Course description

MSc International Development: Politics, Governance and Development Policy examines the obstacles to, and pathways towards, more legitimate, democratic and pro-poor forms of governance at global, national and local levels - a topic that is currently centre-stage on the international development agenda.

The course interrogates the discursive paradigms and material interventions in the area of politics and governance, which has moved to the centre of the international development agenda since the late 1980s.

It is therefore ideal if you're interested in the many ways that politics is critical to the success of development, and would like to examine the 'lived' or 'real' politics in developing countries and the dynamics underpinning change.

Aims

Provide critical insights into different theoretical and disciplinary perspectives on the politics and governance of development.

Develop your analytical skills in critically evaluating and employing different theories of politics, governance and policy analysis.

Provide you with an opportunity to deepen your understanding of the how politics, governance and the formulation and implementation development policy interact in the global South.

Provide critical insights into the key strategies, policies and practices currently employed to promote `good governance' and improved policy processes in the global South.

Develop professionally-oriented skills related to formulating, investigating and implementing different approaches to promoting good governance.

Provide a wide range of options for advanced training in areas of specialist expertise relevant to politics, governance and development policy.

Develop advanced competencies in transferable areas, including developing reasoned arguments, gathering, organising and using evidence and information from a wide variety of sources, undertaking both team-based and independent work to deadlines, and both written and verbal forms of communication.

Assist you in developing your specialist area of expertise within the field of politics, governance and development policy, and applying their understanding and skills through supervised individual research culminating in a dissertation.

Special features

We're the largest development-focused teaching and research institute in Europe, and have been at the forefront of development studies for more than 60 years.

We're ranked 14th in the world for development studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018).

We're dedicated to addressing global poverty and inequality.

Our research was ranked first in the UK for impact and second in the UK for quality in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).

We're home to a multicultural community of 450 students from 30 countries.

We have numerous scholarship opportunities for outstanding applicants.

Our alumni are recognised for their contribution to global development across the globe.

The combined field experience of our staff covers 60 countries.

We've trained almost 10,000 individuals from more than 170 countries.

Many of our master's include fieldwork, giving you the opportunity to observe development interventions in situ and to reflect on how theoretical explorations of development are operationalised in the real world. Recent destinations include Uganda, South Africa and Cyprus. Find out more at  Fieldwork

Teaching and learning

An overseas field visit is an integral part of the course. Recent fieldtrip locations have included Uganda, Ghana, Sri Lanka and India.

Please note that field visits may be scheduled at any point during the course, including during University vacations. You are expected to be available to attend.

Part-time students complete the full-time programme over 27 months. There are no evening or weekend course units available on the part-time programme, therefore if you are considering taking a programme on a part-time basis, you should discuss the requirements with the Programme Director and seek approval from your employer to have the relevant time off.  Timetabling information is normally available from late August from the Programme Administrator and you will have the opportunity to discuss course unit choices during induction week with the Programme Director.

Coursework and assessment

The taught elements of the course, carrying 120 credits overall, is continuously assessed by a variety of methods (eg project-based reports, essays), involving largely individual submissions, but also elements of group work.

You must also complete a 12,000-15,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice approved by the Programme Directors. You are encouraged to base your dissertation on topics of direct professional concern.