War and Peace Studies (MSc)

What does this master's programme entail?

Issues of war and peace have shaped societies for centuries. Although the academic disciplines of war studies and peace studies have traditionally evolved along separate paths, the War and Peace Studies track within the Crisis and Security Management (CSM) programme offers you a unique opportunity to engage with both fields in an integrated and interdisciplinary manner.

This track is designed to equip you with the analytical tools needed to understand and address both persistent and emerging challenges related to conflict and peace in today’s complex global landscape.

Throughout the programme, you will be taught by leading scholars and experienced practitioners in the fields of war studies, strategic studies, peace studies, and peacebuilding. You will explore theoretical and practical approaches to the causes, dynamics, and consequences of different types of conflict, including inter-state wars, civil wars, ethnic conflict, insurgencies, and hybrid warfare.

In addition, the track focuses on the conditions, strategies, and mechanisms necessary for building and sustaining peace. You will examine topics such as mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, civil society engagement, and innovative approaches to achieving positive peace. The curriculum also addresses contemporary and future security challenges, including the climate-security nexus; the implications of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, big data, cyber operations, and robotics; and the intersections of gender, peace, and security.

Across the academic year, your courses will examine cross-cutting issues from multiple perspectives, including those of individuals, states, coalitions of states, and international organisations such as the European Union, the African Union, the OSCE, NATO, and the United Nations. This multi-actor approach allows you to grasp the complexity of conflict and peacebuilding in practice.

By the end of the track, you will have developed a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental issues surrounding war and peace. You will combine strong conceptual, historical, and theoretical insights with practical, policy-relevant knowledge. This track is especially suitable if you are aiming for a career in defence, diplomacy, international security, mediation, international organisations, peacebuilding, civilian protection, or conflict resolution.

In this track you will

•    Be familiarized with the historical, conceptual and theoretical foundations of war and peace studies as well as with a wide range of core policy-relevant issues related to war and peace
•    Study and discuss the similarities and differences of the war studies and peace studies perspectives and how a combination of both allows you to analyze contemporary and future challenges from a holistic perspective 
•    Be introduced to the state of the art in academic research on war and peace; you will analyze major theories and policy-relevant evaluation frameworks for understanding, assessing and evaluating issues such as the causes, conduct and consequences of war, conditions and tools for the promotion of peace, major obstacles and challenges to peacebuilding and future dimensions of war and warfare
•    Be able to compare, contrast and synthesize analytical tools and insights from war and peace studies in order to formulate answers in a holistic manner to cross-cutting issues of war and peace   
•    Develop both academic and professional skills which enable you to apply academic insights to policy relevant issues in war and peace 
•    Obtain in-depth insights from both academic and practical perspectives on the core issues related to war and peace
•    Gain an understanding of the dilemmas and challenges facing practitioners 
•    Learn about the backgrounds and interests of as well as the interactions between the key actors and institutions involved in war and peace, at both the national and the international level
•    Engage with historical and current cases of war making and peacebuilding