Program Overview
Students complete 30 credits during the one-year MA program, including coursework on the form and function of the global political order, the histories and evolution of specific global problems and how groups and individuals have attempted to address them, and skills-based courses that prepare students to enter the workforce.
The centerpiece of the MA Program in Global Studies curriculum is the internship, where students get an on-the-ground perspective on how nonstate and civil society actors address transnational problems.
Program Course Requirements
- 3 Theory & Topic electives
- Media & Public Engagement (req.)
- Making Social Change in a Complex World (req.)
- Quantitative Social Research (req.)
- 1 Topic elective
- Internship
- Special/Capstone Project
Sample Courses
Who Rules the World? International Order(s) in Theory and Practice, CEU Theory Elective
Populist movements, rising states, and revisionist leaders have increasingly challenged the legitimacy of the existing world order and Western powers’ position at the top of it. These challenges raise questions not only about the viability and desirability of the current world order but also about order, as such: What is international order? How do international orders function? And if we now live in a “liberal world order,” what are the fundamental alternatives?
This course raises these questions by critically examining historical international orders and the expanding body of theory scholars use to understand them. After discussing and debating key visions of order, students embark on a “grand tour” of mechanisms of order: anarchy and the balance of power, hierarchy and hegemonic stability, empire and imperialism. In the second half of the course we examine concrete world orders: medieval Christendom, the 19th-century concert system, and the Sinocentric East Asia “tribute” system. We conclude by returning to the contemporary postwar order and its future. Throughout, we ask questions centered on the core themes of order, legitimacy, and power: How does a given order structure power relations? Who, if anyone, rules it? How are international orders established, and why do they decline? Who benefits from a given order, and who doesn’t?
International Intervention and Statebuilding, CEU Theory Elective
The course surveys scholarly and policy debates of contemporary international intervention and statebuilding. It is organized along two dimensions. First, it examines the concept and practices of intervention and statebuilding from liberal, postliberal, and decolonization perspectives. This is to understand the assumptions and the politics of diverse conceptual and normative standpoints, the policies that derive from them, as well as the contradictions and trade-offs that remain. Second, the course surveys relations among different actors involved in the intervention and statebuilding projects and thus examines the intersection between local, transnational, and global politics. This involves the analysis of practices by international interveners, local actors, as well as transnational experts, and policy and civil society advocacy. In effect, students learn about the field as a heterogeneous space of contestation. Learning about and practicing these diverse registers of politics and writing, including but not limited to scholarly, policy, and advocacy genres, helps students to clarify and develop individual interests while appreciating different styles and positions.
International Relations: Concepts and Theories, CEU Theory Elective
This course provides an advanced introduction to international relations concepts and theories. The purpose of the course is to give students an in-depth and critical understanding of the vastness of the IR archive of canonical (major) and noncanonical (minor, emergent) knowledges, vocabularies, and intellectual resources that are available to make world politics thinkable and doable, and to problematize it in different ways. After covering “representatives” of the main “languages” and concepts that constitute the canon in the study of world politics (constructivist, liberal, realist, feminist + historical materialist IR), the course turns toward minor and emerging alternative approaches: new materialism, normalization + government at a distance, the affect turn in IR, the everyday politics of IR, and mundane forms of rebellion against states of inequality. The course ends with deliberations on the future of the state.
Making Social Change in a Complex World, BGIA Required
How do we address global social injustices and inequalities? There are many different avenues—joining social movements, careers in government or law, working for nonprofits or international development groups, and more. This course starts from the premise that before taking action, one must be aware of the ways that any intervention, and especially an international one, can inadvertently reproduce rather than shift structures of power. Our inquiry is rooted in social science literature on development, human rights, and humanitarianism. As part of this, we reflect on our own status and how this impacts the consequences of our actions. And then we go a step further. Building on our critical awareness, the second part of the course pivots to exploring some of the practical tools we might use to act to foster positive social change abroad. Through case studies and conversations with development practitioners, we orient ourselves to a range of skills and approaches, from fundraising and internet advocacy to movement building, participatory action research, and social entrepreneurship. The goal is for students to leave the course with a critical yet proactive understanding of routes they might pursue to work for change.
Governing Mobility: Past and Present, BGIA Topic Elective
This course explores how the UN system has evolved in the last two decades, through the prism of its response to one of the biggest transnational challenges of our time: migration. With over 250 million migrants, record numbers of forcibly displaced, and the immigration legacy of most nation-states shaping their politics, demographics, and cultural trends, the mobility of people has put the intergovernmental system to the test. This course also studies the contemporary responses to mobility at various levels of government—city, state, and region—with a particular focus on the 2015 refugee crises and onward. It covers concrete examples through case studies, and students are asked to develop their own approaches to address specific challenges (e.g., applying effective integration techniques for migrants in New York City; raising awareness of the rights of trafficked persons in Southeast Europe; ensuring effective protection for refugees in situations where their legal status is not recognized in Australia). To the extent possible, senior experts from within the UN system and international community (e.g., UNODC, IOM, UNHCR, World Bank, USAID) are also invited to share their insights and experiences in addressing the challenges of global mobility. The objectives of the course are to gain a solid understanding of migration politics, and relevant normative and institutional frameworks; exercise analytical and problem-solving skills by assessing a specific migration challenge and proposing options for how to address it; and practicing synthesizing information and delivering convincing commendations
Global Public Health Governance, BGIA Topic Elective
As the Covid-19 pandemic makes clear, the determinants of health operate at a global level, with the spread of infectious diseases, growing poverty and the effectiveness of health systems shaped by forces that transcend territorial borders and the jurisdiction of individual nation-states. As a result, increasingly health issues need to be managed at the global level. This course aims to familiarize students with the institutions of global health governance, recent epidemiological trends in global health, and the range of state and non-state actors who step in to shape global health policy and outcomes. Questions addressed include: What factors shape the form and function of global health governance? How successful have global public health initiatives been in reaching health outcomes? How have transnational and non-state actors approached global public health problems? What is the relationship between international development and public health? Is global health governance possible in a world of sovereign states? To answer these questions, the course will combine case studies and policy analysis.
Environmental Justice Movements, BGIA Topic Elective
This course examines environmental issues as sites of political contest and struggle for justice. While attending to how the effects of environmental problems are distributed unevenly across race, class, gender, and nationality, we look at the theory and practice of environmental justice movements that have arisen in response to these inequalities. Specific case studies examined in the course are drawn from around the world and include issues around resource extraction, energy, and climate change.
Media and Public Engagement, BGIA Required
Engaging in international affairs inevitably means interacting with the media in one way or another. How do you do it? This class has three parts: (1) understanding and writing an op-ed, (2) mastering a media interview, and (3) getting the most out of social media. In the first section, students examine the mechanics of an op-ed and different op-ed styles and work on developing an argument and drafting an op-ed. In the second section, students focus on mastering an on-air interview, from where to place their hands to handling their appearance to putting together talking points. We conduct mock interviews as an exercise. In the third section, the class spends time on making the most of social media. Students should walk away from this class with a better understanding of how to write an op-ed and interact with the media comfortably.
Internship in Global Affairs, BGIA Required
The BGIA internship program matches students with distinguished private, public, and nonprofit organizations where they are able to put classroom theory into real-world practice through an internship working in global affairs.