Technology transforms society. Public and private sector collaboration has the potential to activate climate solutions or improve nuclear security. Innovation can bring societies economic prosperity and help them prevent the next pandemic.
Learn how to evaluate these problems and identify dynamic solutions with Fletcher’s interdisciplinary Technology and International Affairs field of study. Examine questions of global security through the lens of both international relations and scientific and technological innovation. Grapple with the nuances of internet and energy policy and explore the ways that scientific developments have altered the global landscape, learning how to harness their potential to resolve international disputes and forge new diplomatic relations.
Join faculty in cutting-edge research with institutes at both Fletcher and Tufts University, including Cyber Security and Policy, The Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World. Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs, or the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. Pick a track in cyber policy, international information and communication, or technology and sustainable development to tailor the program to your unique career goals.
These are challenges that they’re going to go out and solve that are not just about building the right technology, but also about all of the other disciplinary issues that come from understanding international law, international security, these much older, really complex and thorny problems that technology complicates or creates solutions to or often does both.
MALD and MIB students complete 12 credits in their field of study in any track. MGA students complete the practicum and 18 credits, which may be taken in a single track or with classes from multiple tracks.
In addition to the core course, MALD and MIB take three elective courses in the field. MGA students should take five courses.(Students may substitute up to one cross-registered course at Harvard for an elective with approval from the field advisor).
MGA students may count one of the following courses towards their field electives:
Optionally, students may choose to focus in one of the following three subfields, by choosing from a more specific set of electives:
The Cyber Policy Track focuses on the internet and other computer-based technologies and their policy implications, including the impacts on privacy, the civil sector, the developing world, international conflict, and law. Courses in this track range from cybersecurity, encryption, and digital surveillance to artificial intelligence, economics of information security, and cyber risk management.
For their field electives, students wishing to concentrate in the Cyber Policy Track must take two of the following:
International information and communication is a critical component of international affairs and at the heart of how people of different nations perceive the world and each other. This track explores both the infrastructure and content of information and communication, and the interactions between them, covering the internet ecosystem, different forms of media, their governance and their relationship to states, and many areas of information policy.
Students wishing to concentrate in the Information and Communication Track must take the following course as one of their electives:
The growth of technology has substantial potential to improve people’s lives and livelihoods. Yet the key question is whether or not the potential of technology lives up to the “hype.” The Technology and Sustainable Development Track covers a range of topics, from different types of technologies (mobile phones, computer, radio, internet, renewable energy, electric vehicles, nuclear power) to different types of groups (households, firms, individuals) and different domains (agriculture, economics, environmental policy, amongst others). While no technical background is necessary for this track, the courses include some training in the foundation of solid policy analysis, including identifying key market failures to technology adoption, reviewing the costs and benefits of different public and private interventions, and designing effective policies.
Students wishing to focus in the Technology and Sustainable Development Track must take two of the following electives:
