The graduate program in Applied Diplomacy offers six concentrations through which students will prepare for a variety of vocational paths:
- Diplomacy and International Public Service
- Diplomacy and Global Public Health
- Urban Diplomacy
- Diplomacy and Migration
- Diplomacy and Critical Ethnic Studies
- Critical Approaches to Diplomacy
Regardless of concentration, a wide variety of internships, community-based courses, and study abroad programs will deepen students’ understanding of the practice of diplomacy, and build the experience and networks necessary to make a difference.
Diplomacy and International Public Service
“It is not just expert knowledge that NGOs, indigenous communities, political dissidents and the like can bring to the diplomatic table. What augments their influence, even when they are barred from accessing the primary forums of international diplomacy, is the combining of expertise with popular pressure, whether in the form of petitions, street protests, boycotts or direct action.”
- Costas Constantinou, Noé Cornago and Fiona McConnell, Transprofessional Diplomacy, 2017
The Diplomacy and International Public Service concentration provides students with a foundation for applying the tools and understanding of diplomatic practices to mediation, conflict resolution, advocacy, and leadership within international non-governmental organizations. Students will have the opportunity to place the study and practice of diplomacy in conversation with the disciplines of management, ethics, international political economy, public policy, and international relations.
Students in the Diplomacy and International Public Service concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- MPS 510 International Dimensions of Public Service
- MPS 513 Volunteerism in Global Civil Society
- MPS 520 Values-Centered Leadership
- MPS 525 Working with Non-Profit Boards
- MPS 529 Strategic Management and Planning
- MPS 594 Ethical Leadership in Public Service
- MPS 611 Management of International NGOs
- MPS 612 International Political Economy
- MPS 613 Comparative Public Policy
- MPS 614 International Organizations Seminar
- MPS 615 Managing Intercultural Diversity
- MPS 616 International Relations and Conflict Management
Diplomacy and Global Public Health
“The soft power of science has the potential to reshape global diplomacy.”
- Ahmed Zewail, in his commencement address at Cal Tech, June 11, 2011, as cited in Daryl Copeland, “Science Diplomacy,” The SAGE Handbook of Diplomacy, 2016
The Diplomacy and Global Public Health concentration provides students with a foundation for applying the tools and understanding of diplomatic practices to mediation, conflict resolution, advocacy and leadership in the field of international public health. Students will have the opportunity to place the study and practice of diplomacy into conversation with the disciplines of behavior theory, health care, forced migration and public policy.
Students in the Diplomacy and Global Public Health concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- MPH 502 Introduction to Epidemiology
- MPH 551 Global Health Inequalities
- MPH 552 Maternal and Child Health
- MPH 553 Public Health and Forced Migration (Crosslist with FMS 405)
- MPH 554 Global Public Health Practice
- MPH 595 Special Topics in Public Health
- MPH 531 Health Care Administration
- MPH 535 Healthcare Policy
- MPH 537 Comparative Healthcare Systems
- MPS 511 Health and Behavioral Theory
- WGS 405 Mothering, Work, and Reproductive Justice
Urban Diplomacy
“We should expect private enterprises, civil society organizations and possibly individual people to engage in more and more diplomacy as they become more influential in international relations. We should want them all to be good at it.”
- Paul Sharp, Diplomatic Theory of International Relations, 2009
The Urban Diplomacy concentration examines the practice of diplomacy within the boundaries of a single city. Students learn how to apply the tools and understanding of diplomatic practices like mediation, conflict resolution, advocacy, and leadership within the context of local government, community organizing, and globally-connected business.
Students in the Urban Diplomacy concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- CES 403 Cities and Racial Formation
- INT 405 Culture and Inequality
- MPS 526 Local Government Administration
- MPS 571 Metropolitan Planning
- MPS 573 Housing & Community Development
- SOC 420 Urban Sociology
- SOC 426 Urban Development Policies
- SOC 465 Race and Ethic Relations
- SUD 401 Sustainable Urban Development, I: Planning, Policy, & Community Development
- SUD 402 Sustainable Urban Development, II: Green Infrastructure & the
- Environment
- SUD 403 Brownfields Redevelopment: Practice and Implementation
- SUD 420 Sustainable Urban Food Systems
- SUD 451 Sustainable Cities and Food Justice
- WGS 414 Antiracist Feminisms
- WGS 420 Transformative Justice
- WGS 465 Globalization, Transnationalism, and Social Change
- WGS 475 Feminisms of the Black Diaspora
- WGS 485 Gender, Agency, and Social Change
- WGS 488 Queer Theory
Diplomacy and Migration
“With the rise of interstate conflicts and crises involving non-state actors, the field of crisis diplomacy is becoming more complex. The crises that are facing the international community will need the concerted efforts and support of states, and international and regional organizations.”
- Edward Avenell and David Hastings Dunn, “Crisis Diplomacy,” The SAGE Handbook of Diplomacy, 2016
The Diplomacy and Migration concentration provides students with a foundation for applying the tools and understanding of diplomatic practices--such as mediation, conflict resolution, advocacy and leadership—to the pressing challenges posed by forced migration. Students will have the opportunity to place the study and practice of diplomacy into conversation with the disciplines of history, forced migration studies, human rights law, public health, and international relations.
Students in the Diplomacy and International Public Service concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- FMS 402 Pro-Seminar in History of Forced Migration
- FMS 403 International Human Rights Law and Policy Colloquium
- FMS 404 International Conflict Management
- FMS 405 Public Health and Forced Migration (Crosslist with MPH 553)
- INT 404 Migration and Forced Migration
- MPS 616 International Relations and Conflict Management
- WGS 445 Women, War, and Resistance
Diplomacy and Critical Ethnic Studies
“Indigenous diplomacies do not rely for their validity on conformity with hegemonic conceptions of diplomacy, how and where it is practiced, or by whom. Nor are they reducible to an instrumental response to the (advanced) colonial state and the states system.”
- J. Marshall Beier, “Indigenous Diplomacy,” The Sage Handbook of Diplomacy, 2016
The Diplomacy and Critical Ethnic Studies concentration provides students with a foundation for applying the tools and understanding of diplomatic practice—mediation, conflict resolution and advocacy—on behalf of marginalized communities. Students will have the opportunity to place the study and practice of diplomacy into conversation with the disciplines of critical race theory, ethnic studies, forced migration studies, history, and international studies.
Students in the Diplomacy and Critical Ethnic Studies concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- CES 401 Critical Ethnic Studies
- CES 402 Mobility and the State
- CES 403 Cities and Racial Formation
- CES 404 Borders and Migration
- CES 405 Race and the Media
- CES 410 Special Topics
- INT 407 Race, Sex and Difference
Critical Approaches to Diplomacy
“A new understanding of diplomacy as a form of practical knowledge is taking ground, becoming increasingly influential in the most disparate fields beyond the diplomatic services all over the world. This new understanding does not, however, fit the restrictive assumptions that characterize conventional approaches to diplomacy.”
- Noé Cornago, “Diplomatic Knowledge,” The SAGE Handbook of Diplomacy, 2016
The Critical Approaches to Diplomacy concentration provides a foundation for those interested in interrogating the power and practices associated with the field of diplomacy. The concentration provides preparation for a variety of careers, as well as advanced studies in the field. Students selecting this concentration will study critical social theory, culture and identity, and the impact of post-colonial studies on the practice and study of diplomacy.
Students in the Critical Approaches to Diplomacy concentration are required to take four courses from the following list:
- INT 401 Critical Social Theory
- INT 405 Culture and Inequality
- INT 407 Race, Sex and Difference
- INT 406 Global Empires
- INT 408 Nature, Society and Power
- INT 409 Critical Development Theory
- INT 517 Reading Marx’s Capital