The shift in global political economy and international relations education in Turkey

As political and economic systems of the world become increasingly globalized, IR education is also influenced from this trend. In this study, I look at the institutions of IR education and the curricula to analyse the impact of globalization on IR education patterns. IR education trains the experts who will protect the interests of his/her nation in international affairs and the future scholars. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the IR curriculums should become standardized. So this study asks "Can IR education be seen as a tool for global governance?" The patterns in IR education can be examined by three types of sources: textbooks, curricula and journals. This study focuses on the curricula. In order to see the influence of globalization I look at the top 5 universities in the Anglophone tradition as listed in the Times Higher Education university rankings. I analyse their curriculums and derive their main characteristics. Then I look at the curriculums of the top 4 universities from Turkey and determine their main characteristics. Then I will compare them with the Anglophone universities. The findings suggest that undergraduate IR curricula in the analysed Turkish universities are similar to that of the analysed Anglophone universities. This can be interpreted as the influence of globalization on IR education in Turkey. The results are important for the discussions on the degree of how IR education should be structured to pursue national interests.