From its founding in 1946, Claremont McKenna College has maintained a reputation for the high quality of its program in the field of international relations. The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies supports the study of critical issues in world affairs at CMC, sponsoring lecture series, fellowships, visiting scholars, research associates, conferences, publication of research monographs, and student internships. It also has a small library with special emphasis on international strategic studies and Asian and Pacific developments.

In recent years the center has sponsored scholarly conferences on the United Nations, US-European relations, Russia, US-Japan relations, Germany After Unification, the Korean War, and the Chinese state and society. It also has sponsored lecture series on "The Future of Communism in Europe and Asia," "The United States and Europe," "The Changing Power Relationships in the Global Economy," "The United States and the Pacific Rim," and "Desert Storm-Desert Peace?," "The Problem of Nuclear Proliferation," and "Ethnic Conflict in the Modern World."

Chae-Jin Lee, the director of the Keck Center, is the BankAmerica Professor of Pacific Basin Studies and Professor of Government at CMC and is a specialist in international relations and Asian affairs. Under Lee's leadership, the center has actively promoted research into issues arising from the rapidly changing world order.

The center offers three student fellowships in international strategic studies and Asian studies (see "Fellowships"). The center also has selected students to attend the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference, the US Air Force Academy Assembly, the Model United Nations and other important academic and extra-curricular meetings.