Political Science Web Resources
General
| U.S. Politics | International
Relations and Comparative Government | Law
Polls and Opinions
| Human Rights
| Political Thought | Public
Administration (separate page)
Also see: Government
Documents and Websites
Richard Kimber's Political Science
Resources
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/
The best resource for British politics but also includes extensive world wide
coverage coverage of political theory, manifestos, area studies, data archives,
international relations. By Richard Kimber.
Online
Resource Guide to Political Inquiry
http://zeus.uwindsor.ca/courses/ps/dartnell/index.html
Canada-based resource with extensive Directories in numerous areas including:
Area Studies, International Studies, Issue based Politics, and Research and
Reference.
American Political Science Association
http://www.apsanet.org/
The website for the association features information on conferences, data and
reports on the profession, discussion lists, and lists of grants. Discounted membership is available for students.
Brookings Institution
http://www.brookings.edu/
The Brookings Institution is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching
U.S. policy issues both foreign and domestic. Their website offers analysis
in articles, testimonies, opinions, and reports. These materials are searchable
by using the keyword search textbox in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.
Political Resources on the
Net
http://www.politicalresources.net/
Provides links to Web pages of governments and political parties, as well as
results of elections.
U.S. Politics
ThisNation.com
http://www.thisnation.com/
From Jonathan Mott, Political Science professor at University of Oklahoma,
a website providing information and primary source documents relating to American
Politics. The site features narrative sections on the branches of government,
the Constitution, and Federalism. ThisNation.com's Library offers web versions
of prominent primary source documents, supreme court decisions, war messages,
political essays, speeches, poems and more. In the Multimedia section, Presidential
Profiles include images of the presidents and the text of Inaugural and State
of the Union addresses.
Cato Institute
http://www.cato.org/
The website for the Cato Institute, a research foundation for U.S. policy studies.
Their website has reports, studies, and briefings on issues such as free speech,
Social Security, regulation, federalism, globalization and more.
Center for Public Integrity
http://www.publicintegrity.org/
Provides "the American people with the findings of our investigations and analyses
of public service, government accountability and ethics related issues."
Reports cover governments at all levels, and focus on issues like campaign financing,
the influence of lobbyists, and the privatization of water resources.
Economic Policy Institute
http://www.epi.org/
The Economic Policy Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank that seeks "to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers". The Institute's website features briefing papers, audio and video files, and policy memo's discussing contemporary issues. The site also
offers statistics and statistical analyses of indicators such as the GDP, wages,
and income. The site is searchable or browsable by topic area.
Policy Agendas Project
http://www.policyagendas.org/
From the Center for American Politics and Public Policy, the Policy Agendas Project "collects and organizes data from various archived sources to trace changes in the national policy agenda and public policy outcomes since the Second World War". The website features a Policy Analysis Tool which allows users to track issues over time. The data is collected from articles, congressional hearings, Supreme Court cases, State of the Union speeches, and more sources. The site also features articles and papers on the data collected. Also, Teaching Resources are available from the site, including Lesson Plans, activities, and exercises.
Images of American
Political History
http://bill.ballpaul.net/iaph/main.php
Posted by William J. Ball of the Department of Political Science, a collection
of images spanning the past three hundred years in American Politics. These
images are in the public domain. They can be searched or browsed by time period. Open the sidebar at top left to search the collection.
Miller Center of Public Affairs
http://millercenter.virginia.edu/
The University of Virginia hosts the website for the Miller Center of Public
Affairs. The site offers content such as a Presidential Oral History Program,
the Presidential Recordings Program Transcripts, and archived forums of national
discussion and debate. Also, the Miller Center site also hosts
American
President (http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/) this online reference source a "comprehensive
collection of material about the Presidents of the United States and the history
of the presidency". Browsable by era and presidency, this resource features
essays on aspects of each presidency and prominent figures in their administration,
as well as presidential speeches and biographical information.
Institute for Policy Research
http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/
From Northwestern University, the Institute's mission is to "stimulate
and support excellent social science research on significant public policy issues
and to disseminate the findings widely". The content includes working papers,
policy briefs, and newsletters. Working papers are browseable by topic area,
and all publications may be searched by a local search engine.
The History of Televised
Presidential Debates
http://www.museum.tv/debateweb/html/index.htm
From the Museum of Broadcast Communications, a website featuring video and media
coverage of presidential debates from 1960 to 2000. A separate section is devoted
to the 1960 debate between Nixon and Kennedy, including commentary from journalists
and others who were present, a bibliography, and audio of the debate. The website
features video, audio, and articles related to all the presidential debates
from 1960 to 2000 in a separate section.
The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials, 1952 - 2004
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/
From New York's Museum of the Moving Image, a site featuring campaign commercials. User can browse the commercials by year, issue, and type of commercial, or one can search by keyword. Free registration will allow users to save the commercials. Credit information is also available to aid in citing the videos. A link "For Teachers" will list lesson plans to be used in conjunction with the videos.
History and Politics Out Loud
http://www.hpol.org/
A collaborative project of the National Endowment for the Humanities Teaching
With Technology Program, Michigan State University and the National Gallery
of the Spoken Word, this website offers audio files of speeches, conversations,
and interviews of significant figures in political history. A search engine
allows users to search the files, or browse by date, speaker, or title.
Voting America: United States Politics, 1840 - 2008
http://americanpast.richmond.edu/voting/
From the University of Richmond, a website offering data on electoral history. The site features interactive maps for elections, with state by state data on turnout, votiing, and more. Many of the maps have accompanying commentary and are animated plotting the data over time.
Back to top
Foreign Affairs
Online
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/rjb.html
Massive site with several thousand links to sites on International law, International
Relations, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Sections include: General Reference,
Map resources, U.S. Government, Foreign States, U.N. System, NGO & IGOs,
International Law, Human Rights, International Relations, Think Tanks, and Media.
Council on Foreign Relations
http://www.cfr.org/
A non-partisan organization dedicated to the discussion of foreign policy issues.
The content includes policy analysis articles, reports, news, interviews, task
force reports, and briefings written by Council members. Council members include
government officials, members of Congress, and journalists. Publications can
be browsed by issue, region, or publication type.
Foreign
Relations of the United States
http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/frus.html
The Foreign Relations of the United States series contains official documents
relating to U.S. foreign policy decisions and major diplomatic activity. Some
volumes are available online at this web site.
United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/index.html
From the United Nations, a library of international legal materials, including treaties, lectures, research guides, and more. The Historical Archives has topic categories to browse for historical documets. The Lecture Series includes video and audio files discussing international legal topics such as disaster prevention, international civil aviation, migration law, and armed conflict. The Research Library povide links to treaties, jurisprudence, scholarly reports, and more off-site.
Vincent Ferraro, Resources for the Study of International Relations and Foreign Policy
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/feros-pg.htm
From Vincent Ferraro, a professor of international politics at Mount Holyoke College, a website featuring content on topics relating to foreign relations. Webpages include primary source documents, reports and speeches by Ferraro, and excerpts from books and journal articles on topics such as Vietnam, NATO, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and more.
The Stanley Foundation
http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/
A non-partisan foundation dedicated to discussing global and regional policy
issues. The site offers policy briefs, articles, and reports on these issues,
as part of initiatives to analyze U.S. policy and potential solutions.
Center for Strategic & International Studies
(CSIS)
http://www.csis.org/
The CSIS is a bipartisan organization dedicated to analyzing global issues and
events. The Center proposes reforms and solutions for U.S. policy regarding
security, energy, global health, and international economics and finance. Content
includes reports, newsletters, congressional testimony, and audio/video transcripts
of speeches and programs.
FIRST: facts on international relations
and security trends
http://first.sipri.org/
A website from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute providing
data and information on the political, economic, and military makeup of countries.
The military and security data includes summaries of conflicts, maps, expenditures,
and nuclear capability. The information is drawn from a number of international governmental agencies and organizations. Select a country, and then check off a topic "database" below to access documents.
Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/
The website for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a non-profit
organization dedicated to peace and international relations among nations.
The website features analysis by "experts", including visiting scholars
and scholars in residence. Users can browse the resources by topic, expert,
or region. The resources include policy briefs, discussion transcripts, video,
reports, and editorials.
United States Institute of Peace
http://www.usip.org/
A nonpartisan federal organization, the U.S. Institute of Peace was created
to "help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, promote post-conflict stability
and development, and increase peacebuilding capacity, tools, and intellectual
capital worldwide". The website for the Institute features special reports,
briefings, working papers, and interviews related to the topic of peace and
conflict worldwide. The publications can be browsed by region or searched by
a site search engine. Most of these publications are available online from the
site, while books are available for purchase.
Background Notes
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
From the U.S. Department of State, a website featuring snapshot information
on the political, economic, and foreign relations of "independent states,
some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty". Browsable by country/state,
each webpage contains basic statistics on health, economy, and education, as
well as narrative sections on the political conditions and foreign relations
of each location.
The WWW Virtual Library: International
Affairs Resources
http://www.etown.edu/vl/
Over 2000 international affairs websites grouped by country, region, organization,
and topic.
United Nations Documentation:
Research Guide
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/
Guides the researcher working with various types of documents and publications
issued by the UN. Describes the different types of documents, symbols
used in documents, and the structure of documents.
UNESCO Documents and
Publications
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/index.html
Search this database to find full text files and bibliographic records for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
documents and publications, and bibliographic records for UNESCO Library acquisitions.
Center for Global Development
http://www.cgdev.org/
The Center for Global Development is "an independent, not-for-profit think
tank that is dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality and to making globalization work for the poor". The Center's website features reports,
working papers, data sets, and brief on topics such as Debt Relief, Economic
Growth, Governance/Democracy, Migration and Population, Globalization, and more.
A search engine is available to find documents on the site. The site also features
blogs on topics in Global Development.
Canadian International Council (CIC)
http://www.onlinecic.org/
Provides links to numerous sites and focuses on examining global issues through
a distinctively Canadian lens, the CIIA contributes a unique perspective on
Canada's place in the world.
Transparency International
http://www.transparency.org/
A website from a global organization dedicated to fighting corruption. The site features reports on the existence of corruption in humanitarian assistance, oil and gas companies, education, and more, as well as a yearly global corruption report.
Global Policy Forum
http://www.globalpolicy.org/
This organization "monitors the work of the United Nations and global policy-making". The site features policy papers, articles and statement that can be searched or browsed by categories such as Globalization, NGO's, Iraq Conflict, World Food & Hunger, Humanitarian Intervention, and more.
Political Database of the Americas
http://pdba.georgetown.edu/CLAS%20RESEARCH/PDBA.html#site-title
The database provides documentary and statistical information on Latin American
politics. It includes information on constitutions, electoral laws, governing
institutions and election data. It is intended to serve as a resource
for the study of democracy in Latin America. From the Center for Latin
American Studies, Unit for the Promotion of Democracy, a joint operation of
Georgetown University, Organization of American States, and Canadian Foundation
for the Americas.
Center for World Indigenous Studies
http://www.cwis.org/
The Center for World Indigenous Studies is an "idependent non-profit research and education dedicated to wider understanding and appreciation of the ideas and knowledge of indigenous peoples and the social, economic and political realities of indigenous nations." The site offers newsletters, research reports, and issues of the Fourth World Journal, a periodical discussing issues such as the environment, social change, political change, the creative arts, and more.
INCORE Internet Country
Guides
http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/countries/
Information about internet resources on conflict and ethnicity specific to particular
countries and regions.
Back to top
Law
A Century of Lawmaking for a New
Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/
From the Library of Congress, a site containing archived primary source documents
of Congressional publications from the first 100 years. The site offers congressional
journals, delegates' letters, floor debates, bills, resolutions, and statutes.
These documents can be browsed by Congress and/or searched by keyword.
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/constitution/browse.html
From the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. An annotated
text, incorporating Supreme Court decisions through June 26, 1998.
First Amendment Center
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org
News, commentary, and primary source materials dealing with all aspects of the
first amendment. Of special interest are the the First Amendment Library and
Congressional Research Service reports sections of the site. These provide links
to significant court cases as well as research reports made specifically for
Congress, arranged by topic area.
Religious Liberty Archive
http://www.churchstatelaw.com
From a law firm specializing in representing religious organizations, this site
provides news, relevant cases, treatises, and applicable federal and state law
regarding religious freedom in the United States. Most decisions are presented
in full text, and some include legal commentary.
Landmark Supreme Court Cases
http://www.landmarkcases.org/
Developed to provide teachers with a full range of resources and activities
to support the teaching of landmark Supreme Court cases, helping students explore
the key issues of each case. The "Resources" section features basic building
blocks such as background summaries and excerpts of opinions that can be used
in multiple ways.
Also see
WWW Resources for Law
http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/law.htm
Latin American Public Opinion Project
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/
From Vanderbilt University, a website featuring surveys and reports on public opinion of people in the Americas on democracy and democratic values. The site offers reports and journal articles, as well as the questionnaires given to each population. The reports can be accessed by country, while the data can be accessed through online querying systems.
World Public Opinion.org
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/
From the Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland,
a website providing global polling results on international policy issues. The
site contains articles analyzing and displaying the poll results. Users can
browse these articles by topic or by the region polled. A search engine is also
available to search the article content.
Also see
Polls and Public Opinion Web Resources
http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu/polls.htm
Human Rights
Amnesty International Library
http://web.amnesty.org/library/engindex
This is an archive of most of the reports, news releases, and urgent actions
published by Amnesty International from 1996 to date. Publications may
be viewed by countries, regions, sub-regions, or themes. The site also features a search interfact for the library of documents with options and limits.
Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm
Country reports submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to Congress.
Reports "cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and
worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Areas covered include Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the New Independent
States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the Near East.
Human Rights Watch
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/
This is the website for Human Rights Watch, an independent, nongovernmental
organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. The site offers reports investigating human rights abuses
in many countries in all regions of the world. The site also features audio, video, and photo essays.
Back to top
Political Thought
Political
Thought
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/romans/polsci/polthought.html
From the Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt University, a collection
of links to websites on Political Thought. Categories of the links include Modern
Political Philosophers, Conservative Thought, and Liberal Thought.
Political Thought
http://www.ou.edu/cas/psc/bookspoltheory.htm
From the Department of Political Science of Oklahoma University, an encyclopedic
overview of the classic works in political thought and their authors. The site
is organized by era.
Marxists Internet Archive
http://www.marxists.org/
An archive of Marxist writings from the past 200 years. Publications include
essays, letters, biographies, and more. The archives is searchable by author
or browsable by subject. These publications are in the public domain.
The
Federalist Papers
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html
Essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay written to bolster
support for ratification of the Constitution.
Regarding Politics:
Essays on Political Theory, Stability, and Change
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0k40037v/
From the distinguished resesarch professor Harry Eckstein, an online version
of his collection of essays on Political Thought. Essays include "A Culturalist
Theory of Political Change", "Case Study and Theory in Political Science",
and "Civic Inclusion and Its Discontents".
Back to top