Testimony

Chairman's Statement

"There are three reasons to study International Relations at CMC. The major is one of the largest and growing fast. That results in a big and, as it turns out, very lively bunch of people with similar interests. My faculty colleagues are internationally known scholars in Asian, European, Latin American, and American foreign policy studies. And the major itself, a combination of the heart of the economics and government majors, with study abroad and foreign language competency required, prepares you to compete at the highest levels in the exploding realm of international business, and governmental and non-governmental organizations.

International relations has always seemed to me the most difficult and most interesting of all fields of study. It is so difficult because by definition it deals with what is foreign and unknown, even, in some sense, unknowable. A mistake in business means losing money; a mistake in politics, maybe losing an election. Mistakes of understanding or action in foreign policy mean people die, as we have learned again after 9/11. These qualities of mystery and importance stir in me, and I suspect in you, a profound interest and attraction. I want to know what others are thinking and why they act as they do. I want the thrill and satisfaction of operating successfully away from all that is familiar and known. Recent developments regarding terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, North Korean and Iranian nuclear proliferation, the future of China and India, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—to name just a few—only emphasize the importance and difficulty of international relations now and for the foreseeable future."