Graduate Program in Global Studies
Area Studies
International Relations
International Cooperation
This graduate program was established in April 1971 as a master’s course, based on the academic and faculty foundations of the Sophia University Institute of International Relations, the Ibero-America Institute, and the Departments of German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese within the Faculty of Foreign Studies. In April 1973, with the introduction of the doctoral program, the master’s course was restructured as the first half of the doctoral program, which continues to this day.
Since its inception, the program has produced over 400 master’s degree holders, many of whom have gone on to contribute to research and education both in Japan and abroad. Notably, more than 60 of our graduates currently serve as full-time faculty members at universities. Others are active in international organizations, including the United Nations. As of the end of the 2022 academic year, 45 individuals have earned doctoral degrees through this program, and an increase in the number of degree holders is anticipated in the coming years.
The 20th century is often referred to as “the century of war,” having witnessed numerous wars, conflicts, and civil strife across the globe. As a Catholic university, Sophia University was founded on the principle of promoting mutual understanding among nations and peoples, with the aim of preventing such devastation and enabling individuals to live freely and with dignity. In line with this founding philosophy, this graduate program was established with International Relations as its core discipline, focusing on the causes, processes, and impacts of global conflicts. Reflecting its origins, the mission of this program is to actively engage with issues of justice and peace in the world, to contribute to the prevention of war, and to foster a free and democratic global society. The program seeks to cultivate researchers and professionals who possess a strong interest in these critical issues and who are capable of contributing to the resolution of the complex challenges facing today’s international community.
The Graduate Program in International Relations conducts research aimed at making a meaningful contribution to addressing the various challenges confronting today’s international community, at a time when globalization continues to advance. Through the study of issues related to global society, global politics, and the global economy, the program seeks to develop research that actively contributes to solving contemporary international problems.
This program’s research areas are broadly divided into two fields: International Politics, which includes international relations theory, international politics, and the history of international politics; and Civil Society and International Cooperation, which encompasses development economics, international political economy, global sociology, comparative sociology, and international cooperation studies. The specific research domains, topics, and features are as follows.
Research in International Relations is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing upon a wide range of academic approaches. Topics such as international integration, transnational relations, globalization, international security, war and peace, development and poverty, and global environmental protection require the combined methodologies of international political science, international economics, international law, and international sociology. Similarly, themes such as democratization, civil society, ethnic conflict, genocide, gender, migration and refugees, human rights, and foreign policy demand analytical perspectives from political science, law, sociology, economics, and history. By integrating diverse fields of knowledge, the program seeks to explore pathways toward global peace and the realization of freedom and security for all people around the world.
When observing individuals within a single nation or society, one may identify shared political and social institutions, while also discovering diverse cultures and customs. Similarly, comparisons across countries and regions of the world reveal both commonalities and differences. Comparative research provides a valuable method for uncovering these similarities and differences, and for exploring their origins and significance. Through comparative analysis, this program investigates a wide range of topics, including political systems across multiple countries, democratization, conflict and population movements, economic development, language and culture, as well as the history, diplomacy, politics, culture, and economic phenomena of specific nations.
One approach to understanding the world is to examine regions beyond national boundaries—or even the entire globe—as unified analytical units. This perspective enables the exploration of increasingly complex phenomena arising from globalization, such as peacebuilding, security, global environmental issues, regional conflicts and world wars, cross-border migration, international trade and the unequal distribution of wealth, cultural clashes, and the relationship between global civil society and the state. Through such inquiry, the program aims to deepen understanding of these global dynamics and to propose pathways toward resolving the challenges they present.