International Conflict Studies

The programme provides students with a comprehensive understanding of international conflict. It combines the intellectual endeavour associated with advanced learning and the practical policy implications emerging from particular approaches used in the study of conflict at regional, transnational, and global levels of interaction. This programme is designed to have broad ranging appeal to those interested in pursuing graduate studies in the field of international relations and conflict studies. Those who may find this programme to be of particular interest include: graduates in political science, history, international relations and economics, those who have experience in the development field and those who have worked with international organisations.

The MA programme provides students with a comprehensive understanding of international conflict. It aims to melt together theory and practice, providing advanced engagement with the theoretical and philosophical aspects of the subject as well as training in the investigation and analysis of specific cases of conflict. It enables students to engage critically with the application of social and political theory in developing an understanding of the origins, dynamics, and resolution of international and transnational conflict and political violence.

Students on this programme will examine the impact of globalisation on the complexities of present-day conflict; the politics of identity and how it relates to the emergence of violent conflict; the relationship between security, insecurity and the politics of violence at international level; the politics of security and how this relates to human rights and policies surrounding migration; the relationship between language and violent conflict; the place of cultural and gender difference in relation to conflict and peace, as well as the political and ethical implications of the diverse theoretical and methodological approaches in the study of conflict, violence, and peace.

Students specialising in this field emerge with advanced knowledge of the intellectual tools necessary for the understanding of late modern conflict and political violence and the capacity to utilise these in innovative thinking relating to the specific issue areas confronting global society in the present era.

The International Conflict Studies Programme Director is the head of the Centre for International Relations, one of the research centres in the Department of War Studies.