War, intervention and development
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| 3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | No residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
All development management interventions must deal with complexity. TU875 examines the complexity of civil wars, exploring ways in which interventions can be developed that at worst ‘do no harm’, at best make for a just and lasting peace. A fundamental premise is that the first step is to understand the roots of the war and the goals of the various actors. Another is the need for a vision of what is a desirable society. On this basis, the course sets out the theory and illustrates the practice of the diverse skills that contribute to the making of a good intervention.
Course content
There have been more than 200 wars in the past half-century. Nearly all have been civil wars – wars within a single country. Although there have been many generalisations about civil wars, only one seems to hold true – each war is different. There are no 'best practice' handbooks; experience from one war is rarely applicable to another. Furthermore, many of the glib generalisations about civil wars, usually characterised by words and phrases like 'greed', 'tribe', 'ancient hatreds' or 'mindless violence', on investigation, turn out to be unsatisfactory explanations and thus poor guides for intervention.
Outside interveners have provoked wars and made many much worse. But outsiders are often an essential part of a peace process. They help to bring people together and to broker the social and economic changes that are needed to bring about a lasting peace. In some cases, military intervention has been essential to create the right conditions for building peace.
This course aims to give you tools that you can use to make your interventions positive rather than negative. A central premise of this course is each war is different, so the first step to improving intervention is to understand the root causes of the war and the roles and goals of the participants. You will study a variety of ways in which the causes of war can be analysed. You will also learn various mapping techniques, which will make it easier to visualise the history of the war and its actors. During the course we will explicitly challenge some of the assumptions made by the media, and many interveners, about the causes of war. There will be four case studies presenting detailed analyses of several wars.
Another central premise of this course is that peace-building, to be successful, must be done in context; there is no handbook to tell you how to do it. In part, context is about history, politics and economics. For this course, a key context is ‘development’. Development is increasingly seen as being the projects and other activities that development agencies carry out. But we argue that development is much more – it is a vision of what a desirable society should be, an historical change process, and deliberate efforts at improvement and reaching for that vision.
Civil war can result if change processes benefit one group and disadvantage another, or if one group feels its vision of a better society is being blocked by another group. Alternatively, a just and stable peace requires a developmental vision. Peace-building requires the management of historical change processes. It also requires many explicit interventions to resolve the root causes of civil war and to build the peace.
On this course, we insist that the goal of the intervener is to contribute to an equitable and lasting peace. But in such a complex environment, the priority of any outside actors must be to ensure that their actions do not make matters worse. This course will provide you with some of the special analytic tools needed to work in a wartime or postwar environment. These tools will help you look below the surface and understand the root causes of the war, and be better able to judge the possible impacts of your interventions.
Vocational relevance
This course will be relevant if you have already been an intervener in civil war or in postwar peace support operations, or expect to be in this role in the future. You may also be linked to a humanitarian or development organisation, an international institution, a government or a military body.
Entry
This course can be taken on its own or counted towards a qualification. If you are taking it as part of a postgraduate qualification, you must have adequate preparation for study at this level, usually demonstrated by a bachelors degree (or the equivalent) from a UK university. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
If you would like more information about the Development Management Programme, you can visit our website which incudes additional information on the courses and awards, recommended routes through the programme and details of special schemes. You could also try our study skills exercise.
Discount for students in non-OECD countries
If you are resident outside of Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey and the USA, you may be eligible for a discounted fee for this course. To enquire about/claim this discount, telephone + 44 (0)115 962 5451 ext 65972, or email us.
Qualifications
TU875 is a compulsory course in our
TU875 is an optional course in our
- Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Thinking in Practice (C72)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Development Management (D37)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Thinking in Practice (E28)
- MA in Social Sciences (F09)
- Master of Public Administration (F44)
- MSc in Development Management (F11)
- MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice (F47)
Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. These qualifications allow most postgraduate courses to count towards them. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
Excluded combinations
Sometimes you will not be able to count a course towards a qualification if you have already taken another course with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this course, visit our excluded combination finder or check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service before registering.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
The course materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklet Meeting Your Needs which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Study guide, course textbook, audio CD/DVD, video CD/DVD, and mapping toolkit CD.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. Some of your course software will be provided on disk.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you can use an Apple Mac or Linux computer if you can run Windows using Boot Camp or similar.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will be responsible for monitoring your progress on the course, marking and commenting on your written work and whom you can contact for advice and guidance. Your tutor will mediate an online forum for your tutor group in which participation is optional. A programme of face-to-face tutorials will be arranged at one or two UK locations and students will also have the opportunity to engage in synchronous online tutorials. There is also a separate online forum for all students on the course.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in May and November 2010. We expect it to be available twice a year.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
A postgraduate course in Environment, Development and International Studies.
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