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.”
Negotiated settlements in civil wars are relatively rare and have a high risk of renewed violence. The political and economic motivations of rebel groups have been studied to explain the success and failure of peace processes. The objective of this research is to develop theory that explains variation in the outcome of peace processes with rebel groups. First, there is a need to explain why rebel groups with an industrial interest in war sometimes do engage in peace negotiations, and why negotiations are followed by a rich diversity in terms of settlement. Second, there is a need to explain variation in post-settlement insecurity. In some cases, after a settlement has been reached, violence against civilians persists even if the rebel group continues to profess commitment to the agreement. In other cases, the conflict is ‘frozen’ but episodic armed battle takes place.
I propose that to explain variation in the outcome of peace processes it is essential to look at the internal dynamics and organisational interests of rebel groups. In particular, I focus on the control of rebel territory. Rebel groups create a system of governance to control their territory, constituting rebel enclaves. A rebel enclave is an unrecognised space or territory controlled by insurgents. Rebel enclaves are governed through private authority, depending on illicit channels of trade and communication. Building on recent micro-level analyses of rebel groups, this research explores in particular how the hegemonic or contested private authority in rebel enclaves impacts the outcome of the peace process.