This exciting programme offers a critical examination of the contemporary process of globalisation and how it influences the developing world, both before and after the ongoing global crisis. The MSc Globalisation and Development blends, in equal measure, critical analysis of mainstream thinking, alternative theories and practices, and case studies of political, social and cultural aspects of globalisation and development.

This degree draws its strength from the unrivalled expertise at SOAS in development problems and processes. The programme is of interest for development practitioners, activists, and students with a scholarly interest in how globalisation influences the developing world, and how the poor majority responds to these challenges.

Highlights include:

• Critical and historical approaches to globalisation and their relationship to neoliberalism, imperialism and US global hegemony.
• Contemporary globalising processes – capital flows, state-market relations, transnational corporations, global commodity chains, inequality and poverty on a global scale.
• Transformation of work in the age of globalisation – new types of work, informalisation and precarisation, labour migration, agrarian change and gender relations.
• Globalisation and imperialism – post-Cold War imperial and civil wars, global and regional challengers to US hegemony: China and Russia.
• Globalisation, democracy and culture – human rights, democratisation, cosmopolitanism, standardisation, homogenisation.
• Alternatives to neoliberal globalisation – global labour movement, transnational social movements and NGOs, environmental issues.

Students can draw on SOAS's unique expertise to specialise further in particular regions or topics. Please see 'Structure' for details on core and optional modules.

Part-time Study:

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.

Start of programme: September intake only

Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time

Who is this programme for?:

This programme is designed for those who want to understand global processes and development, and for those who want to work on, or analyse, development related tasks and issues. It is also highly relevant to anyone working, or intending to work, in development advocacy, policy making, and global development policy analysis, in the NGO sector, government agencies, and international development organisations.

We welcome students with a strong background in the social sciences in their first degree, but we also welcome students who have worked in the area of development, or in a related field.

Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60 credit dissertation.

Core modules: A core module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken and passed before you move on to the next year of your programme.

Compulsory modules: A compulsory module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken, and if necessary can be passed by re-taking it alongside the next year of your programme.

Optional modules: These are designed to help students design their own intellectual journey while maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.

Dissertation

Core Modules

Students also take ONE of the following: 

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 Globalisation and Development Programme Specification (pdf; 246kb)

Important notice

Materials

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 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

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.

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.

Pre Entry Reading

Recommended Preparatory Readings for Course

• Benería, L., G. Berik, and M. Floro (2016), Gender, Development and Globalization: Economics as If All People Mattered
• Haslam, P. A., J. Schafer, and P. Beaudet, eds. (2017), Introduction to International Development: Approaches, Actors, Issues, and Practice
• Scholte, J. A. (2005), Globalization: A Critical Introduction
• Sparke, M. (2013), Introducing Globalization: Ties, Tensions, and Uneven Integration
• Veltmeyer, H. and P. Bowles, eds. (2017), The Essential Guide to Critical Development Studies

A postgraduate degree in Globalisation and 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 Globalisation and 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.

Former graduates have gone on to work for:

• A multitude of NGOs, including: Amnesty International, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, Progressio, Engineers without Borders, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, UK Trade Union Congress, Fairfood International, Feeding the 5000, Health Poverty Action, Islamic Relief, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Project Harar, RedR, Village Service Trust, VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas), Campaign for Female Education and African Vision Malawi.
• A range of media, research, consultancy and development funding institutions, including DAI, The Economist, Demos, Intitut Bioforce, Impactt, Internet Matters, Parnter International Institute for Environment and Development, Qatar University, International Centre for Parliamentary Studies, Palladium, PartnersGlobal, Prague Security Studies Institute, Rift Valley Institute, Chambers & Partners, Claret Market Research and Control Risks.
• Various government agencies, United Nations and international organisations, including in the UK the Department for International Development, the Department Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat, OFGEM; in Japan the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank, the World Food Programme.
• Many private sector organisations, including BP, Hitachi, etc

Alumni have taken up many kinds of roles, for example as business development co-ordinator, campaign officer, civil servant, communications and information officer, corporate social responsibility specialist, field manager, freelance researcher, fundraising co-ordinator, gender and rural growth consultant, monitoring and rural growth consultant, policy advisor, programme officer/manager, project manager, research and development manager and union organiser.