Curriculum | MAGR

The MAGR builds on the school’s strengths in multi-disciplinary analysis by introducing students to a broad array of concepts and tools from finance, social sciences, and international relations.

The cohort-based program starts with an intensive introduction to fundamental economic concepts as well as statistical and mathematical skills during a six-week summer term. The summer program starts with two weeks of virtual instruction after which students continue on campus with an additional four weeks in the classrooms on campus.  

During the fall semester, you will further develop your understanding of economics and start to focus on political and economic risks.  You will explore the methodological problems associated with the analysis of risk and uncertainty and the different approaches to managing risk; how established democratic societies can rapidly become politically unstable. You will also take a half-semester course in corporate finance providing the fundamentals in asset evaluation and investment analysis.

The spring semester provides the opportunity for you to develop the main tools for geo-political risk analysis through scenario planning. Moreover, you will deepen your study of the principal sources of risk at the national and international levels. You will also be introduced to the main techniques for quantitative risk analysis employed in the financial industry and take two additional elective courses.
 

Capstone

You will have the option to choose between a focused summer internship or an original 10,000-word research paper under the supervision of a Johns Hopkins SAIS faculty member. The capstone must be completed during your second summer term.
 

Sample Electives

Elective offered at the SAIS Europe campus including the following courses.  Course offerings are subject to change from year to year.

• The Geopolitics of Organized Crime
• European Union Foreign Policy
• Democracy and It's Discontents
• Energy and Climate Change
• Conflict Risk and Stability in Cyberspace
• East Asian Security
• Econometrics
• Civil Wars and Interventions
• Migration and Security
• Strategy and Policy
• Environmental Economics
• International Financial Crises
• Cryptocurrencies, and Financial Technology
• Renewables: the Challenges of Transitioning from Marginal to Mainstream Source of Energy
• The Twin Pillars of the Gulf: Regional Rivalries, and Geopolitical Dynamics