Dr Paul Mitchell

This course is available on the MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics), MSc in Political Science (Global Politics), MSc in Political Science (Political Behaviour), MSc in Political Science (Political Science and Political Economy) and MSc in Public Policy and Administration. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: To apply for a place on this course, please submit a short statement of no more than 200 words via LfY. Your statement should outline your reasons for applying and explain how the course will support your academic and/or career goals. If applicable, you should also demonstrate how you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide. If the course is compulsory for your programme, no written statement is required.

Priority for places on Government (GV) courses will be given first to students for whom the course is compulsory. Where applicable, priority will then be given to students on the Department of Government programmes listed in the ‘Availability’ section of the course guide, followed by students on other programmes listed in that section. Students on all other programmes will be considered next, where a course is available as an outside option. You should ensure that you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide before applying. Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed. Where a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on programme priority and the written statement.

Deadline for applications: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

Priority will be given to students on the MSc in Political Science (Conflict Studies and Comparative Politics), and then to students on the other programmes listed in the 'availability' section of the course guide. 

This course is capped at 2 groups.

The resolution of serious ethnic and national conflicts almost inevitably involves some form of power sharing and/or power division (autonomy and federation). While power sharing is often invoked in normative and comparative accounts of conflict resolution, it is less frequently systematically examined. Conflict and Institutional Design (CID) is a comparative analysis of the making, maintenance and too often breaking of power sharing agreements. We begin with the problems of political violence and civil wars. Civil wars end but often restart. When and how are peace agreements negotiated? What type of power-sharing and federal designs are available? Under what conditions is power sharing likely to help contain conflict, and when does it fail? The course will pay particular attention to what happens after a power-sharing agreement is reached. The institutional focus will include peace agreements and the making of new constitutions. We will analyse electoral system design for divided societies, the ‘timing’ of first elections, the dynamics of electoral and party competition within ethnic segmentation. The final section of the course looks at power-sharing designs for divided societies: consociational governance (power-sharing constitutions, executives, legislatures); and at territorial approaches to conflict regulation (partition, federalism, ethno-federalism and regional autonomy). Finally – Why do some power-sharing regimes succeed while others fail?

20 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Case analysis / study.

Briefing papers on pre-selected key concepts/cases.

Wallensteen, Peter (2023). Understanding Conflict Resolution. London: Sage.

Lijphart, Arend (2008). Thinking about Democracy: Power Sharing and Majority Rule in Theory and Practice. London: Routledge. [the collected writings of Lijphart].

Cederman, Lars-Erik, Simon Hug and Julian Wucherpfennig (2022). Sharing Power, Securing Peace? Ethnic Inclusion and Civil War. Cambridge University Press.

Casperson, Nina (2017). Peace Agreements. London: Polity.

Cederman, Lars-Erik et al. (2013) Inequality, Grievances and Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

McCulloch, Alison and John McGarry (2017, eds) Power-Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges. London: Routledge.

Noel, Sid (2005, ed), From Power Sharing to Democracy. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

Norris, Pippa (2008). Driving Democracy: Do Power-Sharing Institutions Work? Cambridge University Press.

Essay (100%, 5000 words) in Spring Term Week 2.

The research essay will be on a topic of your choice. Having said that the topic will be discussed between each of you and myself and I must approve the topic. The research paper should ideally examine a research question using relevant concepts and theories, and must have an empirical dimension that is relevant to the themes of the course. 'Empirical' is understood in the broadest sense: your material could be a case study set in an appropriate theoretical framework, it could examine a theme with comparative case studies, it could be quantitative or qualitative. Whatever is deemed appropriate to the research question at hand. Bear in mind though that broad surveys are generally not a good idea. After all 5,000 words is about half the standard size of a journal article. Much more advice about the essay will be given as the course progresses both collectively and in individual meetings with each of you. Since you will be working on something that really interests you I hope that this will be an enjoyable experience.