South 고등학교 2학년 Specialised Subjects: International High Schools (list)

1. International studies

International Politics · International Economics · International Law · Regional Studies · Understanding Korean Society · Comparative Culture · Global Issues and Future Society · International Relations and Organisations · Changes in the Modern World · Social Research Methods · Social Research Project

• International Relations: How States Deal with Each Other – International relations (IR) studies how states and other actors (international organisations, companies, NGOs) interact. States are sovereign and there is no world government, so each state follows its national interest through foreign policy: diplomacy, trade, aid, alliances and, at worst, force. Conflicts arise from clashing interests over territory, resources, power and identity, and from the security dilemma. Cooperation grows through mutual gain, treaties, international law and organisations. Realism stresses power and security; liberalism stresses cooperation, trade and institutions. Peace is built by negotiation, mediation, peacekeeping and justice.
• International Trade – International trade is buying and selling goods and services across the boundaries of countries. Selling abroad is export; buying from abroad is import. It helps nations (foreign exchange, growth, jobs) and firms (profit, new markets). Exports and imports follow fixed steps and need many documents, such as the letter of credit and bill of lading. The WTO (1995) makes trade rules and works to cut trade barriers.
• International Law: How States Make and Keep Rules – International law is the set of rules that states (and international organisations) accept as binding in their dealings with each other. There is no world parliament or world police, so states make the rules themselves, mainly through treaties and custom, plus general principles of law; court decisions and expert writings help to find the rules. It grew from the idea of equal sovereign states (1648) to the United Nations (1945) and human-rights law (1948 onwards). The UN and its International Court of Justice help keep peace and settle disputes. States settle disputes by negotiation, mediation, arbitration or courts. Each country decides how treaties enter its own (municipal) law: monist states apply them directly; dualist states, like India and the UK, need an act of parliament.
• Regional Geography: How We Divide the World into Regions – A region is an area that shares one or more features, which makes it different from the areas around it. Formal (uniform) regions are alike inside, like a plain or a rice-growing belt. Functional (nodal) regions are held together by links to a centre, like a city and the villages that travel to it. Perceptual regions exist in people's minds. Region edges are usually transition zones, and regions depend on each other through flows of people, goods, water and ideas.
• World Cultures: How Cultures Express, Change and Belong – Culture is a group's shared way of life. Like an iceberg, a small part is visible (food, dress, music, festivals) and a big part is hidden (values and beliefs). Cultural expressions such as art, festivals and rituals do jobs for people: identity, joy, memory and belief, and many cultures use similar forms. Big events like trade, migration and colonisation change cultures; some languages and customs are lost and later revived. Countries use policies such as assimilation, integration or multiculturalism, and newcomers often meet systemic barriers. Social action follows a cycle: find a need, plan and gain support, act, evaluate. All of it is studied with careful research.
• Global Citizenship – A global citizen belongs to local, national and world communities at the same time. The world is interconnected, and problems such as poverty, hunger, conflict and climate change are shared. Global citizens know their rights and duties, care about people far away, reduce their ecological footprint, and act locally while thinking globally.
• International Organisations – International organisations help countries co-operate on peace, money, trade and rights. The UN was set up in 1945 after the League of Nations failed; it has six main organs, and the Security Council's five permanent members hold a veto. Reform of the UN, especially the Security Council, is needed because the world has changed since 1945, and India claims a permanent seat. The IMF, World Bank, WTO, ILO and IAEA handle money, development, trade, workers and nuclear safety, while NGOs like Amnesty International watch over human rights.
• Contemporary History: Our World from 1945 to Today – Contemporary history covers 1945 to the present. After the Second World War the UN was founded and colonies became free nations. The Cold War split the world; in Central and Eastern Europe communist parties took power and ruled as one-party states. Protest movements such as Poland’s Solidarity led to the changes of 1989–91. Since then globalisation, the internet and shared global problems have shaped our world.
• Sociological Research Methods – Sociologists study society by doing research, step by step: choose a topic, write an aim or hypothesis, run a small pilot study, choose a sample, collect data, analyse it and draw conclusions. A sample is a small group picked from the whole population; it should be representative so the results can be generalised. Quantitative data are numbers (from questionnaires, structured interviews, official statistics); qualitative data are words and meanings (from unstructured interviews, observation, documents). Primary data are collected by the researcher; secondary data already exist. Good research is reliable (repeatable), valid (a true picture) and representative. Researchers choose methods based on practical issues (time, cost, access), ethical issues (consent, confidentiality, harm, deception) and theory: positivists prefer scientific, numerical methods, while interpretivists prefer methods that capture people's meanings.