MA Global Affairs Information

Welcome to Global Affairs

The Global Affairs Program equips students with the competencies, skills, and knowledge needed to better understand the theoretical and practical aspects of the cultural, political, social, and economic dynamics of globalization. The graduate program aims to prepare students to enter industries, the public sector, and professions in the fast-paced, interconnected world. The program is designed for full or part-time students and offers maximum flexibility, with courses offered in the evenings and a mix of in-person and online courses offered every semester and the summer. Fall and Spring admissions are available.

Global Affairs Students and Faculty

The Global Affairs Program attracts a dynamic and diverse group of students, and our students augment the classroom experience through their multiple perspectives. Faculty come from a variety of disciplines, such as political science, anthropology, communication, geography, sociology, and the humanities, and have active research projects the Middle East and North Africa, Western and Central Africa, North America, South and East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. They hold particular expertise in human rights, the environment, public and global health, humanitarianism, political economy, law, global cities, media and communication, technology, refugees and migration, transnationalism, and peace and conflict.

Our Approach to Studying Globalization

Through advising and mentoring, students in the Master’s program in Global Affairs receive personal attention at George Mason, an R-1 university and the largest public research university in Virginia. After completing the core series of courses that provide a foundation in key theoretical and methodological approaches to Global Studies, graduate students choose from one of the interdisciplinary specializations in the program and complete coursework from across the university, interacting with and learning from faculty in multiple disciplines. This allows them to earn a comprehensive yet specialized degree, learning how to critically examine the ways that particular communities and parts of the world experience global phenomena. Students learn first-hand how global forces interact with local contexts during a two-week seminar abroad led by a Global Affairs faculty member and designed specifically for our graduate students. Students can choose to complete the seminar in the Summer or Winter.