The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of
international affairs of
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
, in
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...
. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations.
As of 2017, the student body numbered around 230, of whom 36 percent were international students from 70 countries, and around a quarter were U.S. minorities.
History

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy was founded in 1933 with the bequest of Austin Barclay Fletcher, who left over $3 million to
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
upon his death in 1923. A third of these funds were dedicated “for the establishment and maintenance of a School of Law and Diplomacy, to be known as The Fletcher School of Law or "The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy." Fletcher envisioned "a school to prepare people for diplomatic service and to teach such matters as they come...
ndwithin it...a fundamental and thorough knowledge of the principles of international law upon which diplomacy is founded...
ndalso a knowledge of many things of a geographic and economic nature which affect relations between nations."
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy thereafter opened in 1933 under the joint administration of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and Tufts College. One of the first buildings acquired was
Goddard Hall, which was converted into a library. Tufts College assumed exclusive responsibility for the administration of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1935. Between 1963 and 1965, Mugar Hall was constructed and later renovated in 2016 to serve the expanding needs of Fletcher.
Academics
On its campus in
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...
, the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy offers multi-disciplinary instruction in international affairs through several master's degree programs and a Ph.D. program. Regardless of the degree program in which they are enrolled, students have the opportunity to select from among more than 170 courses across three divisions: International Law and Organization (ILO); Diplomacy, History and Politics (DHP); and Economics and International Business (EIB).
The school has eleven degree programs: its flagship two-year Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD); a one-year Master of Arts for mid-career professionals; a one-year, mid-career Master of Arts (via the Global Master of Arts Program) that combines online and residential learning; a Ph.D. program; a Master of International Business (MIB); a Master of Global Business Administration, an online program combining the study of business with international affairs; and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law. Additionally, there are several joint and dual degree and certificate programs.
Fletcher students complete a capstone project during their final year for students in 2-year programs or their final semester for students in 1-year programs. The capstone project is expected to demonstrate scholarly and/or professional analysis, and it acts as an opportunity for students to draw on their methodological, analytical, and substantive learning in a comprehensive written study. In consultation with faculty advisors, the specific form of the final project can differ widely.
The school's Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP) is unique amongst international relations degrees. The year-long program combines three 2-week residencies (two at The Fletcher School and one at a different international location each year) with instruction covering topics such as negotiation, international business and economic law, international trade, economics and politics from a global perspective.
Programs of study
*Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD)
*Master in Global Affairs (MGA)
*Master of International Business (MIB)
*Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law
*Master of Arts in international relations, a 1-year residential program
*Master of Arts in international relations, via the Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP), a 1-year hybrid residential/internet-mediated program
*Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance, offered jointly with the
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
*Master of Arts in Transatlantic Affairs, offered jointly with the
College of Europe
The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania.
The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...
*Master of Science in Cybersecurity and Public Policy, offered jointly with the School of Engineering at Tufts University
*Master of Global Business Administration, a 16-24 month online degree program
*Global Master of Arts Program (GMAP), a hybrid three 2-week residencies program for mid-senior career professionals
*Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations
*Doctor of Philosophy in Economics and Public Policy, offered jointly with the Tufts University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Research
Fletcher has a number of research centers and institutes, including:
*
The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) conducts interdisciplinary and policy-relevant research on pressing environmental issues.
*The
Edward R. Murrow Center of Public Diplomacy was established in memory of the journalist and former head of the
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA) was a United States government agency devoted to propaganda which operated from 1953 to 1999.
Previously existing United States Information Service (USIS) posts operating out of U.S. embassies wor ...
.
*
The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies
The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies is an interdisciplinary education and research organization founded in 2001, devoted to the regional study of the Eastern Mediterranean within the greater Middle East. The Center is part of The ...
organizes public lectures, conferences, and roundtables to create a greater understanding of the region and its challenges.
*The Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs focuses on the management of innovation and technological change and the advancement of economic and financial integration.
*
The Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC) conducts research and organizes interdisciplinary conferences on contemporary issues in international business.
*The
Institute for Human Security
The Henry J. Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security (formally the Henry J. Leir Institute for Human Security), founded in 2001, is an interdisciplinary education and research organization within The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy ...
promotes research and education at the intersection between humanitarianism, development, human rights, and conflict resolution.
*
The International Security Studies Program (ISSP) is a distinct field of study within the multidisciplinary curriculum of The Fletcher School.
*The
Russia and Eurasia Program
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
is dedicated to teaching and research on a broad range of historical and contemporary issues related to Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
*
The World Peace Foundation, provides intellectual leadership on issues of peace, justice, and security of foreign parties, and provides financial support only for projects that it has initiated itself.
Affiliated programs
*The Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies
*The Global Development and Environmental Institute
*Refugees and Forced Migration Program
International collaboration
Fletcher is an active member of the
University of the Arctic
The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...
. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region.
Publications
*''
The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs
''The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of international relations established in 1975. It is managed by students at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University). It is also an online for ...
'', a student-managed foreign policy journal, founded in 1975 and published biannually.
*''Fletcher Security Review'', an online and print journal focused on security studies.
*''PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Human Security'', an annual
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
covering
human security
Human security is a paradigm for understanding global social vulnerability, vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security through military security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be ...
produced in collaboration with Fletcher's Institute for Human Security. It was established in 1981.
In 2012 it became an online-only journal.
The journal covers a different theme each year. It is produced by Fletcher students in coordination with the school's Institute for Human Security.
Faculty
The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy employs more than 30 full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty as well as a variety of adjunct and visiting professors, and benefits from faculty at partner schools within Tufts, including the
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The full-time Fletcher faculty includes economists, international law theorists, diplomats, historians, and political scientists who hold the academic ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and lecturer. All faculty members hold terminal degrees in their respective fields (a Ph.D. in the case of historians, political scientists, and economists; and a J.D. in the case of lawyers). In 2013, the faculty to student ratio in Medford was 1:8.6.
Notable faculty
*
Joyce Aluoch, Judge of the
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
in
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
.
*
Carlos Alvarado Quesada
Carlos Andrés Alvarado Quesada (; born 14 January 1980) is a Costa Rican politician, writer, journalist, and political scientist who served as the 48th president of Costa Rica from 8 May 2018 to 8 May 2022. A member of the Citizens' Action Pa ...
, Professor of Practice of Diplomacy, 48th President of the Republic of
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
.
*
Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean, International Business & Finance, Director,
Institute for Business in the Global Context.
*
Antonia Chayes, Professor of International Politics and Law, former
United States Under Secretary of the Air Force.
*
Alex de Waal, famine and development scholar, East African politics expert, anthropologist, and director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School.
*
Daniel W. Drezner, Professor of International Politics, regular featured columnist in ''
Foreign Policy
Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'' and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
.''
*
Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Carnegie Scholar.
*
Kelly Sims Gallagher, dean and professor
*Francesca Giovannini, nuclear security expert and former MacArthur Nuclear Postdoctoral Fellow at the
Center for International Security and Cooperation
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
(CISAC) at Stanford University.
*
Michael J. Glennon, Professor of International Law, former legal counsel to
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...
.
*
Maidin Hashim, Bruneian
permanent representative to the United Nations,
high commissioner to the United Kingdom and
ambassador to Germany.
*
Ayesha Jalal, Professor of History and the Director of the Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, former
MacArthur Fellow.
*
Susan Landau, Professor in Cyber Security and Policy.
*
Sung-Yoon Lee, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Korean Studies, former research fellow at the
National Asia Research Program, author of ''The Sister: North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the Most Dangerous Woman in the World.''
*Chris Miller, Professor of International History, economic historian, and author of
''Chip Wars'': ''The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology'''','' winner of the 2022
''Financial Times'' Business Book of the Year award.
*
William Moomaw, Professor of International Environmental Policy, lead author of the
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
-winning
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World Met ...
, developed the concept of
New diplomacy New diplomacy is international relations in which citizens play a greater role. Under the old diplomacy, global policymaking was more strictly the purview of governments. New diplomacy began to be observed in the 1990s amidst easing tensions in the ...
.
*
Dr. Shahid Masood, Pakistani TV Journalist, an anchorperson, and a medical doctor.
*
Chidi Odinkalu, Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law, chair for the Nigerian Truth, Justice, and Peace Commission for South-East Nigeria, previous chair of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission.
*
Klaus Scharioth, Professor of Practice, former German Ambassador to the US and State Secretary of the
German Foreign Office.
*
Patrick Webb, Alexander McFarlane Professor of Nutrition, Policy and Evidence Adviser to the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, former Dean for Academic Affairs at the
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
, former Chief of Nutrition for the United Nations
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...
, Steering Committee member for the UN Committee on World Food Security.
*
Nadim Rouhana, Professor of International Affairs and Conflict Studies, expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Director of the
Fares Center at the Fletcher School.
*
John Shattuck, Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, former
U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, fourth president and rector of
Central European University (CEU), member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
*
Richard H. Shultz, Professor of International Security and Politics, nuclear security and artificial intelligence expert, Senior Fellow to the U.S. Special Operations Command’s Joint Special Operations University.
*
Tara D. Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy, former U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, former Executive Vice President of the
United States Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit, national institute funded by the U.S. Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. See alsPDF on USIP website. It provides rese ...
.
*
James Stavridis (Admiral, Retired), former Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Commander of
United States Southern Command
The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida, Doral in Greater Miami, Greater Miami, Florida, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providi ...
,
United States European Command
The United States European Command (EUCOM) is one of the eleven Unified Combatant Command, unified combatant commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territori ...
, and the first
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
to be appointed the
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
*
Ibrahim Warde, Professor of International Business.
Notable alumni
The Fletcher School has over 9,500 alumni living around the world in 140 countries, including hundreds of sitting ambassadors, award-winning journalists and authors, global business executives and leaders of international peacekeeping, humanitarian and security initiatives.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher School Of Law And Diplomacy
Harvard University
Tufts University
Schools of international relations in the United States
Law schools in Massachusetts
Universities and colleges established in 1933
Universities and colleges in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Medford, Massachusetts
1933 establishments in Massachusetts