Violence, Conflict and Development

Entry requirements

• Minimum upper second class honours degree (or equivalent). Relevant work experience may also be considered.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Violence, Conflict and Development programme attracts applicants with a variety of academic and working backgrounds. We welcome those who have worked in the field of development and/or conflict, but we also welcome applications from students without relevant work experience who can demonstrate a strong interest in the major themes of the programme and a strong first degree, preferably in a social science.

The degree has been developed to meet the needs of people working, or hoping to work, in international agencies, humanitarian organisations, and NGOs.

As the pioneering programme of its kind internationally, this MSc programme develops detailed empirical knowledge and analytical skills for understanding the complex linkages between violent conflict and development, both historically and today. It enables students to explore these linkages both within specific country and regional contexts and in the context of global interdependencies and the ways these affect peace, war, and non-war violence.

The programme introduces students to competing analytical approaches. It is multi-disciplinary though shaped by a particular interest in political economy. It encourages deep case study knowledge. And it offers students the ability to tailor their choice of optional courses and dissertation research to their own interests.

The MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development draws on the exceptional expertise at SOAS in different disciplinary understanding of development challenges and processes as well as the strong commitment among all teaching staff to area expertise. Staff teaching on this programme are research active and have a range of links to international organisations.

The programme is of interest for development practitioners, activists, and students with a scholarly interest in the patterns of violence internationally, in how violence affects development, and in how the uneven processes of development themselves may both generate violence and generate mechanisms for containing violence.

Highlights include:

• Zoe's Blog! A convenor's-eye view of the MSc Violence, Conflict and Development programme
• Exploration of the long history of theories of human violence
• Relationships between violence and long-run historical change
• The concept of a continuum of violence
• The relevance of historical and more recent evidence that the process of structural change involved in ‘development’ is inherently conflictual and often violent
• To what extent democratisation is a mechanism for securing perpetual peace
• The challenges of understanding gender based violence
• Whether abundant natural resources, or high levels of inequality, or clear markers of religious or ethnic difference are clear sources of violent conflict
• How highly localised violent conflicts are connected to processes of global economic development
• The challenges of post-conflict reconstruction and ‘war to peace transitions’
• The role of NGOs in causes of, dynamics of, and responses to conflict
• Explaining the prevalence of high levels of non-war violence
• Explanations of the political economy of – and alternative perspectives on – terrorism

Students can draw on SOAS's unique expertise to specialise further in particular regions or topics.

Information for international students

For details, including English language requirements, please see SOAS website

Fees and funding

For details of postgraduate fees, please see SOAS website

Qualification and course duration

MSc