Birkbeck, University of London

WAR AND HUMANITARIANISM (MSC)

War and humanitarianism are deeply embedded in the modern experience. Be it in the nineteenth-century calls for civilising war or the contemporary attempts at saving distant strangers, the conduct of organised violence and the defence of human rights cannot be separated out.

This new interdisciplinary degree analyses the complex interaction between war and humanitarianism from multiple historical, geographical, political and cultural perspectives. It approaches war as a social totality that encompasses all manner of human processes and structures, and considers humanitarianism as an increasingly pervasive ideology, informing all sorts of collective social and political activity across the world.

Taught by leading scholars in the fields of history, geography, politics, philosophy and psychosocial studies, the programme will give you advanced knowledge of the concepts, theories, histories and policy implications of war and humanitarianism in the world today.