Core curriculum
The Master of Global Affairs is a two-year professional program that combines rigorous academic study with a paid global summer internship and student leadership opportunities.
In year one of the MGA program, you'll take seven core courses, plus one core elective chosen from a list of three, and one elective of your choice. In year two, you'll take two core courses plus five elective courses, three of which must be in your chosen emphasis specialization.
The MGA program is structured around five core pillars of study: global markets, global security, global development, innovation policy, and global justice and human rights. Learn more below about the pillars and program structure
Program structure
You’ll be evaluated through a combination of examinations, term papers, and group projects, as appropriate to each individual course. For a complete list of courses and descriptions, please visit the MGA courses page.
The five pillars of the MGA curriculum:
The Master of Global Affairs program has five core pillars:
- global markets
- global security
- global development
- innovation policy, and
- human rights and global justice
Global markets
Global markets investigates the influence of financial, commodity, and other markets on politics and of policy on market outcomes. Our focus lies on policy and economic analysis with real-world applications rather than theory. Building on the economics courses in the first year, second-year courses in Markets cover the politics of exchange rates, trade policy, the role of the IMF and World Bank, financial crises, the implications of global monetary developments, and how to develop investment strategies in a globalized world.
Global security
Global security examines organized political violence in the global system. It encompasses traditional concerns about interstate and intrastate war, coercive diplomacy, collective security alliances, and weapons of mass destruction, as well as a host of nontraditional problems in cybersecurity, biosecurity, climate security, human security, and terrorism. A diverse set of course offerings explores topics such as the geopolitics of cyberspace, grand strategy, intelligence, and covert action, terrorism research, police violence, far-right populism, and Canadian defense policy. In order to devise humane and effective policies to mitigate conflict in the global system, it is imperative to understand its root causes. The program thus encourages students to understand the causes, conduct, and consequences of transnational violent conflict, whether merely threatened or realized, occurring between or within states, involving military or nonmilitary organizations, and transpiring throughout the gray zone between peace and war.
Global development
Global development seeks to build a holistic, multidisciplinary, understanding of the forces shaping efforts to achieve sustainable development in lower-income countries, particularly in Africa and Asia – along with the diverse skills needed to engage effectively in the development field. The program aims first to provide a foundational understanding of the major forces shaping efforts to improve well-being across lower-income countries. This includes national force like history, policy, institutions, politics and human rights, as well as the impact of international forces and actors including aid donors, the private sector, the organization of the global system, and the expanding challenges of climate change and environmental sustainability. This then provides a common starting point for exploring questions of security, justice, innovation, markets, sustainability and global governance as they relate to lower-income countries across our core courses – and for an array of second year courses that explore specific topics in development in greater detail, including education, health, gender, conflict, migration and democratization.
Innovation policy
Innovation policy examines innovation in the diverse forms it takes, from the development of radically new products to social innovation. Our foundational course explores different national patterns of innovation and their consequences for growth and distribution, with particular attention to data and other intangible assets, inclusive innovation, and innovation in lower income countries. Second-year course offerings examine a range of topics, including the ethics of AI, the role of universities as economic and social actors, the determinants of entrepreneurship, the governance of data and privacy rights, regional economic inequalities, and the distributional consequences of innovation.
Human rights and global justice
Human rights and global justice focuses on demands for justice, the relationship between justice and inequality, the reform of justice organizations, and the leadership of justice systems under stress. This includes an array of substantive issues, including the promise of human rights and recognition, criticisms of domestic and international justice systems, and responses to cross-border crime. The program offers courses on domestic and international criminal justice, police violence, international migration and citizenship, corruption and illicit trade, the challenges of measurement in justice, political advocacy and social movements, international human rights, and responses to atrocities. Students who select this emphasis study the claims made in the name of justice, legal and political frameworks, the organizational dynamics of justice agencies, and the ways in which states, non-state actors, and international organizations resolve justice system challenges.