A message from the Chair of IPP
To anyone interested in our International Public Policy Degree Programs
The world has entered an era of great uncertainty and upheaval. I believe that there are four factors contributing to this uncertainty: First is the threat of large-scale climate change caused by global warming and other factors. We are already entering an era in which the global ecological system could collapse if planetary boundaries are exceeded, making the earth uninhabitable for human beings. The second is the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, where the pace of technological innovation using IoT, AI, and big data is staggering, to the extent that new technological insights could become obsolete in just a few years. They are profoundly changing the industrial structure of countries and regions around the globe, replacing many human jobs with AI, and fundamentally transforming the nature and scope of the work that humans are responsible for. The third is the Corona pandemic. COVID-19, which has been raging around the world and in Japan for the past three years, has made us realize at an instinctive level the human need for survival and has awakened our fear of death from infection. This unprecedented pandemic has restricted direct human communication to the utmost limit and brought economic activity, the foundation of society, to a worrisome standstill. Fortunately, the tireless efforts of the world’s best drug discovery researchers to develop a vaccine helped humanity to weather the storm, but it also raised the possibility of the next unknown virus and the need to prepare for its threat. The fourth is the war in Ukraine that began in February 2021. This was an armed conflict resulting from a unilateral act of aggression by Russia. The problem is that it has gone beyond the realm of regional conflict and has already taken on the appearance of a proxy war between the U.S., Europe, and Russia, with the Russian president publicly stating that depending on the outcome of the war he would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. In Japan, far from the war zone, it may be difficult to have a palpable sense of the threat of nuclear weapons, but the human race is facing its first existential crisis due to the threat of nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
In such a turbulent world, researchers in the humanities and social sciences are expected not only to conduct conventional research on unexplained phenomena and issues related to human existence and human society, but also to address qualitatively new and urgent social issues as and when they arise – the threat of nuclear war, latent threats, global-scale issues such as climate change, population, food, and energy problems, changes in social structure due to the 4th Industrial Revolution, and so on. For example, to name just a few that come to mind in relation to this degree program, sociological research on the practice of telemedicine using 5G networks, various kinds of quantitative research using big data, communication research on the interaction between interactive AI and humans, legal research on economic activities by avatars in the metaverse and legal research on the e-government of local governments.
The International Public Policy Degree Program employs a personal, small group method of education, with seminars and advise sessions conducted by a large number of faculty to encourage graduate students to pursue their research based upon academic methods incorporating both new and tried and tested methodologies from each field of study, including sociology, cultural anthropology, international relations, economics, political science, law, and area studies. We hope that the results of our research will not only contribute to the development of academic fields related to international public policy, but also to the policy making and implementation of public organizations such as national and local governments and the United Nations.
Finally, the program welcomes highly motivated individuals who aspire to become highly specialized practitioners or researchers capable of operating effortlessly, not only in Japan, but anywhere in the world.
March, 2023
Chair of Master’s and Doctoral Program in International Public Policy
Toshinobu USUYAMA
Master’s and Doctoral Program in International Public Policy
Outline
Master’s and Doctoral Program in International Public Policy consists of the fields of International Relations, Sociology, Area Studies, and Economics and Public Policy. Through highly specialized and interdisciplinary education and research guidance in each field, this degree program fosters individuals with international-level research skills and the problem-solving abilities necessary for international public policy practice.
In the field of international relations, students study international relations theory, international security theory, international law, domestic political economy, political diplomacy, and international relations related to the United States, Europe, Russia and Eastern Europe, China, and contemporary Japan. Students also conduct fieldwork-based research on globalization, regional development, and immigration.
The sociology department conducts research on social issues and cultural theory. Social issues include health care, education, family, community problems, and deviant behavior, while cultural theory studies contemporary representational culture, knowledge, history, communication, organization, and urban and sports theory.
In the area of Area Studies, students engage in “area studies” that aim for an intrinsic and comprehensive understanding of a specific nation or community, and acquire international, interdisciplinary, and practical skills. Students aim to become highly-skilled professionals with broad perspectives and experts in specific regions who can proactively work on their own initiative and play an active role in the field of international contribution and international cooperation.
In the field of economics and public policy, students conduct research to analyze and evaluate actual policies using theories, basic concepts, and approaches from economics, political science, law, and other disciplines. In particular, the program aims to improve students’ ability to formulate policies and to analyze the effects of implementation and associated development policy issues.
History
The origins of this multidisciplinary degree program are found in the Graduate School of International Political Economy, the Graduate School of Social Sciences, and the Graduate School of Area Studies. In 2001, the university’s organizational reform established the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, with the Graduate School of International Political Economy as the Department of International Political Economy and the Graduate School of Social Sciences as the Department of Sociology in the Social Sciences and the Department of Global Governance and the Department of Civil Society in the Department of Contemporary Culture and Public Policy. Subsequently, in a reorganization in 2008, these three majors were merged into the Department of International Public Policy. In the same year, the Graduate School of Area Studies was placed within the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences as the Department of International Area Studies.
The 2020 organizational restructuring merged the Department of International Public Policy and the Graduate School of International Area Studies into the current International Public Policy degree program.
