Postgraduate Course: International Security and Development (Online Learning) (AFRI11013)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines the place of development in responses to conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. It will critically interrogate the common notion that development cannot take place without security and security cannot be achieved without development. The course will explore the historic context of the security-development nexus and the various ways it has shaped international interventions in conflict settings. |
| Course description |
The idea that security and development are mutually reinforcing has significantly shaped the way the international community responds to conflict, particularly in the Global South. This course critically interrogates the common notion that development cannot take place without security and security cannot be achieved without development. It will focus on the historic context of the security-development nexus and the types of interventions this concept has led to. In doing so, the course seeks to address a broad range of questions including: Does poverty make a country more prone to conflict? What is the role of foreign aid in responding to conflict and assisting in post-conflict reconstruction? How has it changed in recent decades? Whose security is the focus in international interventions? Has the development sector been securitized and if so, what effects does this have?
Indicative themes and topics:
Linking security and development: Whose security?
Historicizing the security-development nexus
Conflict dynamics and the conflict trap
Development actors in conflict settings
Aid and the war economy
Peacekeeping and peacebuilding
(Re)building state security forces
Privatized security
Justice after conflict
Alternative approaches
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
60% final essay (2500 words)«br /»
20% Etivity portfolio (700 1000 words)«br /»
20% Participation in weekly discussion forum |
| Feedback |
Feedback on all assessed work shall normally be returned within three weeks of submission. Where this is not possible, students shall be given clear expectations regarding the timing and methods of feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the core concepts that are central to the interdependent relationship between international security and development.
- Evaluate and synthesize different historic trends within the field of conflict and development, and articulate them clearly, both verbally and in written form
- Critically analyse the diverse forms of empirical evidence used to link security and development issues and the ways they shape policy towards and within the Global South.
- Demonstrate an independent analytical perspective that is grounded in an engagement with contemporary debates in the field of conflict and development
- Apply theoretical debates around security and development to current affairs across the globe.
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Reading List
Fisher, J. and Anderson, D.M. (2015) Authoritarianism and the securitization of development in Africa, International Affairs 91(1): 131-151.
Grimm, S., Lemay-Hébert, N. and Nay, O. (2014) Fragile States: Introducing a Political Concept,Third World Quarterly 35(2): 197-209.
Hampson, F.O., Özerdem, A. and Kent, J. (2020) Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security, and Development, London: Routledge.
Jackson, P. and Beswick, D. (2018) Conflict, Security and Development, 3rd ed., London: Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and enquiry through synthesizing and analysing empirical and theoretical material from a variety of sources
Communication through writing clearly about complex ideas using a range of credible sources
Personal and intellectual autonomy through the demonstration of informed, independent thought and critical judgement |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Maggie Dwyer
Tel: (0131 6)51 5076
Email: M.Dwyer@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Maria Brichs
Tel: (0131 6)51 3205
Email: mbrichs@ed.ac.uk |
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