MSc Humanitarianism, Aid & Conflict

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to: demonstrate their substantial understanding of a key issue, topic or theme relating to Development Studies; organise their ideas in response to theoretical and empirical material and plan, develop and present a written argument in relation to this; show their ability to effectively gather, manage, synthesise and employ relevant data in support of their written argument;
Demonstrate their capacity to work independently under the guidance of an academic supervisor;
show that they have followed good academic research practice and have achieved a good level of competence in academic writing.

This module is designed to build up an understanding of the historical context of humanitarianism, and of how humanitarianism has been challenged in practice and in theory. It also explores how information is gathered on humanitarian contexts, the processes of needs assessment, evaluation and big data, and the difficulties associated with conducting these processes in areas in conflict, given the political and military agendas at play.

This module provides a thorough analytical grounding in different social science approaches to violence and conflict, from civil wars to a range of other manifestations (e.g. systematic violence against women, large-scale urban violence, ethnic/religious pogroms and internationalist ‘terrorist’ violence) and their linkages to development problems. It presents ideas for understanding the origins, dimensions, dynamics, costs, and prevention of this broad range of violent conflicts, and tests ideas and approaches through a number of relevant case studies.

The module provides students with the opportunity to engage critically with the complex configurations of institutions, politics and normative claims that underpin migration-related policy (with an emphasis on contemporary policy developments, although these are situated in an historical perspective). It also challenges students to explore alternative policy approaches.

This course focuses attention to social movements in relation to civil society and to the development project itself. It examines some current positions on theorising 'civil society' and 'new social movements'.

This module provides an introduction to development practice by examining some of the key challenges and constraints faced by development practitioners in the light of trends in development theory and policy. It is divided into three subject areas. First, a range of planning and management tools and frameworks employed by governments, donor agencies and NGOs are examined. These include tools associated with project cycle management including log frame analysis, participative planning and management, monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Second, the module examines the organisational challenges for improved development practice. This involves analysis of capacity building challenges including those relating to management, culture, leadership and learning. Finally how development agencies relate to one another, and approaches to coordinated action, are examined with a particular focus on managing external relations, building alliances and advocacy.

This module provides an introduction to the study of forced migration in the developing world, and aims to provide students with a broad understanding of various types of forced migration, the causes and consequences of displacement, and key contemporary questions in the field. The module draws on a range of theoretical approaches to understand the structural, historical, and political nature of forced migration, and highlights the relationship between underdevelopment and forced migration.

This module aims at providing a basic knowledge of the main predicaments facing development in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA, encompassing all members of the League of Arab States, with Iran and Turkey for comparative purposes). It follows the sequence of historical development: an assessment of the key features of pre-industrial society in the area and of the impact of European imperial domination sets the scene for contrasting responses to the challenge of modernity in the 20th century. The major ideological undercurrents produced by this confrontation are examined: adaptation to vs. rejection of ‘Western’ modernity within Islam; the rise of populist nationalism and the ‘socialist’ radicalisation of ‘developmentalist’ regimes. Against the background of the ‘oil shocks’, MENA experienced economic liberalisation, with limited political liberalisation occasionally. The post-Cold War U.S. war drive turned the region into the central arena of the so-called ‘clash of civilisations’. The region’s overall anaemic long-term growth performance—except Turkey—points to massive structural problems that constitute the main factors in the Arab uprising that unfolded in 2011. The dynamics of this ongoing regional upheaval will be thoroughly examined.

The module on Security examines the meanings and agents of security, acknowledging shifts from the traditional notion of national security, to forms of security located from the individual to the global. Security is conceptualised in this module as a pattern of relations designed to manage risk through collaboration, competition and compromise; its opposites are vulnerability, insecurity and terror. The module investigates processes and phenomena that pose direct threats to groups of people and, in doing so, potentially destabilise or aggravate situations. Famine, financial volatility and AIDS undermine people physically, politically and psychologically, and on occasions result in further forms of insecurity as people resist, retaliate or take advantage of the situation.

The module provides students with the opportunity to engage critically with the complex configurations of institutions, politics and normative claims that underpin migration-related policy (with an emphasis on contemporary policy developments, although these are situated in an historical perspective). It also challenges students to explore alternative policy approaches.

This course is intended for students interested in analysing how climate change, especially the discourse and policies around it, might be leading to a new global configuration of social forces around extractive industries and renewable energy. Adopting a political economy approach, this course will focus on how different actors, notably from the fossil fuel sector (oil, gas, and coal), agribusiness, nation-states from the South and the North, as well as civil society organisations and social movements, are trying to influence and navigate the changing global discourse on climate change and energy transition in order to push their agendas and understandings of sustainable development.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the major debates surrounding environment and development, and to provide a broader understanding of the North-South dimensions of environmental governance. In this course students will be engaged in the debates about governing the environment at various scales, and how they interlink with dynamics of development. The environment is an ideal arena to examine this because of the transboundary nature of environmental change, which necessarily implies policies that link the local and the global through a series of networks ranging from states to NGOs to international organisations.

This course fills a gap in the subjects offered under the Development Studies (and other Departmental) programme(s). Health and disease has been a major feature of development policy, both in the recent period (Millennium Development Goals), and historically (since the world’s first aid Act sanctioned, in 1929, improving health as a legitimate use of foreign aid).

The growth of cities is one of the key features of our times. Today more than half of the world population lives in cities, and developing countries have sustained decades of rapid and sustained urbanisation. This course will explore a) the key academic debates on the relationship between cities and development; b) the key factors driving the growth of cities in developing countries, from colonial times to the present and c) its implications for development.

The placements will be with organisations engaged in development work; some placements will be online (enabling students to work in organisations elsewhere in the world), others will be in the UK. The placement involves students participating in development-related NGOs. These may specialise in research, campaigning, para-legal work, policy, aid, gender, racial justice, labour etc. The aim is to allow students' prior academic studies to inform and enrich their experience of professional practice, and the exposure to professional practice will in turn inform and enrich their analysis of development practices and processes. The placement will also provide invaluable experience as they embark on careers after graduating.

Structural Change and Economic Development in Africa (SCEDA) is a pioneering module that is a product of the partnership between SOAS (Department of Development Studies, CODEF) in London and the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance (NMSPG) in Cape Town. The module has been designed by and will be delivered by staff in both institutions. Delivery is hybrid: each week a lecturer in one institution will give an on campus lecture while students (and a staff moderator) at the other institution will attend remotely, in a virtual classroom.

Students will be exposed to the leading scholarly expertise and practitioner experience at SOAS and the NMSPG. Students will not merely listen to lectures presented in both institutions but engage actively in group discussions with students in both classrooms, in Cape Town and London.

The module examines the historical performance of, constraints on, and prospects for African economic development and structural change, taking particular note of the context of climate change and shifting global geo-politics. It engages critically with prominent narratives of the impossibility of industrialization on the continent and it highlights how unevenness and variation in policy and performance, within and between African countries, helps shed light on the scope of the possible. It looks at inter-sectoral linkages, industrial policy, trade and the balance of payments, and financing levels and mechanisms. The module also examines social inequalities, labour, health & education, and poverty reduction from a structural change perspective.