Global Studies with a Special Emphasis on Peace and Security in Africa

Globalisation processes are strongly linked to issues of peace and security as well as stability and development – not only in Africa. Globalisation processes, including colonisation, de-colonisation, the end of the Cold War, effects of 9/11, the 2008 economic and financial crisis, the so-called Arab Spring, the climate crisis and other current international developments have created particular challenges, risks, threats and vulnerabilities for the African continent. Globalisation is affecting Africa in specific ways, and globalisation processes (past and present) have implications for security in Africa. The increase in intra-state, civil wars and cross-border conflicts following the end of the Cold War is just one example. Durable peace and stability in Africa have been identified as preconditions for the development of the continent in a constantly globalising world. As such, peace and security research is of special interest to the region. The creation of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union and other related policy and research institutions are further point to this need. Linking the subject of “Peace and Security” to the field of “Global Studies” not only allows us to analyse the spatial context but also the global dimensions of peace and security in Africa. The aim of the programme is the interdisciplinary and transnational training of experts in peace and security issues, particularly on the African continent, with special consideration of the new global configurations in which these conflicts take place. Accordingly, the curriculum goes beyond the traditional focus of peace and security studies, integrating it with the knowledge scope of global studies. This unique Master's programme combines the expertise of two partner institutes in the fields of globalisation research (GESI) and "Peace and Security in Africa" (IPSS). The learning targets of the programme are as follows: to become familiar with different academic ways of looking at processes of globalisation to learn about how concepts of globalisation operated in the past and today in various world regions, specifically in Africa, and how processes of globalisation interact with aspects of peace and security to work with concepts from different analytical and theoretical perspectives to systematically compare socio-political concepts and configurations as well as to investigate their mutual interactions to gain insights into the production of social science knowledge and to relate knowledge production to concepts of globalisation and peace and security to become aware of one's own rootedness in a specific discipline and academic culture