The department is a lively community that is recognised internationally as one of the top centres for research and teaching in development studies.

Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
The ODID blog ran from 2012-19 and brought together commentary and analysis by staff, students, alumni and friends of the department on the issues we research.
The views expressed in posts do not necessarily reflect the views of ODID or of the University of Oxford. They should be understood as the personal opinions of the author.
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The Arab uprisings in 2011 were not just aimed at overthrowing authoritarian regimes but were also targeted at a well-entrenched system of economic privilege where those attached to the ruler’s insider circle had monopolized all economic opportunities.
For every regime that faced a popular backlash in the Middle East, there were some prominent businesses who became the symbol of corruption and injustice. In Egypt it was Ahmed Ezz, the steel magnate.
It is beyond dispute that various sociocultural, ideological, economic, and institutional barriers have historically ensured the exclusion of women from the political arena: the professional space in which...
And still they come. An apparently endless flotilla of rubber dinghies filled with migrants and refugees making their way across the Mediterranean to Europe. As the numbers and visibility of this migration...
Promotion of ‘self-reliance’ for refugees has occupied a central place in the policy arena of the international refugee regime in recent years. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)...
Until recently, scholarly works on formal policing institutions in Africa were few and far between, despite the fact that in countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and others, there are very large...
Making up the shortfall between global infrastructure investment needs and actual spending is high on the agenda for policy-makers and investors. According to McKinsey Global Institute, the world needs to...
Under the Trump administration, the United States has not only stepped back from its position of global leadership, but now actively plays a spoiler role in the governance agenda.
Summits are not just — or even mostly — about what happens in the formal leaders' meetings. What happens on the sidelines often has the largest impact on steering the course of international politics.
The linkages between parent’s circumstances, well-being, and aspirations and their children’s outcomes is a fundamental question for social scientists and policymakers in countries at all levels of...
In response to the need for more sustainable, just and healthy food systems, social innovators are experimenting with alternative models, notably through initiatives that combine agroecology with social and...
Today is the 16th United Nations' World Refugee Day, a day to recognize and honour refugees’ resilience, agency and capability.