
King's College London - Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy
MA in Conflict Resolution in Divided SocietiesLondon, United Kingdom
DEGREE TYPE
MA
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 35,800 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* first application deadline
** International students | UK students: £19,550 per year
Key Summary
Introduction
The Conflict Resolution in Divided Societies MA offers a multidisciplinary, comparative study of national, ethnic and religious conflicts in deeply divided societies. It is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skillset needed to pursue conflict resolution as a career, working in NGOs, humanitarian agencies, diplomacy, think tanks, academia, consultancy, journalism, and law. You will learn how conflict can be resolved peacefully through a range of tools like complex constitutional engineering, truth and reconciliation processes, and grassroots movements. The MA focuses on case studies from the Middle East and around the world, bringing to life the theoretical literature on the causes and consequences of conflict, conflict regulation, and peace processes.
Key benefits
- Learn about the relationship between religion, identity, and ethnic conflict; international diplomacy, power-sharing, and conflict resolution; truth and reconciliation, memory, and post conflict transformation.
- Learn how to shape and change futures and maintain existing conflict resolution infrastructures.
- Interact with leading practitioners from a range of institutions, such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the British Council, the media, and civil society organisations.
- Build strong intellectual and methodological foundations for further research, including skills for archival research as well as qualitative research methodologies for the social sciences.
- Study a well-established degree taught by the world-renowned experts from the Department of War Studies whose courses are research led and policy relevant.
- Engage with the latest debates on conflict resolution through regular public lectures organised by the department and its research clusters.
- Join a global network of alumni working in positions in media, diplomacy, think tanks, academia, consultancy, journalism, humanitarian agencies, NGOs and law.
Course essentials
This Conflict Resolution in Divided Societies MA offers a multidisciplinary, comparative study of national, ethnic and religious conflicts in deeply divided societies. You’ll learn about topics such as the dynamics of nationalism, sectarianism and identity; the role of civil society in peace processes, truth and reconciliation commissions; and the role of collective memory.
You’ll begin with a core module on conflict and coexistence in divided societies, before choosing from a variety of optional modules to tailor your expertise. For example, you could specialise in the Middle East and learn about its divided cities and contested states and the international politics of the region. You could choose to study broader topics such as diplomacy and foreign policy, state failure and state building, and transdisciplinary approaches to (in)security. Or you could focus on power-sharing agreements, transitional justice and international criminal law, and comparative civil laws.
Teaching will be brought to life through the review of case studies on conflicts in Northern Ireland, Syria, Iraq, Bosnia and Israel-Palestine.
Duration: One year full-time, September to September, two years part-time
Admissions
Curriculum
Structure
Required modules
Courses are divided into modules. You will take modules totalling 180 credits.
You are required to take the following modules:
- Dissertation (60 Credits)
- Conflict & Coexistence in Divided Societies (30 credits)
Optional modules
In addition, you are required to take 90 credits from a range of optional modules if a full-time student. If you are a part-time student you will typically take 30 credits (or up to 60 credits) from a range of optional modules in your first year that may include the below:
- Culture, religion and identity in contemporary conflicts (15 credits)
- Divided Cities, Contested States: Urban Violence and Transformation in the Middle East (15 credits)
- Power-Sharing Agreements in Deeply Divided Societies (15 credits)
- Contemporary War & Warfare (30 credits)
- Comparative Civil Wars (30 credits)
- State Failure & State Building (15 credits)
- Transitional Justice & International Criminal Law (15 credits)
- International Politics of the Middle East (30 credits)
- Diplomacy & Foreign Policy (30 Credits)
Or choose from a range of optional modules available within the Department of War Studies.
Please Note: the optional modules available change each year and are therefore only made accessible to enrolled students during the module allocation process.
At the start of the programme, you will be asked to select several optional modules in preference order. The department will then allocate you the required number of optional credits. Please note, that whilst we endeavour to give all students their top choice preferences, this will not always be possible due to limited spaces on each module.
As a part-time student, in your first year, you will take Conflict & Coexistence in Divided Societies and up to 60 credits worth of optional modules. In your second year, you will write your dissertation (60 credits) and make up your remaining credits from optional modules.
King’s College London reviews the modules offered regularly to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, the modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.
Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Our graduates take the skills that they develop to become leaders in the public and private sectors, academia, government, diplomacy and journalism. Students in our MA courses have gone on to build careers in further academic research, NGOs, civil service, NATO, UN, media and publishing, finance and investment, teaching, and the armed forces.