MA Peace and Conflict Studies / Course details

This interdisciplinary MA explores the processes through which actors have attempted to define and build peace in areas affected by war and violence, particularly since the end of the Cold War.

Drawing on expertise from the fields of politics, history, anthropology and the arts, this newly revamped course will offer you the opportunity to engage with conflict management, conflict resolution, conflict transformation, peacebuilding and statebuilding theories and practices.

Moreover, the programme will critically address the conceptualization of peace and the implementation of peacebuilding projects by global, regional, national and local actors, including the UN, the International Financial Institutions, development agencies and donors, INGOs, and local organisations in conflict-affected environments.

In particular, it will focus on social agency for peace, the question of the nature of the `peaceful state', and the ever-fraught question of the reform of the international system.

The dynamics of these various contributions to peace will be the focus of a guided research visit with the range of peace and conflict management actors present in either Bosnia Herzegovina or Cyprus (in Semester 2).

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.

The programme is developed to offer a novel configuration for research and teaching which will uniquely associate perspectives of practitioners, non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners, theoreticians, policy makers and analysts in sustained intellectual engagement.

Additional voluntary workshops and events throughout the year further enhance study including:

• case briefings (e.g. Timor Leste, Sri Lanka, Arab Uprisings);
• policy sessions:UN system and INGOs;
• Manchester Peace and Social Justice Walk; and
• workshops with key thinkers in the field

You will also benefit from additional activities, such as:

• student organised trips;
• case study internships;
• attendance at the annual peacebuilding conference in Manchester and participation in student panels.

Research trip

The fieldtrip is a working research trip. It is linked to the semester two core course unit on conflict sensitive research methods. The fieldtrip will take place towards the end of second semester and is designed to allow you to use, in a safe space, the research methodologies you've discussed in class.

The fieldtrip is to challenge the notion of conflict tourism, and instead to encourage research responsibility. That means that the fieldtrip is largely student organised, with students taking responsibility for organising meetings, being on time, making sure that research subjects are consenting to talking etc.

Experience of this research organisation is an important learning opportunity. The fieldtrip is not primarily about the information (data) gathered during the trip but also about the processes whereby the data is gathered.

These encourage us to think about the responsibilities of the researcher, the ethics involved and the sensitivities required in dealing with others.

Accommodation and travel costs are covered by The University of Manchester.

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.