Getting Started
Use these resources to find background information on your topic.
Europa Yearbooks
- Africa South of the Sahara, London, England: Europa Publications Ltd Stacks DT352 .G7
- Europa World Year Book . London, England : Europa Publications Ltd Reference JN1 .E85 (2008-2009)
The Middle East and Islamic world reader, New York : Grove Press Stacks DS44 .M523 2003
CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Reports are published weekly.
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service is "the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis." The CRS prepares studies and reports analyzing a broad spectrum of issues of interest to the work of the Congress. Many of the reports will cover international issues and foreign government topics. These reports are not freely distributed on the Web, but OpenCRS makes available those they can.
Articles and Databases
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
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Provides abstracts and indexing of articles in political science, international relations, international law, public administration, public policy, and related topics from 1975 to the present. The database indexes over 1,500 serials titles, 67% of which are from outside the U.S., and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations and working papers. - Academic Search Complete
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A multi-disciplinary database with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, the database includes indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and more than 13,200 publications, such as monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. While full text is available as far back as 1887 for a few titles, the text of most titles is available only for the past decade or two. - Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
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CIAO is a comprehensive source for theory and research in international politics and related fields, including security studies, global finance, diplomatic practice, humanitarian law, global governance, development studies, and environmental studies. The material in CIAO covers a wide range of scholarship from 1990 onward and includes full-text articles, e-books, videos, working papers, policy briefs, political and economic data, maps, and current analysis and commentary from government research organizations, independent think tanks, university analysis centers, and scholarly journals. - EconLit
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Full-text articles in all fields of economics, including capital markets, country studies, econometrics, economic forecasting, environmental economics, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, and urban economics. Also includes citations and abstracts to journal articles, books, collective volume articles, dissertations, working papers, and book reviews dating back to 1886. EconLit is updated weekly and contains more than 1.6 million records. - Oxford Handbooks Online
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Collection of 600+ Oxford University Press handbooks in a wide range of subjects. Select “Unlocked” to see available titles, which may also be found in OneSearch. Other than Music, our collections do not include titles published after 2014. Those handbooks are available through the New York Public Library remotely. - Historical Abstracts
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Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, the history of education, and more. Indexes more than 2,300 academic historical journals in over 40 languages from 1955 to the present. Includes links to full text, where available. - America: History & Life
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Abstracts of articles covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. The database indexes 1,700 journals from 1964 to present and includes citations and links to book and media reviews.
- JSTOR
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A digital library containing journals, books, images, and primary sources. The GC’s subscription includes JSTOR’s Arts and Sciences I-XII collections of scholarly journals across the social sciences and humanities. Coverage begins with the first issue of almost every journal and continues through varying periods within the last five years. Also included are more than 700 freely accessible collections of illustrations, letters, literary documents, newspapers, magazines, photographs, postcards, and yearbooks; open access alternative press publications from the latter half of the 20th century; and thousands of research reports. 3+ million images in Artstor are also now discoverable in JSTOR. Browse content by subject, title, or collection, or search across the full resource. Register for a free personal account to save materials and organize your work. - Political Science Database
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Full text of more than 750 political science, public policy, and international relations journals, most of which are indexed in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Also includes thousands of recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics, working papers, conference proceedings, country reports, policy papers and other sources. Coverage spans 1985 to the present. - Political Science Database
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Full text of more than 750 political science, public policy, and international relations journals, most of which are indexed in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Also includes thousands of recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics, working papers, conference proceedings, country reports, policy papers and other sources. Coverage spans 1985 to the present.
- Web of Science
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Massive multidisciplinary index of scholarly publications, with especially strong coverage of the sciences and social sciences. Includes numerous sub-databases, most notably the Web of Science Core Collection, which provides cover-to-cover indexing of 21,000+ peer-reviewed journals. Includes citation data for publications, allowing searchers to identify highly cited articles, find citations to a given article/author, and track citations over time. Includes detailed author records and several unique search capabilities, such as the ability to search by author affiliation, grant number, or chemical structure. Also includes awarded grant information and associated publications.
Online Sources
The following resources are good places to look for background information on countries and organizations and events.
BBC News Country Profiles This site will provide a guide to the history, politics and economics of countries and territories. Use it to locate backgroud information on important international institutions and NGO's. You can also find audio and video from the BBC archives.
CIA World Factbook Updated on a bi-weekly basis, the CIA Factbook, give a quick snapshot of each nation's demography, economy, government, geography, and other sectors such as transportation, communication, transportation and military.
Country Studies "On-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world." While some of these books are dated ( check the title page for the date of publication) they are a good source for information on geograpy, culture, history. The library also has most of these titles in print in our collection.
Findlaw Resources by Country
Use this website to locate government websites of foreign countries. Results may vary depending on country.
Oxford Reference Online A searchable collection of online reference books including specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks. Select from appropriate subject headings, for example, Political Science and Social Sciences.
U.S. Department of State Background Notes Find facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty.
Featured Website
JuriGlobe - World Legal Systems This unique website explores the "diversity of the various legal systems, their languages and their economic and demographic importance in the world." A major aspect of the site is a map that shows the different types of law that govern the countries of the world. Across the top of the map are links to explanations of the different types of law, as well as which countries have a combination of laws or a unified system of laws. The types of law represented on the map are "Civil Law", "Common Law", "Muslim Law", "Customary Law", and "Mixed Systems". The "Demographic Distribution" link on the left hand side menu illustrates with graphs and tables the percentage in which the world population is represented by the various legal systems.
United Nations
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UNHCR website.
United Nations Official Document System
Covers all types of official United Nations documentation, beginning in 1993.
United Nations Official Documents System (ODS)
Full-text repository of official documents published by the U.N. Available at NYPL-SIBL.
United Nations Treaty Series
Collection of over 34,000 treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with and published by the Secretariat since 1946. Available at NYPL-SIBL