Welcome to the International Affairs Program

The International Affairs Program at Northeastern University brings faculty and students together in courses and research projects that fundamentally strive to create a better world—one that is freer, more peaceful, more humane, more just, and more inclusive.  We are a supportive community, where undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and administrative staff collaborate in an intellectually engaging and friendly environment. We are strongly committed to experiential education (a cornerstone mission of Northeastern University), and the IAF has pioneered the university’s Dialogues of Civilizations program, which now take place in more than 70 countries around the world.  Our internationally diverse faculty (hailing from Brazil, Columbia, the UK, to Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia to name just a few countries) has a wide-ranging scholarly expertise, with particular strengths in conflict resolution and peace-building, international law, and the global politics of gender, ethnicity, cities and religion.

Berna Turam

Director of International Affairs Program
Professor of Sociology and Anthropology

To read the full Message from the Director, please click here.

Research-active Faculty from Across the Globe

From women’s education, labor, and feminist movements; to transnational mobilities and contested urban spaces; to democratization and demographic changes in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean; and to international law and policy the International Affairs faculty engage in a variety of research projects spanning the globe. To read about the research activities and expertise of our faculty members, please select from the buttons below.

Learn about our faculty research

Recent Faculty Events

On June 11, 2018, Professor Berna Turam presented “Muslim diaspora and sanctuary cities: safe places and politics of fear” at the Religious Diversity Colloquium, Gottingen, Germany.

For more information, click here

Congratulations to the Class of 2018!

 “Now go and make interesting mistakes,
make amazing mistakes,
 make glorious and fantastic mistakes,
leave the world more interesting for your being here.”
–Neil Gaiman

Faculty News

Berna Turam was an invited speaker in the Opening Plenary Session at the Research Committee 21 (RC21) conference 2017: “Rethinking Global Urban Justice: An International Academic Conference for Critical Urban Studies”. The International Sociological Association organized the conference which was hosted by the University of Leeds, Britain, from September 11 – 13^th, 2017.

Dr. Turam was part of the Opening Plenary session “The Authoritarian City”; her talk was entitled “Cities and Power under Authoritarianism”. The aim of the Conference was to address the multiple urban crises in an increasingly globalized world. The focus of the Plenary Session was the changing notions of urban space and the new centrality of the city in world politics, as fear and insecurity are on the rise in an increasingly securitized world.

Northeastern Students Meet 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Beatrice Fihn in Geneva

Summer 2017 in Geneva, Denise Garcia’s UN Dialogue met Beatrice Fihn.  She was recently announced that the Nobel Peace Prize this year went to the efforts she spearheads.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons executive director, Beatrice Fihn has met with Northeastern students for the last ten years as part of the United Nations dialogue in Geneva. During this year’s dialogue, the Treaty had not yet been concluded. However, she shared her optimism and reflected back on many years of hard work leading to this very historic accomplishment. She was energized to go to the UN in NY after meeting us, to assist member states to negotiate the treaty.

For more information, click here.

Dialogue Opportunities

The United Nations Dialogue in Geneva is titled Global Governance of International Security & the World Politics of Diplomacy. It started in 2007 by Professor Denise Garcia with the aim of exposing students to the practice and real life of diplomacy and negotiation of key world politics issues at the highest level that occur in the city of Geneva, capital of humanitarian diplomacy.

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International Careers

What can a International Affairs major provide for you?  There are several options for careers on the international stage in several areas.  View resource tools, websites, job platforms, information about professional paths found in Professor Denise Garcia’s new stellar presentation

Educating Global Leaders for the 21st Century

International affairs at Northeastern University challenges students to engage across intellectual and geographic boundaries, while also asking them to think and act “locally” through academic coursework, experiential opportunities, and language proficiency. Read more about our mission>>

Learn About Our Undergraduate Program

Research Reports

Standing defines the precariat as an emerging class of people facing lives of economic insecurity, moving in and out of jobs that give little meaning to their lives. As such, they develop emotions of anomie, anxiety, alienation, and anger. The precariat is a “dangerous class” because it is internally divided, including college graduates without career prospects, adjuncts and other involuntary part-time workers, migrants and other vulnerable groups that tend to be vilified, as well as what Standing called “atavists” and “nostalgics”. Lacking agency, its members may be susceptible to the calls of political extremism.

To read a full report on the event, please click here.