Research Links
Country Information and Statistics
Country Briefings (The Economist)
http://www.economist.com/countries/index.cfm
News, country profiles, forecasts, statistics and more.
Country Profiles (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
Provides a guide to history, politics, and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
Country Studies (Library of Congress)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
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.
Cyber School Bus (United Nations)
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation3/menu/advanced.asp
View and compare country data with InfoNation.
Data & Statistics (World Bank)
http://www.worldbank.org/data/
Data and statistics derived, either directly or indirectly, from official statistical systems organized and financed by national governments.
Datavine (Center for International Development, Harvard)
http://paradocs.pols.columbia.edu:8080/datavine/MainFrameSet.jsp
Cross-country political, economic, and demographic data sets.
Institute for Statistics (UNESCO)
http://www.uis.unesco.org/
Global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, technology, culture, and communication.
Nationmaster
http://www.nationmaster.com/
A central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations.
Population Reference Bureau
http://www.prb.org/
Provides timely and objective information on U.S. and international population trends and their implications.
World Factbook (CIA)
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
The CIA's annual basic intelligence report, providing fundamental and factual reference material on all areas of the world.
Education
Education for All (UNESCO)
www.unesco.org/education/
Works to improve education worldwide through technical advice, standard setting, innovative projects, capacity-building, and networking.
Elections
Election Resources
http://electionresources.org/
Links to Internet sites around the world which provide complete and detailed national and local election statistics, as well as other election resources.
Elections and Electoral Systems Around the World
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/election.htm
Links to sources on elections and electoral systems worldwide, listed alphabetically by country.
Electionworld: Elections around the World
http://electionworld.org/
Up-to-date election information.
Electoral Systems and Data (Political Database of the Americas, Georgetown U)
http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Elecdata/elecdata.html
Electoral systems and data for the countries of the Americas.
Epic Project: Election Process Information Collection
http://www.epicproject.org/
Comparative and country-by-country data on election systems, laws, management, and administration.
IDEA: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
http://www.idea.int/
Supports sustainable democracy worldwide, operating as an interface between those who analyze and monitor trends in democracy and those who engage directly in political reform or act in support of democracy at home and abroad.
Engineering
International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering
http://www.engr.psu.edu/IJSLE/index.htm
A faculty-reviewed e-journal featuring the work of students and researchers focusing on service learning in engineering, engineering entrepeneurship in developing communities, and research into appropriate technologies and solutions for developing community problems.
Environment
Environmental Sustainability Index
http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/indicators/ESI/
Access to the Environmental Sustainability Index reports plus in-depth details on the analytical framework, quantitative methodology, and data sources underlying them.
General Development
Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD)
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/bread/
Dedicated to encouraging research and scholarship in development economics, organizing conferences and publishing a working paper series.
Center for Global Development
http://www.cgdev.org/
Dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality through policy-oriented research and active engagement on development issues with the policy community and the public.
Development Research Center on Migration, Globalization, and Poverty
http://www.migrationdrc.org/
Research, publications, and resources examining migration flows in which poor people themselves are most represented and how migration impacts variously on their livelihoods, rights, and levels of social protection.
Directory of Development Organizations
http://www.devdir.org/
Lists 43,500 development organizations, in order to facilitate international cooperation and knowledge sharing in development work among civil society organizations, research institutions, governments, and the private sector.
Gapminder
http://www.gapminder.org/
A non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualises human development.
Harvard Center for International Development
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidlinks/internat.htm#Development Research Centers & Institutes
Links to development related organizations.
Human Development Reports (U.N. Development Programme)
http://hdr.undp.org/
Goes beyond income to assess the level of people's long-term well-being in global, regional, and national human development reports, plus related statistics and publications.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2605,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
Committed to democratic government and the market economy, providing publications and statistics covering economic and social issues from macroeconomics to trade, education, development, and science and innovation.
Oslo Governance Center (United Nations Development Programme)
http://www.undp.org/oslocentre/
Supports countries in implementing democratic reforms necessary to achieve the Millenium Development Goals, focusing on access to justice, human rights, civil society, governance, and conflict prevention.
Project on Human Development (Pardee Center, Boston U)
http://humandevelopment.bu.edu/
Seeks to better understand the economic, social, political, and environmental determinants of human development, organizing data for most nations by broad thematic categories of human development and providing the means to construct individualized indicators.
Third World Network
http://www.twnside.org.sg/
Research and publications on economic, social, and environmental issues pertaining to development, the Third World, and the South, representing broadly Southern interests and perspectives.
Health
Global Burden of Disease (National Institutes of Health)
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/burdenofdisease/
A coherent series of investigations that strengthens the methodological and empirical basis for undertaking comparative assessments of health problems, their determinents and consequences in aging populations.
Health, Nutrition, and Population Stats (World Bank)
http://devdata.worldbank.org/hnpstats/
A one-stop data source for health, nutrition, and population indicators from various national and international data sources.
Human Rights
Bioethics and Human Rights Links (Human Rights Library, U of Minnesota)
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/bioethics.html
A long list of links to bioethics and human rights sites, documents, and resources.
International Labour Organization (United Nations)
http://www.ilo.org/
Seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights; provides international labor news, information, and resources.
Law
Constitution Finder
http://confinder.richmond.edu/
Offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents.
International Constitutional Law
http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/index.html
Up-to-date international constitutional documents.
Mishpat.net: International Legal Information
http://mishpat.net/law/Countries/
Links to legal resources, organized by country
News/Press
BBC World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml
World news in 43 languages.
WorldPress
http://www.worldpress.org/
News and views from around the world.
United Nations News Centre
http://www.un.org/News/
United Nations news, resources, and multimedia.
Politics and Government
Freedom House
http://www.freedomhouse.org/
Working to advance the worldwide expansion of political and economic freedom through a vast array of international programs and publications.
Governance & Anti-Corruption (World Bank Institute)
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/
Supports countries in improving governance and controlling corruption; provides links to governance and anti-corruption projects, resources, research, and working papers.
Inter-Parliamentary Union
http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm
The international organization of parliaments of sovereign states, with links to parliamentary websites, databases, and publications.
International Comparative Political Parties Project
http://janda.org/icpp/
A resource on political parties worldwide.
Internet Center for Corruption Research
http://www.icgg.org/
Provides the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative assessment of countries' integrity performance, and related academic research on corruption.
National Parliaments (Weidenbaum Center, Wash U)
http://wc.wustl.edu/parliaments.html
Links to web sites of national parliaments and international and regional parliamentary institutions.
States and the International System Data (Florida State U)
http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/intldata.html#intpol
Links to many international data sites.
U.S. in the World
http://www.usintheworld.org/index.php?flash=yes
A guide that pulls together facts and arguments and the most effective ways to get them across for advocates of pragmatic, principled, effective, and collaborative U.S. global engagement.
