Peace, Conflict, and Democracy Studies

The Master's programme in Peace, Conflict, and Democracy combines advanced methodological training in political science with practitioner perspectives, equipping you for a future career in government, international organisations, or academia. PECOD is suited for students who want to combine rigorous analysis with practical perspectives on complex conflict- or democracy-related challenges in an international context.

About the Master`s Programme in Peace, 
Conflict, and Democracy Studies

Social scientists have identified two significant global challenges: a rise in armed conflict worldwide and a backsliding of democracy. Two broad research traditions explore these issues: peace research, and democracy and regime research. PECOD is one of the few MA programmes bridging these two fields of study, with the purpose of addressing some of the most important challenges of our time.

Peace and democracy go hand in hand, both theoretically and practically. While democracy is the peaceful competition for political power, autocracy represents political competition through either outright violence or the threat of violence. Furthermore, political regime type is deeply connected to armed conflict, at both the international and domestic levels.

PECOD aims to answer a range of key questions, such as:

• What are the causes of war, regime change, autocratization, and democratization?
• How do we define and measure different types of war, democracy, autocracy, and regime change?
• How do political regimes (democracy-autocracy) affect patterns of armed conflict around the world?
• How does the political regime type shape the conditions for domestic political violence?

Career prospects

PECOD will make you highly attractive in both the public and the private sectors. The degree will give you a strong basis for applying for jobs within sectors and institutions such as:

• Government agencies, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• International organisations, such as the UN and NATO
• Aid organisations and other NGOs
• Research institutions
• Media

The programme qualifies for the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences

Read more about Work-life-Relevance, Competence Awareness, and Practical Components in our Studies

Student life

• You will be part of a vibrant study environment at the Department of Political Science with access to facilities allowing for collaboration with peers and social activities.
• Your fellow students are highly skilled and motivated students from around the world.

• You will have a student council that constantly works for a social and good learning environment.

  Read more about student life at the department of political science

Honours certificate

Are you academically ambitious? It is possible to supplement your master`s degree with an honours certificate worth 20 credits. You take the certificate concurrently with the master`s programme.

Read more about our interdisciplinary certificates.