Alumnus Hamed Al Ghaithi organized the first student trek to Oman
Growing up in Oman, Hamed Al Ghaithi, F26, always followed the news, considering what triggered the social and political dynamics that rose to national prominence when he was a teenager. Al Ghaithi saw that these currents were shaped by the advent of the internet.
“We don't have political parties in Oman, but the internet provided platforms for discussions and vivid debates about national issues,” he said.
Though Al Ghaithi had been living outside of Oman for his studies, he found himself home in 2011 just as the Arab Spring began. He participated in demonstrations and the political movement to protest the government in Oman and across the Arab world.
“I saw what happened on the ground between the people and the governments,” Al Ghaithi said. “I saw the tanks, the bullets, the fire, and the demands that people had. Then I saw how things took place after that episode, over the next few years, and how that shaped national politics in Oman and affairs across the Arab world.”
Understanding Gulf States at an American University
Al Ghaithi completed his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Australia and Germany. His career began internationally, and he worked in London as an analyst at a consulting firm. In order to advise on a myriad of geopolitical matters in various regions, Al Ghaithi read everything that came out from former officials, diplomats, think tanks, and reports from the United States, Europe, and beyond. The more he read, the more he understood his path was leading him to a career in foreign affairs.
“I’m from the Middle East, and our region has a lot of long-term problems that remain unsolved,” he said. “I needed to dive deeper into these issues than what I was seeing in the media.”
As Al Ghaithi began applications for graduate studies in international relations in London, a friend, who was an American diplomat stationed in Muscat, encouraged him to look at programs in the U.S.
“He told me that international affairs and theory were an American enterprise,” Al Ghaithi said.
He took his friend’s advice seriously and applied to two schools, was admitted to both, and chose Fletcher for the Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) degree program.
He got involved with all aspects of Fletcher from the onset. He delved into the curriculum and connected with professors and other students. He also began collaborating with the faculty and staff to develop the Oman trek, which would become Fletcher’s first student trek to a Gulf nation.
The Role of Force in International Security
During Al Ghaithi’s first semester, he began to understand the role of force in international relations and security through courses with the late Professor Dick Shultz.
“We traced the international order structure since the Greeks, and how international relations practitioners or politicians’ views of the international order changed over a millennium,” he said. “Over time, new concepts and appreciation for state security alliances evolved in not only concept but also the tools that gave advantages to certain countries.”
Al Ghaithi found Shultz’s care for his students to be deeply meaningful.
“He was basically an encyclopedia—he knew everything,” Al Ghaithi said. “I was touched by his kindness.”
Professor Abigail Linnington provided a foundational framework on national security decision-making for Al Ghaithi. He appreciated how her classes and thinking illuminated how individualistic factors shape decisions, biases, and groupthink, ultimately transforming foreign policy.
“Using psychological theory to understand foreign policy was mind-blowing,” Al Ghaithi said.
Like many of Linnington’s students, Ghaithi participated in the Red Team Exercise, in which students have to mitigate groupthink in a crisis management simulation.
“After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the American intelligence community implemented a lot of exercises to weed out biases,” Al Ghaithi said. “You'd be surprised, regardless of these exercises and safeguards, that many national security and foreign policy decisions are based on biases, groupthink, and ideologies. These things should not be underestimated.”
An Eye-Opening Student Trek to Oman
Al Ghaithi’s studies and encounters with faculty and staff encouraged him to lead a Fletcher delegation to Oman in the first student trek to a Gulf state.
“When you go to an international relations school in the U.S., you study U.S. foreign policy,” he said. “You look at world issues from a superpower’s perspective. But most of the states in the world are not major powers. They are medium and small states, and these countries, nevertheless, have a huge impact that is not always appreciated.”
Al Ghaithi’s goal with the Oman trek was to show others how history, geography, and core Omani principles impact the country’s foreign policy.
“Some of my colleagues will hold diplomatic positions in the future,” he said. “It was important for them to have that exposure, so they will have a deeper understanding when they deal with small and medium powers.”
Because Oman is not aligned with U.S. foreign policy, it serves as a model for independent foreign policy. It allows students to reframe how they might look at the dialogue between foreign affairs, domestic policy, and green transitions in a particular region.
Just as Al Ghaithi sought to expand his peers’ perspectives, he continues to broaden his mind after graduation. Al Ghaithi entered Fletcher with intellectual curiosity at the forefront. Since Fletcher expanded his horizons, he sees multiple directions where his degree can lead him next.
“I’m currently involved in two different research projects at Fletcher: one on economics and one on climate policy,” he said. “These things will give me a good understanding of international politics from two different points of view. I always try to be wiser over time.”
Read more about Fletcher’s Master of Arts in International Affairs degree program.