This interdisciplinary specialisation is offered in collaboration with departments in the Humanities Faculty, the UCT Law Faculty, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) and the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ).
Specialisation objectives:
This Master’s specialisation has been designed to locate current concerns and topical interests in justice and transformation in the more general perspectives of normative theory and comparative studies. It is inspired by the new directions in writing, research and teaching generated by the South African TRC-process but not confined to these. Instead, it links these new research interests and current debates in the area of transitional justice (including human rights law, conflict-resolution and peace-building, and social justice in transformation) with the more lasting intellectual perspectives provided by a thorough grounding in relevant academic disciplines.
Admission requirements:
At Master’s level: a good Honours degree or its equivalent.
Applicants should ideally have a major in, or some exposure to, Politics as an undergraduate subject. However, depending on which area of concentration the applicant is interested in, the following additional study backgrounds may be taken into account when assessing applications:
| Transitional Justice | Majors in Politics, History, Philosophy, Sociology, Literature |
| Human Rights | Senior courses in Law, LLB |
| Conflict Resolution | Majors in Politics, Psychology, Social Anthropology, Sociology |
| Social Justice in Transformation | Majors in Politics, Sociology, Social Anthropology, Psychology, Development Studies |
Prescribed curriculum:
The full specialisation comprises 4 semester courses in each of the Honours and Master’s years plus an independent research project at Honours level and a Master’s minor dissertation component allowing exit options after the first year with an Honours degree and entry options at Master’s level. The specialisation offers a choice between two core courses and a selection of electives in the areas of Transitional Justice, Human Rights, Conflict Resolution, and Social Justice in Transformation.
PLANNING YOUR CURRICULUM
MASTER’S (192 credits)
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2 courses selected from:
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List A or List B Course |
List B Course or Internship |
POL5010W |
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*12.5% + 12.5% |
12.5% |
12.5% |
50% |
* the percentages provided are a general approximation of the weighting of each course in the overall mark calculation. Some courses have slightly different credit totals than others, and occasionally students may need to take an extra course to fulfil the overall credit expectation. In which case, the calculation differs slightly in terms of percentage weightings.
Core Courses
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Credits |
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POL5040F |
Comparative Transitional Justice |
24 |
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POL5037S |
Post-Conflict Justice in Africa |
24 |
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Electives
Select your electives depending on the area of concentration that you are interested in. We include recommendations for which courses would fit with which area. The areas of concentration are:
1. Transitional Justice (TJ)
Courses in the area of Transitional Justice aim to provide a theoretical grounding and comparative understanding of the interdisciplinary field of Transitional Justice at the intersection of human rights discourses, democratic transitions and post-conflict reconciliation.
2. Human Rights Law (HR)
Courses in the area of Human Rights Law aim to ground the professional and specialist studies in law in a broader theoretical and comparative understanding of the historical and political contexts in which Human Rights Law functions.
3. Conflict Resolution (CR)
Courses in Conflict Resolution aim to provide a comparative understanding and practice-orientated introduction to current approaches to peace operations and post-conflict reconciliation in the African context.
4. Social Justice in Transformation (SJT)
Courses in Social Justice in Transformation are designed to combine a focus on issues of social justice related to poverty and development with the combating of legacies of racism and redressing racial, gender and social inequalities within more general normative and theoretical perspectives.
Some of the areas of concentration provide for Internships, which may be substituted for one of the list B elective options.
List A Electives
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Recommended for: |
Credits |
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AXL4104F |
Gender, Peace and Justice |
CR, SJT |
24 |
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ECO4114S |
The Economics of Conflict, War & Peace |
CR |
14 |
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PBL5631S |
International Protection of Human Rights |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5634F |
Human Rights Law |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5647S |
Social Justice, Law and Development |
SJT |
30 |
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POL4039F |
Peace Operations in World Politics |
CR |
24 |
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POL4048F |
Dialectical Political Thought |
TJ |
24 |
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POL5029S |
Political Ethics |
TJ |
24 |
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POL5034S |
Conflict in Africa |
CR |
24 |
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POL5042F |
Peace-building: Issues & Problems |
CR |
24 |
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POL5046S |
Democratisation |
TJ |
24 |
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SOC5019F |
Race, Class and Identities |
CR |
12 |
List B Electives
Students may select other electives appropriate to the programme and aligned to their research interests, subject to approval by the Convener.
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Recommended for: |
Credits |
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AXL4101F |
Gender and Violence |
TJ |
24 |
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AXL4103S |
Development Conflict and Political Change |
CR |
24 |
|
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AXL4106F |
Introduction to Gender and Transformation |
SJT |
24 |
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AXL4402S |
Anthropology of Societies in Transition |
TJ, SJT |
24 |
|
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AXL5402F |
Anthropology of Development |
SJT |
24 |
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CML4501F |
Dispute Resolution |
CR |
9 |
|
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CML5631S |
Mediation |
CR |
30 |
|
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CML5671F |
Negotiation |
CR |
30 |
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HST4055S |
Racism, Colonialism & Genocide |
CR |
24 |
|
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PBL5618S |
International Law on Disputes and the Use of Force |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5623F |
Governing Under the Constitution: Law and Practice |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5647S |
Social Justice, Law and Development |
|
30 |
|
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PBL5648S |
Social Justice in Practice |
SJT |
30 |
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PBL5815S |
Punishment and Human Rights |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5820F |
Theories of Crime and Social Order |
HR |
30 |
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PBL5822S |
Victims and Victimology |
HR |
30 |
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PHI4021S |
Topics in Rational Decision Making |
TJ |
24 |
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PHI4022F |
Moral Philosophy |
TJ |
24 |
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POL4044FS |
Global Political Thought |
TJ |
24 |
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POL5041F/S |
History of SA Political Thought |
|
24 |
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SLL4001S |
Representation of War in Fiction |
CR |
24 |
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SOC4010F |
Development Theory |
SJT |
12 |
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SOC5012S |
Sociology of Deviance |
SJT |
12 |
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Internships
May be substituted as the equivalent of 1 elective course.
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|
24 |
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POL5005H |
Internship Component II (Master’s level) |
24 |
Research Methods courses
For Master’s doing field work/primary research/specialized data analysis.
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AXL4401F |
Ethnographic Research Methods & Methodology |
24 |
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HST4034F |
Oral History: Method, Practice and Theory |
24 |
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POL5035F |
Data Analysis in Political Sciences |
12 |
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SOC5030F |
In-depth Interviewing and Analysis |
12 |
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SOC5052F |
Survey Data Analysis |
12 |