Overview and entry requirements

MSc Environment, Politics and Development programme takes a critical political ecology frame and examines environmental policy and its intersections with development from a social justice angle. It is taught and convened by leading political ecologists and offers a critical analysis of key issues including water, forestry, climate, fisheries, agricultural production, biodiversity, conflicts and energy supply.

The masters asks important questions including:

• How does the environment intersect with global  poverty, wealth and questions of inequality?
• Can Carbon trading offer a solution to managing climate change?
• How does access to water intersect with dynamics of wealth and poverty?
• Is wildlife conservation implicated in social injustices?
• What role can and do environmental movements play in development?
• Is there a link between environmental change and violent conflict?
• What is the political ecology of forests?

The MSc programme’s emphasis on transferable analytical skills has been of great benefit to the many graduates who have returned to, or taken up, professional careers in development in international organisations, government agencies and non-government organisations. Students also benefit from the wide range of modules on offer, both within the Department and across the School, allowing them to create individualised interdisciplinary programmes.

See Department of Development Studies

Part-Time

Students can take this programme part-time over 2 or 3 years. Students usually complete their core modules in Year 1 and their option modules and dissertation in subsequent years.  

Why study MSc Environment, Politics and Development at SOAS

• we are ranked number 5 in the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Development Studies
• we are specialists within the humanities including in key topics such as international development, gender development, violence and conflict, environmental sustainability, the role of aid and trade in promoting development, as well as refugees and forced migration
• our staff have unrivalled practical knowledge across the discipline and regularly inform organisations such as the UN, NGOs and international governments 
• as well as the curriculum knowledge you will also obtain a rich historical and cultural
  knowledge about the countries and regions in which you may work in
• you will be able to flexibly structure your programme using our Open Options modules to take advantage of the expertise of our other departments, including the opportunity to learn a language
• we are specialists in the delivery of languages. Your command of a language at SOAS will set you apart from graduates of other universities 

Explore

• Development Studies Research
• A Career in Humanitarian Aid and Food Security

Programme Code: PGTF0039/PGTP0059/PGTP0060

Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings

Start of programme: September intake only

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Who is this programme for?:

The programme attracts applications from students with a variety of academic and experiential backgrounds. We welcome applications from those who have worked in a broad field of development, but also from students without relevant work experience who can demonstrate a strong interest in, and understanding of, environment-development issues. A good first degree in a social science is preferred.

Structure

Dissertation

Core Modules

Plus choose one of the below core modules:

Compulsory Modules

• Choose modules to the value of 30 credits from the Development Studies modules list below

Optional Modules

Choose module(s) to the total value of 30 credits from:

• module(s) from the Development Studies list below to the value of 30 credits
• open option modules to the value of 30 credits from another department
• module from the Development Studies list below to the value of 15 credits
• open option modules to the value of 15 credits from another department

Non-Assessed Module

All MSc students in Development Studies are eligible to attend the one-term, non-assessed module Economics for Beginners, which introduces students to basic concepts in microeconomics, macroeconomics, development economics, and statistics and econometrics.

List of Development Studies modules (subject to availability)

Programme Specification

• MSc Environment Politics Development Programme Specification 2020-21 _ SOAS University of London (pdf; 293kb)

Important notice

Teaching & Learning

Our teaching and learning approach is designed to support and encourage students in their own process of self-learning, and to develop their own ideas, responses and critique of international development practice and policy. We do this through a mixture of lectures, and more student-centred learning approaches (including tutorials and seminars). Teaching combines innovative use of audio-visual materials, practical exercises, group discussions, and weekly guided reading and discussions, as well as conventional lecturing.

Dissertation 

In addition to the taught part of the masters programme, all students will write a 10,000 word dissertation. Students develop their research topic under the guidance and supervision of an academic member of the Department. Students are encouraged to explore a particular body of theory or an academic debate relevant to their programme through a focus on a particular region.

Contact hours

All Masters programmes consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which optional.

As a rough guide, 1 credit equals approximately 10 hours of work. Most of this will be independent study, including reading and research, preparing coursework, revising for examinations and so on. It will also include class time, which may include lectures, seminars and other classes. Some subjects, such as learning a language, have more class time than others. At SOAS, most postgraduate modules have a one hour lecture and a one hour seminar every week, but this does vary.

More information is on the page for each module.

SOAS Library

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.5 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Pre Entry Reading

• Newsham, Andrew and Shonil Bhagwat (2016), Conservation and Development. Abingdon: Routledge, 412pp. https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415687812
• Robbins, P. (2012) Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell, second edition)
• Death, C. (ed) (2014) Critical Environmental Politics (Routledge)
• Bryant, R. (2015) The International Handbook of Political Ecology (Edward Elgar)

Tuition Fees

Full details of postgraduate tuition fees can be found on the Registry's Postgraduate Tuition Fees page.

This is a Band 5 tuition fee.

Fees for 2021/22 entrants. The fees below are per academic year. Fees go up each year, therefore, your tuition fee in your second & subsequent years of study will be higher. Our continuing students, on the same degree programme, are protected from annual increases higher than 5%.

Scholarships

For further details and information on external scholarships visit the Scholarships section

Employment

An MSc Environment, Politics & Development from SOAS provides graduates with a portfolio of widely transferable skills sought by employers, including analytical skills, the ability to think laterally and employ critical reasoning, and knowing how to present materials and ideas effectively both orally and in writing. Equally graduates are able to continue in the field of research, continuing their studies either at SOAS or other institutions.  

An MSc in Environment, Politics & Development is a valuable experience that provides students with a body of work and a diverse range of skills that they can use to market themselves with when they graduate. 

At the same time, the MSc provides the opportunity to take a step back and engage in critical reflection on working in the environment and development sector. Interventions led by even the most well-meaning government, civil society or private sector actors can have (well-documented) unintended, sometimes adverse, consequences for the very people they are intended to benefit.

Understanding how this might happen is key to learning how interventions might avoid these problems, and what kinds of intervention you would (not) wish to be part of in a professional capacity.

Organisations working in this sector, moreover, might in some cases support underlying visions of development – establishing conditions for free markets, including the construction of private property regimes and regulation intended to facilitate market exchange – which, in the view of some commentators, are actually drivers of environmental degradation, poverty and inequality. Knowing where you stand on such questions is necessary for deciding what kinds of change you want to contribute to (or resist), and how best to strategise for such change. 

Careers

SOAS Development Studies graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations, including:

• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
• DFID
• Aga Khan Foundation
• The Energy Institute
• Green Peace
• Deloitte and Mind
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius
• Liberty

Roles

Alumni have taken up various kinds of roles such as:

• Campaigns assistant
• Diplomat
• Policy and Political AdvisorProgramme Manager
• Technical Officer
• Urban Development Consultant

Visit SOAS Careers Service

• How to Apply
• Online Application
• Request a prospectus
• Got a question - use our enquiry form (opens a new window)
• Funding options
• English language requirements
• Tuition Fees
• Admissions Contacts