International Development in the Americas MSc

This degree provides an interdisciplinary understanding of the most pressing global development challenges, from reducing inequality to tackling climate change, and how these play out in the Americas.

Students are encouraged to think critically about development and actively consider the factors that enable and hinder efforts to build economically prosperous, socially just, and environmentally sustainable societies.

The programme combines theoretical and practical training to prepare ‘agents of change’ capable of shaping the international development agenda.

Students are exposed to the most influential theories of development from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws insights from political economy, economics, sociology, history, and anthropology. They are also introduced to the practical frameworks and tools currently used by prominent development organisations to design, manage, and evaluate development programmes, projects, and advocacy campaigns. Furthermore, the programme offers solid complementary instruction in social science research methods and the opportunity to develop robust policy design and decision-making skills in collaboration with the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).

The programme’s core module entitled ‘International Development: Theory, Policy and Practice’ provides a solid introduction to prominent development theories and the most influential frameworks used by development practitioners before delving into the most pressing development challenges today, such as promoting climate justice, reducing inequalities, defending human rights, etc. Students can tailor their learning experience according to particular thematic interests and career aspirations by strategically choosing their optional modules.

Optional modules running in Academic Year 2024-25

• Latin American Economics

• Environment and Development in Latin America: Revisiting the Open Veins

• The Politics of Human Rights in Latin America: Challenges to Democratization

• Gender, Politics, and Public Policy in Latin America

• (In)Security in the Americas: Transnational Challenges

• The International Politics of Latin America

• Histories of Exclusion: Race and Ethnicity in Latin America

• The Latin American City: Social Problems and Social Change in Urban Space

• The Caribbean from the Haitian Revolution to the Cuban Revolution

• Environment and Science in the Making of Modern Latin America

• Making Decisions: Evidence and Evaluation (Policy Design module at IIPP)

• Transformation by Design (Policy Design module at IIPP)

Based in the UK’s largest hub for the study of the Americas, the programme offers unmatched expertise on the economic, political, social, and environmental dimensions of development processes shaping societies in the Americas. As evidenced in the REF2021, staff who deliver this programme have produced world-leading research that has shaped the development studies literature as well as informed the development policy of governments and NGOs. They have also provided expert advice and policy recommendations to the United Nations, the UK’s FCDO, Ministries throughout the Americas, and other renowned NGOs such as Oxfam.

Graduates of this MSc programme have successfully secured employment in international development organisations (e.g. UNDP, Red Cross), governmental bodies (e.g. FCDO, Banco de Mexico), NGOs operating in various countries (e.g. CAFOD, Stockholm Environment Institute), and media organisations (e.g. The Guardian Brazil). Others have pursued further studies at doctoral level at the most prestigious universities in the UK and the US.

Prospective students are more than welcome to contact the Programme Director, Dr Enrique Castañón Ballivián, for further information.