Spring 2027

Analysis of International Relations

Analysis of International Relations uses game theory to study strategic interactions in world politics, covering military choices, trade barriers, and environmental agreements with informal and mathematical methods.

offering recorded3–4 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Yena Kim

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Lisa Martin

The course included three online exams and problem sets, with students advising to start assignments early to allow time for help.

What you’ll be able to do

Understand the logic of strategic interaction.
Master the basics of non-cooperative game theory.
Be able to apply the logic of strategic interaction to international politics.
Master the algebra necessary to solve games with complete and incomplete information.
Master the algebra necessary to solve both one-time and iterated games.
Understand the logic of signaling games.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Course details

Credits3–4 credits

Typically offeredFall, Spring, Summer

Subjects

Political Science

About this course

Focuses on how to analyze problems in international politics by the use of game theory. Examples include governments making choices about the size of their military forces, barriers to trade, or international agreements on environmental issues. Analysts study strategic interaction using both informal and mathematical methods. Provides a good introduction to the basics of game theory -- a tool useful in many different settings -- as well as an introduction to the study of world politics. From the perspective of quantitative reasoning, one of the most important set of lessons center on the logic of strategic interaction and the notion of equilibrium. Along with basic game theory students will also be introduced to the pragmatic use of mathematical tools including algebra, set theory, functions, and probability theory. Not open to students with credit for POLI SCI 376 prior to fall 2017

Professors

Spring 2027

Yena Kim

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANDREW KYDD is recorded teaching in Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LISA MARTIN is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 102
DIS 302	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17
DIS 303	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17
DIS 304	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17
DIS 305	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17
DIS 306	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17
DIS 307	Classroom Instruction	0 / 17

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Lisa Martin

Students noted that lectures often had little connection to problem sets or exams, with discussion sections providing the necessary content to complete assignments.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.50 GPA, 80.6% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.75 GPA, 87.1% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.72 GPA, 84.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Lisa Martin

The course included three online exams and problem sets, with students advising to start assignments early to allow time for help.

Past student reviews · Lisa Martin

One student found lectures boring and unhelpful for explaining concepts, stating they had to rely on outside resources to understand the material.

Topics

Military force sizing, trade barriers, and international environmental agreements.
Signaling games and the logic of strategic interaction.
Equilibrium concepts in strategic interaction.

Skills

Apply algebra, set theory, functions, and probability theory to solve game theory models.
Master the basics of non-cooperative game theory.
Apply the logic of strategic interaction to international politics.

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 4 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

6 earlier forecasts · 0.28 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1

Selected offering source records

POLISCI 348 · Spring 2027

Analysis of International Relations

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:778:015915",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 348",
    "course_uid": "course_d3d71a4ff1544172c0550179",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015915",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Analysis of International Relations",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades

Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

Download part 1

Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1

Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "53fd4ae18822974bbdbfdfca767f78b74261abff6a093bbbb2fcf24d52f2140e",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Analysis of International Relations

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Yena Kim

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to