MA Peace and Conflict Studies / Course details

With peace processes collapsing into war in many places around the world, there has never been a more important time to study how and why peace processes succeed or fail. With the help of award-winning academics, our Peace and Conflict Studies master's course will build your understanding of that process.

You will learn about the challenges of resolving conflicts and preventing their recurrence, focussing particularly on contexts which have been affected by conflict since the end of the Cold War.

This course has a particular focus on the actors responsible for building peace, from grassroots agents to intergovernmental organisations like the United Nations. It will also empower you to critically evaluate the very notion of peace itself from postcolonial, gender and global justice perspectives.

Throughout the course you will develop skills in critical enquiry, conflict analysis, critical thinking, presenting research and team work.

At the point of completion, you will be well placed for a career in international and regional organisations, policy analysis, the NGO and international NGO sector, foreign ministries and development agencies.

You will be able to develop a critical understanding of:

1. Key issues and debates related to the theories in Peace and Conflict Studies such as conflict management, conflict resolution, conflict transformation. We will investigate how thinking about peace has changed across the different generations of theorising, with particular reference to the main debates in International Relations theory.

2. Concepts and practices used within the international peace architecture, especially peace negotiations, mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and statebuilding. We will examine how these practices are supposed to work together and explain why peace processes stagnate or falter despite such concerted efforts.

3.  The range of international actors and organisations, their policies and practices, and the benefits as well as shortcomings of their interventions. Here, we will also analyse the factors that are blocking international and localised efforts to promote peace.

4. The range of social science topics that influence peacebuilding, statebuilding, conflict management, etc., (including political, historical, anthropological understandings of peace and related programming strategies). Students will become familiar with the methodological and normative underpinnings of these disciplines.

5. The analytical and policy literature concerning peacebuilding, international governance structures, statebuilding, and the role of key actors and institutions including NGOs and military and other security actors. Students will be able to evaluate the theory and policy tools in the context of the recent history of peacebuilding and statebuilding since the end of the Cold War.

6. An understanding of local approaches to peacebuilding, including an awareness of the problems and critiques associated with `bottom up' approaches. Students will examine current debates on the nature of everyday peace and hybrid forms of peace, related questions about `local agency' and forms of resistance, activism, and social mobilisation.

7. You will experience the on-the-ground realities of peacebuilding and statebuilding through a research fieldtrip to Bosnia and Herzegovina or Cyprus. You will encounter the range of actors involved in the peace process (from international to regional, national, and local actors) and you will be able to conduct your own research.

This course offers a novel configuration for research, teaching and practical inquiry. It uniquely examines the perspectives of peace practitioners, researchers and policymakers within the broader international peace architecture.

As a student, you will have the opportunity to enhance your learning with voluntary workshops, including:

• country-specific case briefings;
• discussion of policy analysis with UN staff;
• a specially dedicated Peace and Conflict Studies speaker series with key thinkers in the field;
• Manchester Peace and Social Justice Walk.

You will also benefit from additional activities such as:

• conflict mapping internship;
• attending the annual peacebuilding conference in Manchester, where you can participate in a student panel

Research trip (usually to Bosnia Herzegovina)

Throughout the field trip, you will develop conflict-sensitive research skills. Linked to the semester two course on research methods, you will utilise the techniques learnt in class in a practical environment.

You will meet policymakers, staff of international and regional organisations (such as the UN, OSCE, EU, OHR), and local peacebuilders. Afterwards, you will carry out your own small-scale research project. You will be encouraged to reflect on the multi-layered nature of peacemaking.

The fieldtrip is not primarily about the data gathered, but helps you experience the complexity of peacemaking first-hand.

Accommodation and travel costs are included in your student fees.

Delivery of the course will take a range of forms, including lectures, seminars, tutorials, directed reading, a research/field trip and independent study. Much of the delivery will be problem based/enquiry-based learning.

This MA will be influenced and informed by the research of both staff and postgraduate research students at the department including research projects on:

• political space in the aid industry;
• local/hybrid approaches to peacebuilding;
• the contribution of BRICS nations to peace and security programming;
• critical peace studies;
• the role of the state in peace and security programming;
• ethnographic approaches to understanding violence;
• refugees and internally displaced persons;
• the political economy of conflict;
• performance in conflict zones.

Students will be assessed through several methods, with the aim of building up numerous academic and professional skills. 

Forms of assessment will include:

• research essays (3,000+ words);
• the running of group workshops;
• reflective journals/learning logs;
• contribution to group discussion boards (electronically);
• oral presentations;
• literature reviews/research design.

Manchester's learning resources are world-famous. The John Rylands University Library , with over 4.5m books and vast archives of historical material and rare volumes, is second to none.