Governance and Development

Contents

The Master´s programme in Governance and Development offers two tracks with specific objectives, courses and target audiences. The first track explores governance and development issues against the background of violent conflict and the challenge of post-conflict state reconstruction. The second addresses governance and development challenges from the particular perspective of local institutions and poverty reduction.

Track 1: Governance and Conflict

The Governance and Conflict track focuses on the actors and factors involved in the governance dimensions of development in the particular contexts of conflict-prone environments and states that face a multitude of reconstruction challenges after violent conflict. A theoretical but at the same time contextualised insight is offered in the political economy of governance and development, with focus on the state as a central actor in a nation´s development process.

The track furthermore explores critical dimensions, drivers and dynamics of violent conflict, peace and conflict resolution processes and post-conflict state reconstruction. It adopts a thematic perspective, supplemented with in-depth case-studies drawn from Sub-Saharan Africa. Students receive analytical as well as policy-oriented tools that prepare them for knowledge-based interventions, in particular in conflict-affected environments.

This study track is intended for participants with a variety of disciplinary backgrounds who are professionally active in conflict-prone environments or post-conflict situations or who are interested in policy-oriented research on these topics. Participants should have work experience in the public action domain, either within government institutions (including public research institutions), donor agencies (including international non-governmental organisations, bilateral and multilateral donors) or civil society (including advocacy groups, research institutes and universities).

Track 2: Local governance and poverty reduction

The `Local Governance and Poverty Reduction´ track focuses on the interaction between (trans)national and local actors in governance processes. Decentralisation has become an important part of the agenda for governance reform and democratisation in many countries. Likewise, public service provision and property rights issues can hardly be discussed without taking due account of local-level institutions and political dynamics. The partial autonomy of local levels of decision-making is part and parcel of countries characterised by weak or fragile national-level state structures and it requires careful scrutiny in the conceptualisation and assessment of development initiatives. Special attention is also paid to the dynamics of poverty and the politics of poverty reduction.

The track is intended for participants who are professionally active or interested in research on the interface between the (trans)national and the local level and/or between state and non-state development actors. Students should have work experience in the public action domain, either within government institutions (including public research institutions), donor agencies (including international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral donors) or civil society (including research institutes, universities).

Courses

• Module I (12 weeks - 18 credits)o Theories of Development: provides an overview of recent evolutions in the literature on the politics and economics of development, and on poverty and inequality

Research Methods I and II: update of contemporary quantitative and qualitative research methods; possibilities for combining these methods and applying them within ongoing development processes.

• Module II: Governance for Development (9 weeks - 12 credits)This module deals with the particular nature of the state in developing countries and how it impacts on (under)development and conflict. Further, it analyses how the division of wealth and power among (ethnic and other) identity groups and their elites affect poverty, inequality and growth. It also considers the role, the potential and the constraints of global and decentralised governance structures as well as civil society within the context of the development process. The module is organised by the Thematic Group `The Political Economy of the Great Lakes´.

Track 1: Governance and Conflict

Module III: From violent conflict to state reconstruction (9 weeks - 12 credits)The module is organised by the Thematic Group `The Political Economy of the Great Lakes´.This module first defines basic concepts and, adopting a political economy perspective, highlights contemporary trends and addresses root causes and explanatory factors of conflict. It subsequently focuses on conflict resolution policies and practices and the constraints and challenges faced by a range of actors (mediators, peacekeepers, donors, etc). Finally, it addresses key political, socioeconomic and governance dimensions of state reconstruction and development after violent conflict.

Track 2: Local governance and poverty reduction

Module III: Local Institutions and Poverty Reduction (9 weeks - 12 credits)This module is organised by the Thematic Group `The Political Economy of the Great Lakes´. It deals with the particular nature of the state in developing countries and how it impacts on (under)development and conflict. Further, it analyses how the division of wealth and power among (ethnic and other) identity groups and their elites affect poverty, inequality and growth. It also considers the role, the potential and the constraints of global and decentralised governance structures as well as civil society within the context of the development process.

Module IV: Dissertation (15 weeks - 18 credits)To be developed on the basis of one of the assignments written at the end of either module II or III.