The PhD program is designed to develop practitioners and scholars for work in governmental- and non-governmental institutions, the private sector and research and educational institutions in Cambodia. The PhD program follows the national and international standards of the Cambodian National Qualifications Framework of Higher Education (CNQF 2014) and guidelines of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoeYS), Department of Higher Education (DHE 2018).

The PhD program offers specialized courses in the discipline of international relations and are adjusted to the research interests of participants. PhD students are mentored in their study by a multicultural academic team of faculty members, visiting professors and practitioners in the field.

As of September 2018, one student has enrolled in the PhD program in International Relations. Because of the lack of enrolment, only general course descriptions for the PhD program are provided. Course syllabi are gradually developed and adjusted following the students’ research priorities in the discipline. For example, our current PhD students attends the course ‘Advanced Theories of International Relations’ to substitute for the course ‘Advanced Research Methods’ as the student has already ten years research experience. The course syllabi for this course is attached.

Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations (PhD)

Course Description

IR 712             Transnational Relations and World Politics

The course examines various forms of transnational relations, to wit state-to-state relations, interactions between non-state actors, and the impact of globalization on all forms of transnational relations. The course is anchored in the main theories of international relations and comparative politics. It also relies on conceptualizations pertaining to international political economics.

IR 721             Advanced Research Methods

This is a basic course needed by all doctoral students in the field. It describes theoretical frameworks crucial to the scholarly study of the social sciences, examining strengths and weaknesses of these frameworks, and providing advanced training in methodology necessary for the systematic gathering and evaluation of relevant material. Upon completion of the course students should be able to begin the process of gathering material for their dissertations.

POL 715          Seminar in Comparative Politics

The course examines the main theories of comparative political analysis and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each theory. As a seminar POL 715 relies heavily on student reports and interactions between students and instructor. The course will help prepare the students for active research and thus also the defense of their dissertations.

POL 773          Topics in Political Theory

This is a flexible content course, designed for students in the process of preparing the dissertation. It allows for more focus on specific topics with the broader field of political theory, and provides a framework for greater interaction between the student, the instructor and the dissertation advisor.

POL 716          International Political Economy

The course begins by examining frameworks in the field. A focus will be relationships between politics and economics and the mutual impact of the functions of these two fields. POL 716 pays special attention to recent changes in the field, with the emergence of globalization as a phenomenon with wide-ranging effects on the political economy of states and the international order; it likewise examine the impact of the recent  economic crisis, which has re-established the role of the state in economics once again.

IR 729             Modern Diplomacy and International Cooperation

The course examines the role of various forms of diplomacy in the contemporary world.  It also focuses on the organization and procedures of international cooperation. As such, IR 729 directs the attention towards an increasing focus in international relations on methods and mechanisms for peaceful settlement of conflict through negotiations and the solution of increasingly global problems through cooperative approaches. Thus, IR 729 stands in contrast with traditional IR theory courses, which tend to focus on conflict.

IR 750             Culture of Peace and UN Peace Missions

The course examines the concept ‘Culture of Peace’. In the process of this examination, the development of such a culture will be examined, including an investigation of the difficulties encountered in this process, the most important of which is the continuation of various forms of conflict and violence in the world today. One of the functions of peace studies is the description of the politics undertaken by the UN in the form of peace missions, which have exhibited a mixture of successes and failures.

IR 800             Dissertation

Developed and adjusted following the students’ research interests in the discipline.