Other Online Resources
The Internet can be an excellent source for basic
background information, for contemporary news, and for quantitative data relevant to the
study of comparative public policy. That said, there is also a lot of bad information
available on the Internet; please be careful out there...! Use the same rigorous standards
that are applied to printed materials in your evaluation of online information.
On this page, you will find links relevant to
comparative politics listed in four major groupings: political science & public
policy, country background information, contemporary online news, and country-specific
links for countries of particular interest in POSC 347 this semester.
Click on the heading below to move to the section of
interest to you right now:
POLITICS & POLICY | COUNTRY BACKGROUND | NEWS | POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES
POLITICS & POLICY
- Columbia
International Affairs Online
- https://wwwc.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/srchfrm.html
This searchable website is maintained by Columbia University; JMU's Carrier Library
maintains a subscription for campus users. In addition to a wide variety of links
pages, the site archives a variety of research on policy issues from various think tanks
and governmental sources as well as several online academic journals.
- Citizen Joe
- http://www.citizenjoe.org/
This nonpartisan site provide broad coverage on U.S. public policy.
The navigation bar organizes
materials by issue set. If you are interested in following a
particular issue of U.S. policy at the federal level, this is a useful Internet resource
for tracking recent policy decisions and current proposals.
- Political
Science Internet Resources
- http://www.lib.jmu.edu/polisci/internet.aspx
This links page is maintained by JMU's Carrier Library and provides a host of links
organized by topic.
- Political
Science Resources on the Web: Think Tanks
- http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/psthink.html
This links page to think tanks is maintained by the library at the University of
Michigan. It begins with a series of annotated links to other links pages on think
tanks at home & abroad. The link to
research institutes abroad
is managed by the National Institute of Research Advancement in Japan & is organized
by country. The rest of the page provides annotated links to a variety of major think
tanks here in the United States. Many think tanks publish full or abbreviated versions of
working papers on policy issues.
- Public Agenda
- http://www.publicagenda.org/
This is one of the most comprehensive, nonpartisan sites on U.S. public
policy. The navigation bar includes a subject listing by issue set
and a search engine. If you are interested in following a
particular issue of U.S. policy at the federal level, this is a useful Internet resource.
- Virtual Library: The International
Affairs Network
- http://www.etown.edu/vl/
This site maintained by Elizabethtown College contains links pages organized by a variety
of subject headings as well as an incomplete list of country headings. The area studies
and subject links are generally more useful than the country links provided.
Click on the appropriate link to move within this document:
POLITICS & POLICY | COUNTRY BACKGROUND |
NEWS | POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES
COUNTRY BACKGROUND
- CIA
Publications Page
- https://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/
This page contains links to online access of public domain CIA reporting. The
CIA Factbook
provides thumbnail physical, economic, & political geographies of every nation-state
in the world. This page also contains links to CIA publications providing international
economic statistics, lists of current political leaders, high quality maps, and a variety
of historical information on the CIA itself. This site is very useful as a preliminary
introduction to countries but not very useful beyond that purpose.
- U.S.
Department of State Background Notes
- http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
The State Department background notes contain some of the basic geographical information
provided in the CIA Factbook but also provide short histories of a few
international organizations as well as reports on most nation-states. This links page hold
links to regions and to IGOs but the regional links take you to links pages for the
country notes for each region. If you click on the publications link on the
image map at the top of the background notes page, you can access a wide variety of
additional State Department reports including such topics as anti-narcotic policy,
counterterrorism, economic policy, and human rights.
- Library of Congress
Country Studies
- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
This page provides access to the online version of the country studies series conducted
by the U.S. Library of Congress. Just under 100 countries are currently treated in the
site. Each country study has a detailed, hyperlinked table of contents; most of the study
is organized chronologically. This is a good site for finding a fairly comprehensive
online history of many different countries but is cumbersome to read an entire history
and even more burdensome (not to mention wasteful) to print one out. If you want to read
the entire country study, go to the library and check it out!
Click on the appropriate link to move within this document:
POLITICS & POLICY | COUNTRY BACKGROUND |
NEWS | POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES
NEWS
- Yahoo! online newspapers list
- http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Newspapers/By_Region/Countries/
Back in the hazy past of, say, 1992, people interested in reading foreign newspapers
waited 1 to 2 weeks to read foreign daily newspapers -- that is, if the newspapers were
available at all either in a nearby library or via a (costly) personal subscription. Now,
literally hundreds of daily newspapers around the world are available online before they
hit the streets in newsprint. Increasing numbers of online papers provide 24-hour
updating of major stories. This site, maintained by Yahoo!, provides a comprehensive list
of foreign & domestic newspapers available online. Please take advantage of this
resource in following contemporary events in the countries of special interest to you.
Many newspapers have internal search engines and/or archives with past online editions.
- The Economist
- http://www.economist.com/
This is the online site for what many people consider the best international weekly news
magazine in the world, the London-based The Economist. Right now, this site
provides very limited services to those who are not subscribers but it does have a very
useful full-text search engine for issues published in the last few years. You can use
this search engine to identify issues to read in printed copies available in the library.
If you have a keen interest in world affairs, you should consider going to current
periodicals every week and spending some time with The Economist.
- CNN's World News Section
- http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/
This site maintained by CNN provides coverage of major news stories from around the world. CNN will occasionally publish background reports on major breaking stories.
- New York Times
- http://www.nytimes.com/
This site listed here mainly to encourage you to use the printed version rather than the
online version. The 365-day, full-text search engine is dynamic, but you need to
establish one (free) account to use the site at all and, in turn, a second account to use
the search engine. If you do not browse from a single computer, this is problematic. All
past editions of the newspaper, a printed index, and a searchable database are all
available in Carrier Library.
- The Washington Post
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/
In contrast to the New York Times site, this one provides free full-text searches
of the past 14 days' editions. The online version of the newspaper is also a little
easier to use and much quicker to download. The politics and world online sections
provide a host of information on major continuing stories (listed as special reports) as
well as links to other online sources of political news.
Click on the appropriate link to move within this document:
POLITICS & POLICY | COUNTRY BACKGROUND |
NEWS | POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES
POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES of INTEREST
- Additional resources for countries of particular interest in POSC 347
this semester:
- BRAZIL
- http://info.lanic.utexas.edu/la/brazil/
This links page is maintained by the Latin American Studies program at the University of
Texas. It's a great starting place for online information on Brazil and the LANIC site as
a whole is considered by many to the best online resource for Latin American studies in
general. The material is organized by subject & there is also a search engine.
- CANADA
- http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/caninfo/ecaninfo.htm
This links page on Canadian studies is maintained by the National Library of Canada. It
can by browsed by subject and has a keyword search engine.
- FRANCE
- http://lotus.libs.uga.edu/erms/wess/
This site on French studies is maintained by the West European specialists section of the
Association of College and Research Libraries. It can by browsed by subject and also has a
search engine.
- GERMANY
- http://www.dartmouth.edu/~wess/
This site on German studies is maintained by the West European specialists section of the
Association of College and Research Libraries. It can by browsed by subject but currently
has no search engine. The home page has a useful list of other comprehensive German
studies resources sites (many focus on sites with information in German).
- JAPAN
- http://jguide.stanford.edu/
This site is maintained by Stanford University. It is organized by subject and has a
search engine. A good feature of this site is the hyperlinked description of which sites
discussed at the site are available in multiple languages (particularly useful for those
who do not speak Japanese).
- UNITED KINGDOM
- http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk.htm
This site is maintained by the politics department of the University of Keele. It is a
searchable site with detailed resources for the study of British politics. Links to some
starter sites on the U.K. in general can be found on the bottom of the page.
- UNITED STATES
- http://www.firstgov.gov/
This Internet guide to U.S. government websites is the official web
portal for the
U.S. government. The full site is organized by level of government
and alphabetically, but also
contains several topically oriented links pages.
- Additional resources for issues of particular interest in POSC 347 this
semester:
- Cato Institute
- http://www.cato.org/fiscal/index.html
This link takes you to the budget and tax policy section of Cato's
website. The Cato Institute provides a libertarian take on
nearly all policy issues; thus, it tends to recommend a reduction of
government activity on most public affairs issues.
- Kaiser Family Foundation
- http://www.kff.org/
This links page is maintained by the Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation. It is
organized topically.
- National Health Policy Forum
- http://www.nhpf.org/
This is a nonpartisan forum for debate over U.S. health policy affiliated with George
Washington University. It includes a searchable index of online research and a
links page to other sites dedicated to U.S. health policy.
- Tax Policy Center
- http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/
This site is managed jointly by the Urban Institute and the
Brookings Institution. These think tanks provide a
non-conservative, and at times liberal, take on most public affairs
issues.
Click on the appropriate link to move within this document:
POLITICS & POLICY | COUNTRY BACKGROUND |
NEWS | POSC 347 COUNTRIES & ISSUES
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