Concentrations

You can focus your Master of Science in Foreign Service degree in your area of interest by choosing one of the four concentrations we offer. 

Each concentration requires 18 credits of coursework, including at least one concentration-specific gateway or foundational course. You can specialize even further within a particular concentration by focusing coursework in your preferred subfield.

• Global Politics and Security
• International Development
• Global Business, Finance and Society
• Science, Technology and International Affairs (STEM-designated) 

Global Politics and Security concentration

Prepare yourself to become a foreign affairs practitioner and analyst in an increasingly complex global environment. Through this concentration, you’ll gain a breadth of knowledge across disciplines including history, politics, economics and culture. Understand the “drivers” of contemporary change, including but not limited to: 

• Forces of globalization, including information technology
• The impact of values and nationalism on politics
• Demographics
• Resource scarcity
• Global warming

Global Politics and Security subfields

• Global Politics and Comparative Foreign Policy: This subfield exposes you to coursework in major policy issues and comparative foreign policy formulation. You will focus on policy and implementation approaches and institutions charged with national policymaking.
• National and International Security: This subfield develops your knowledge about the causes of international conflict, approaches for resolving conflict and the use of force and political tools in conflict management. Your potential topic of focus may include proliferation, criminal mafias, civil strife in weak states and asymmetric threats on the national and multinational level.
• Transnational Issues and Institutions: This subfield allows you to explore the tools and techniques of multilateral diplomacy by focusing on international organizations, law and transnational issues. It recognizes that many pressing issues of the contemporary era (i.e. terrorism) cannot be addressed by individual national action alone. 

International Development concentration

The International Development concentration bridges theory and practice so that you can master various theories, frameworks and concepts to test and apply in operational situations. You will prepare to work in a complex and rapidly evolving field, having explored four key international development areas:

• Development theory and paradigms
• Key development actors and institutions and their modes of operation
• Specific operational tools and techniques necessary for successful program management
• In-depth knowledge of a specific technical field

International Development subfields

• Conflict and Humanitarian Response: You will examine the strategies, mechanisms and operational requirements to respond to humanitarian crises and effectively manage development programs in challenging post-conflict environments.
• Economics and Social Development: In these courses, you will explore topics at both the national policy level and individual firm level. You will analyze the key drivers of growth and economic development in specific regional contexts and key sectors that promote or constrain national development.
• Governance and Political Development: You will explore the relationship between governance and economic development, the role of the state in development, the significance of democratization and the specific challenges of different global regions.

Global Business, Finance and Society concentration

Gain a solid understanding of private sector viewpoints, metrics, motivations and the relationships between business, government and civil society through concentration courses that provide a mix of technical skills, business and societal viewpoints designed to grow you as a “cross-sector athlete.” You will build the skills, understanding and fluency to navigate and succeed in the public and private sectors or at the intersection between them.

You may complete coursework by enrolling in courses offered by other graduate programs, including the McDonough School of Business, the Georgetown University Law School and the Landegger Program in International Business.

Global Business, Finance and Society subfields

• Business and Society: Focus on the relationship between business and society covering subjects including social impact, regulation, sustainability, corporate diplomacy and government relations.
• Trade: Focus on the practical aspects and importance of trade to economic growth and international relations.
• Finance: Focus on more specific skills or sectors including emerging markets, project finance, strategy finance and valuation and energy.

Science, Technology, and International Affairs concentration

STEM-designated

Now more than ever, science and technology are at the heart of international affairs. Pursuing the STEM-designated Science, Technology and International Affairs concentration equips you with the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage with the challenges and opportunities this presents.

*If you have the necessary prerequisites, you may take courses offered in other programs at the university (3500 or above) subject to departmental approval. If your undergraduate major or minor was in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science or engineering, you may petition to the concentration chair to be exempted from this requirement and take an additional elective course instead.

Science, Technology, and International Affairs subfields

• Energy and the Global Environment: Explore key international challenges at the intersection of energy and the environment including global climate change, disease, transboundary resource challenges, food, water and agriculture, and the sustainable energy transition. You’ll find that this subfield places a particular emphasis on global commons and natural resources. 
• Innovation and Emerging Technologies: Examine transformative technologies from biotechnology to artificial intelligence, as well as the technological innovation process. You’ll find that this subfield places a particular emphasis on the role of the market and the state’s efforts to shape it. 
• Science, Technology and International Strategy: Investigate the role of technology in national strategy, including the science and technology issues behind space cooperation and competition; nonproliferation, arms control and disarmament initiatives; cyber security and artificial intelligence in diplomacy, development and interstate competition. You’ll find that this subfield places a particular emphasis on science and technology as instruments of power and tools of diplomacy for state and non-state actors.