Global affairs encompass the interactions and relationships between countries, organizations, and non-state actors on a worldwide scale. These include diplomacy, trade, security, and human rights. They also include the global impact of rogue states and criminal or terrorist groups, and they are often the basis for conflict resolution.
The field of global affairs examines the complex issues that confront all societies as they become increasingly interconnected. Its multidisciplinary training equips students to address the challenges of terrorism, refugee crises, economic development and poverty, global health, foreign policy and diplomacy, international law and order, and political stability and cooperation.
The major prepares students to understand the forces of globalization, which reshape all societies and create opportunities for collaboration and conflict. Students choose thematic or regional concentrations to tailor their curriculum to their interests and career goals. They graduate ready to lead with purpose and navigate complexity in our diverse, fast-changing world.
During the process of decolonization, newly independent nations began to engage in global affairs as they sought legitimacy and forged alliances with established powers. The establishment of international organizations like the United Nations enhanced global governance by providing platforms for dialogue and cooperation. It also influenced the dynamics of global politics as new nations aligned with superpowers or chose non-alignment in order to avoid entanglement in their rivals’ conflicts.
Students accepted into the major are required to take introductory courses in global affairs, political science, and history; two advanced courses, one of which must be GLBL 3101 (Challenges in Global Affairs); and either an intermediate macro- or microeconomics course or a qualitative methods course that carries the YC GLBL Qualitative Methods attribute. Students are also required to complete a senior project, which can be completed as a capstone project in GLBL 4499, a substantive seminar of their choice, or as a senior essay in the global affairs senior essay course GLBL 4500.
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