🌐 Top 7 Topics You Must Know Before Applying to International Relations in 2025

 🌐 Top 7 Topics You Must Know Before Applying to International Relations in 2025

Are you preparing to study International Relations in 2025?
Whether you're applying to a university program or simply exploring your passion for global affairs, here’s a clear and complete roadmap of what you absolutely must know before the entrance exam.

Let’s dive in.

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🧭 1. What Is International Relations?

International Relations (IR) is the study of how countries, organizations, and global actors interact — through diplomacy, conflict, trade, law, and ideology.
It helps you understand how the world actually works — not just what the news tells you.

From climate change agreements to nuclear diplomacy, from trade wars to global summits — IR covers it all.

📌 If you're fascinated by politics, history, geography, and global ethics — this is your battlefield.

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🌍 2. The Biggest Global Issues of 2025 (You Must Know These!)

International Relations is built on context. To succeed in exams and interviews, you must be familiar with real-world shifts.

Here are the top geopolitical dynamics shaping 2025:

• 🧊 The Decline of U.S. Global Dominance
  Internal polarization, weakened alliances, and economic strains.

• 🐉 China’s Expanding Influence
  Belt and Road, AI dominance, yuan-based trade deals.

• 🔥 The Ukraine War and NATO’s Identity Crisis
  Ongoing hybrid warfare and Europe's military reawakening.

• 🌐 The Rise of BRICS+ and De-Dollarization
  Alternative trade and power blocs challenging the West.

• 🛰 AI, Cybersecurity & Space Militarization
  Warfare is digital, orbital, and algorithmic — not just physical.

✅ Tip: Stay updated with Reuters, Foreign Affairs, The Economist, or Geopolitical Futures.

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📚 3. Key Theories Every IR Student Must Understand

Universities don’t just test knowledge — they test thinking.
These are the foundations of academic International Relations:

• ⚖️ Realism – States seek power; international system is anarchic

• 🕊 Liberalism – Cooperation is possible through institutions and law

• 🧠 Constructivism – Ideas, identity, and discourse shape international outcomes

• 🗺 Geopolitical Theory – Geography shapes power (Mackinder’s Heartland Theory, Spykman’s Rimland)

📘 Study these theories early — they’ll help you write essays and tackle debates.

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🧠 4. What Admissions Committees Look For

Want to stand out during admission? Show them that you’re more than just a memorizer.

🔹 Critical thinking
🔹 Awareness of current events
🔹 Analytical writing
🔹 The ability to compare different perspectives

📝 Practice writing short essays on global topics like “Is NATO still relevant?” or “Can AI replace diplomacy?”

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📖 5. Top Books to Read Before You Start

Here are a few classic and modern books that will help shape your IR mindset:

• The Tragedy of Great Power Politics – John Mearsheimer

• Global Politics – Andrew Heywood

• The Grand Chessboard – Zbigniew Brzezinski

• Diplomacy – Henry Kissinger (use critical judgment)

• Prisoners of Geography – Tim Marshall (easy read, geo-focused)

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🎯 6. Sample Interview Questions You Might Face

Be ready for deep, thoughtful questions. Not every answer has to be “correct” — it just has to show clear reasoning.

🗨 “How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected Europe?”
🗨 “What do you think of China’s global strategy?”
🗨 “Are international institutions still effective today?”

💡 Tip: Practice your answers aloud or with friends. Interviewers notice confidence.

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✅ 7. Final Checklist Before You Apply

✔ Follow world news daily
✔ Study key theories (realism, liberalism, constructivism)
✔ Write practice essays
✔ Read 1-2 key IR books
✔ Follow podcasts like Pod Save the World, Geopolitics Decanted, or Worldly
✔ Be ready to think — not just remember