The challenges posed by failed states, complex emergencies, civil wars, genocides, famines and other humanitarian crises show that security and development are closely linked today. Successful development and conflict resolution require the provision of security. Conversely, lack of development can breed insecurity and violence.
This MA analyses the complex relationships that lie at the heart of this development-security nexus in the global South, especially Africa, South Asia and the Middle East.
It focuses on three key areas:
-
First, the MA examines the extent to which destructive cycles of insecurity and violence affect the possibility of development for large sections of the world's population.
-
Second, it analyzes the difficulties that aid agencies, non-governmental organisations, governments, and international organizations encounter when trying to negotiate these spirals of violence and insecurity - be it through armed intervention, the provision of aid, the sponsoring of peace-building processes, or assisting states in post-conflict reconstruction.
-
Finally, the MA also investigates whether underdevelopment can be said to constitute a security threat. Some Western governments, for example, claim that underdevelopment in the global South could threaten their national security by facilitating the international spread of terrorist and criminal networks.
This MA employs expertise from International Relations as well as Development Studies, drawing upon Sussex's long-standing reputation for excellence in research and teaching in these areas. Sussex's interdisciplinary perspective on questions of peace, vulnerability and insecurity provides a distinctive grounding in concepts of conflict, security and development but also knowledge of the empirical problems associated with specific instances of this nexus.
In addition to attending weekly lectures and seminars, students are encouraged to participate in:
- Optional field trip to Brussels, with meetings at EU and NATO;
- Lecture series on New Security Challenges, involving high profile practitioners, policy-makers and analysts for [see video archive];
- Visiting practitioner and lecturer workshops on specific topics [see current year sessions];
- Regular Department of International Relations research seminars and guest lectures;
As with the IR Department's other MA programmes, this MA brings together students from a wide range of educational, national, political and professional backgrounds. It will be particularly relevant to those wishing to pursue a career in development, peace-building, international affairs, journalism, academic research, or those with a more general interest in insecurity in the global South and the IR Department is committed to provide help in identifying work-study placements in these fields.
Autumn term: you take two courses: (i) Conflict,Security and Development [PDF 114.86KB] (ii) New Security Challenges [PDF 103.49KB]
Spring term: you take any two selections from the options list.
Summer term and vacation: you take the short course Undertaking Research in International Relations [PDF 73.50KB], and then carry out work on the MA dissertation which is supervised during the summer term by a member of faculty.
