Flexibility for your degree

Whether your interests lie in global history or economic systems, Global Governance, Politics, and Security will help you develop as an international affairs professional. You'll have the flexibility to design a degree that matches your unique career goals. The program incorporates concentrations in either global governance or global security; a dual degree with AU's business school; and hands-on experiential learning, allowing you to customize your academic experience. GGPS students select a concentration within the master's degree that aligns with their career interests. You can also build on the curriculum with intensive Skills Institutes and a career-oriented practicum.

Degree Options

In addition to the standard master's degree, you can earn a dual master's degree through our partnership at AU.

The Global Governance, Politics, and Security curriculum combines specialized knowledge with professional experience and the methodological training necessary to turn your individual passions into rigorous analysis in the service of practical action and a meaningful career. Our core courses provide the analytical 'big picture' and will help you select a concentration in either Global Governance or Global Security.

The School of International Service (SIS) offers a dual master's degree program with Kogod School of Business, giving students the opportunity to acquire expertise in both regional studies and business. This combination of skills is particularly valuable to international organizations trying to increase productivity through better business practices and to businesses adjusting to the global market. Graduates will receive an MA through SIS and an MBA through Kogod.

Generally, dual degree students will spend their first year taking core curriculum courses at Kogod, then spend their second and third years taking courses at both SIS and Kogod. Students must complete 31 credit hours at Kogod and 39-42 credit hours at SIS, with the option to count up to 9 credit hours from Kogod degree requirements towards SIS degree requirements.

Prospective MA/MBA students must separately apply to and be accepted by each school. The admissions committees from each school do not collaborate on the decision-making process.

View Kogod School of Business dual degree admissions requirements and MBA coursework.

Concentrations

The coursework in your field of concentration will give you a long-term advantage in your career. GGPS students hone their expertise in Global Governance or Global Security by selecting courses from an extensive list of electives and approved concentration courses. The course lists below are not exhaustive.

Practitioners of global governance have expertise in the practices, processes, and institutions designed to help governments and other actors collaborate in grappling with today's complex global and regional problems. Students choosing this concentration take courses in functional fields such as human rights, peace and security, global health, environmental governance, or international development. Additionally, students can choose concentration courses that foster organizational and diplomatic skills as well as expertise in regional and global institutions.

  • SIS 628 Applied Public Diplomacy
  • SIS 619 Corporate Social Responsibility 
  • SIS 619 Energy Security and Geopolitics
  • SIS 676 Integration & Disintegration in Europe
  • SIS 752 Global Economic Governance
  • SIS 619 Great Powers Politics
  • SIS 619 Refugees, Migration, and Trafficking 
  • SIS 619 International Law and the Global Order
  • SIS 635 NGO/Social Enterprise Management
  • SIS 619 State-Building
  • SIS 620 Water Governance

A concentration in global security focuses on explaining why actors come into conflict and assesses the tools policymakers use to analyze, prevent, manage, and resolve those conflicts. Ultimately, a global security concentration prepares students to conduct analyses and design programs and policies that respond to threats and challenges in a changing world by promoting an understanding of the field characterized by intellectual flexibility and a willingness to continually re-invent itself.

  • SIS 653 Art and Science of Intelligence Analysis
  • SIS 619 Complex Interventions and Peacekeeping
  • SIS 619 Cyber Warfare, Terrorism, Espionage, and Crime
  • SIS 619 Economics of Violence and Peace
  • SIS 619 Gender, Peace, and Security
  • SIS 619 Human Security
  • SIS 619 Insurgency and Counterinsurgency
  • SIS 619 Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict
  • SIS 653 Terrorism and Counterterrorism
  • SIS 619 Transnational Organized Crime
  • SIS 653 Nuclear Weapons: Policy and Proliferation

Capstone

All Global Governance, Politics, and Security students complete a student research requirement for their capstone. Students can choose from three different options to fulfill their capstone.

Our signature Graduate Practicum Program is designed to give second-year students real-world experience in project management and consulting. Students who choose this one-semester, pre-professional option collaborate in teams to support the work of actual clients such as U.S. and international government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses conducting policy and program analysis. Students, working under a site supervisor and a faculty advisor, draw on their substantial research, as well as qualitative and quantitative skills, to prepare final oral and written analysis and recommendations. 

The Master's Thesis is an original research project appropriate for students looking to complete a longer and more academically rigorous research paper. It is an independent research project intended to integrate and apply knowledge from the field to a final scholarly project and is particularly useful for students who plan to go on to a PhD program.

The Substantial Research Paper (SRP) is an independent research project that is intended to integrate and apply knowledge from the field to a final scholarly project. By completing the SRP, students not only develop their expertise in an issue of primary concern to the field of global governance and global security, but also demonstrate their ability to conduct informed, analytical research or policy analysis.

Application At a Glance

View a detailed admission and degree requirements listing for your degree of interest.

Entrance Semester
Fall and Spring
Application Deadline
January 15 for the fall semester
October 1 for the spring semester 
Additional Requirements
Undergraduate degree
Two letters of recommendation
Resume
Statement of Purpose
TOEFL/IELTS score if international applicant
Application
Completion of online application