MSc Violence, Conflict & Development
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 25,320 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student fees | home student fees: GBP 12,220 per year
Introduction
Who gains from situations of conflict? In what ways can violence affect development? What are the challenges to post-conflict reconstruction? This pioneering MSc Violence, Conflict and Development programme explores the complex links between violent conflict and development, both historically and today.
This programme examines the analytical, political and policy relationships between violence, conflict and development. The core module addresses empirical trends, difficulties of data collection and the importance of categorisation and boundaries in matters of violence. It goes on to present foundational theories on conflict and violence, including gender perspectives, debates about the origins of human violence (anthropological, historical, and psychological sources of violence) and the role of violence in historical change.
The focus then shifts to the means, mechanisms and markers of violence, including themes related to boundaries, war economies, inequality, land and the environment. This provides the basis for analysing interventions in violent conflict including humanitarian aid, conflict resolution and reconstruction.
Why study MSc Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS?
- You will have the opportunity to take work placements as part of your degree, and we offer internships in the department and in partner organisations. This year MSc students were offered placements in the International Organisation for Migration, the London International Development Centre and international NGOs
- Get a placement in a partner organisation working in international development with our new International Development Placement module (virtual delivery)
- Our staff specialise in a range of thematic areas including sustainability and climate change, migration and displacement, conflict, humanitarian action, labour, political ecology, and aid and institutions
Gallery
Ideal Students
Who should apply?
We welcome those who have worked in the field of development and/or conflict, but we also accept 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 social science.
Admissions
Curriculum
Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60-credit dissertation.
This program allows you to select one of the Department's online optional modules as part of your degree.
Core
- Dissertation in Development Studies - 60 credits
Compulsory
- The Political Economy of violence, conflict and Development - 30 credits
Guided Options List A
- Theory, policy and practice of development - 30 credits
- Political Economy of Development - 30 credits
Guided Options
- Civil Society, Social Movements, and the Development Process
- Gender and Development
- Development Practice
- Issues in Forced Migration
- Fundamentals of Research Methods for Development Studies
- War to Peace Transitions
- Security
- Borders and Development
- Global Commodity Chains, Production Networks, and Informal Work
- Aid and Development
- Migration and Policy
- Labour, Activism, and Global Development
- Energy Transition, Nature, and Development in a Time of Climate Change
- Environment, Governance, and Development
- Global Health and Development
- Cities and Development
- Feminist Political Economy and Global Development
- Global Approaches to Peace
- International Development Placement
- Structural Change and Economic Development
Rankings
We are ranked 3rd in the world for Development Studies (QS World University Rankings 2024).
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
A degree from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS will further develop your understanding of the world and how society is organised, with a specific focus on violence and conflict, the role of aid, refugees and forced migration. Graduates leave with a range of transferable skills, including critical thinking, analytical skills and cultural awareness.
Recent graduates have been hired by:
- Amnesty International
- BBC World Service
- British Embassy Brussels
- Department for International Development
- Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
- Embassy of Japan
- Government of Pakistan
- Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
- International Labour Organization (ILO)
- KPMG LLP
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Overseas Development Institute
- Oxfam
- Royal Norwegian Embassy
- Save the Children UK
- The World Bank
- Thinking Beyond Borders
- US Department of State
- UN World Food Programme
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- WaterAid
Program Leaders
Program delivery
Our teaching and learning approach is designed to support and encourage students in their own process of self-learning, and to develop their own ideas, responses and critique of international development practice and policy. We do this through a mixture of lectures, and more student-centred learning approaches (including tutorials and seminars). Teaching combines innovative use of audio-visual materials, practical exercises, group discussions, and weekly guided reading and discussions, as well as conventional lecturing.
In addition to the taught part of the master's programme, all students will write a 10,000-word dissertation. Students develop their research topic under the guidance and supervision of an academic member of the Department. Students are encouraged to explore a particular body of theory or an academic debate relevant to their programme through a focus on a particular region.