Introduction

The Department of International Development  was established in 1990 to promote interdisciplinary post-graduate teaching and research on processes of social, political and economic development and change. The Institute is dedicated to understanding problems of poverty and late development within local communities, national political and economic systems and in the international system.

International Development staff have considerable experience in living and working in the developing world and most have engaged in policy relevant research and consultancy work with international development agencies or non-governmental organisations. Students in our MSc and research programmes come from all over the world and upon graduation have successfully found employment in a wide variety of government, non-government, academic and private sector organisations working in the developing world.

Five clusters of interdisciplinary research expertise have emerged within the Institute:

1. Institutional Change, Institutional Reform and Governance
2. War Torn Societies, Human Rights and Complex Emergencies
3. Globalisation: International Financial Markets, Trade and Aid
4. Local Level Urban and Rural Livelihood Strategies
5. Rural Development, Agrarian Reform and Agrarian Change

In 2001 the Institute established the Development Research Centre, funded by the UK Department of International Development, to pursue research on Crisis and Breakdown in the Developing World in coordination with academic partners in the South.