journalism are invited as guest speakers to talk about the professional experience.

Japanese Culture

This course examines the role of international media in reporting issues in international affairs and in shaping international public opinion. It focuses on international news reporting in Japan and gives students the opportunity to learn about Japan’s relationships with other members of the international community, particularly in Asia.

Foreign Relations of Japan

In Kyoto, a city of history and culture, students will probe into the background of Japan’s culture structure, from classical theater to pop culture, and improve understanding about its expansive characteristic.

Introductory Seminar Ⅰ, Ⅱ

In recent years, the problems within international relations have become more complex and multilayered. The world is struggling with a mountain of issues, such as conflict, poverty, economic globalization, environment, and human rights. As such, strong, assertive societal support is in demand. Depending on where the thought axis concerned with these issues is placed, issue awareness in international relations and the correct direction to pursue changes will differ significantly. The aim of this course is to take a hard look at the challenges in international relations from various angles, and to consider and discuss how we might tackle these challenges. The course leader is you, the students. Let’s actively engage in discussion, increase our understanding of the issues, and take a step forward into the exciting field of international relations.