Skyline College Library

Finding Information on International Relations

Magazine & Journal Databases (to access articles):

History Resource Center : Articles & sources on U.S. & modern world history.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

ACLS History E-Book Project
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required).
Over 1,125 electronic books of major importance to historical studies and books that remain vital to advanced students.

CountryWatch
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required).
Political, economic, and business info on any country.

Gale PowerSearch databases : excellent general periodical database.
Available from off-campus--as long as you have a library card (library card bar code number is required). 

• To search only for articles that include the full text (the whole article) in the database, check the "articles with text" box under "Limit the current search" (below the text entry box)
• To narrow searches, combine concepts with AND.
• Once you find one article specifically on your topic, click on any relevant subject headings (near the bottom of the article page) to find more articles on that topic.

News databases :

• LexisNexis Academic on campus
  OR off campus w/ library card
  : select the "Guided News Search" tab, or select "News" from the left column; pull down "World News"; then select the region you are interested in.
• eLibrary - on campus
  OR off campus w/ library card
  Articles from over 200 newspapers--including NY Times (99+), S.F. Chronicle (85+), L.A. Times (97+), Washington Post (99+), Christian Science Monitor (97+)--plus magazine articles, TV & radio transcripts, & pictures.

Books:

The PLS Online Catalog is the online catalog to find books in Skyline Library and in all libraries in the Peninsula Library Sytem.

• Type in the name of your topic in the search box and click the Search button.
• Limit your search to books at Skyline by clicking on the Limit button at the right side of the page and then i scroll down to near the bottom and click on Skyline College Library and then click OK.

I. Recommended Books for Background Information on Countries 

• The Statesman's Yearbook. New York: St. Martin's, annual.
  Available in Library Reference Collection: REF/ JA 51 S7
  Contains basic descriptive and statistical information about the governments of the world.
• Political Handbook of the World.
  Issued in cooperation with the Council on Foreign Relations.
  Binghamton, N.Y.: CSA Publications, annual.
  Available in Library Reference Collection: REF/JF37.P6
  Includes articles on political developments in each country, an overview of current political issues for the previous year, and a chronology of world events.
• Culturegrams. 4 vols. Orem, UT: CultureGram, annual.
  Available in Library Reference and Circulating Collections: GT 150 C85
  Includes information about cultural norms.
• Worldmark encyclopedia of cultures and daily life. Detroit, MI : Gale, c1998.
  Available in Library Reference Collection: REF/GN333.W67 1997
  Provides information on 500 cultures of the world, covering twenty different areas of daily life including clothing, food, language, and religion.

• Background Notes http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
  Basic information on countries of the world compiled by the State Department Staff.
• BBC News-- Africa -- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/
  BBC News-- Americas -- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/
  BBC News-- Asia Pacific -- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/
  BBC News-- Europe -- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/
  BBC News-- Middle East-- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/
  BBC News-- South Asia -- Country profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/
  Overview of recent history with chronological time line and the current political situation of each country. Provides basic facts such as main exports and religious affiliation plus free news articles published by BBC.
• Country Profiles -- Search on LexisNexis Academic under the Reference category from both CIA World Fact Book and Walden's Country Reports.
• Country Reviews-- CountryWatch database: http://www.countrywatch.com/ip/ (available on campus only)
  Includes data and political, economic, business and environmental background for each country.
• Global Gateway: World Culture and Resources from Library of Congress http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html
  Portals to the World -- Provide electronic resources on the nations of the world selected by Library of Congress subject experts.
  Research Guides and Databases http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/spguides.html -- Search country studies, foreign law materials, specialized catalogs, digitized books and journals. Check out especially "Country Studies: Area Handbook Series" http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/
  A continuing series of online books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army.
• The World Factbook Country Listing http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/countrylisting.html
  Basic country information from the World Factbook.
• Country Commercial Guides
  Available on the GLOBUS & NTDB - database: http://www.stat-usa.gov (on campus, off campus) and on the EXPORT.GOV Web site: http://www.export.gov/marketresearch.html. Provide political, business and economic profiles of countries and key statistical data.
• Countries of the World - Check cummulative statistical information from the USA CIA World Factbooks the United Nations Statistical Office, The Library of Congress Country Studies and other sources.
• Cultural Profiles Project - Cultural profiles of 101 countries from all continents are presented, arranged alphabetically from Afghanistan to Zambia.
• Everything International http://faculty.philau.edu/russowl/country.html -- a wealth of free, important Internet resources relevant to country studies and international business.

  
  Other websites relevant to international relations

• Countries at the crossroads
  http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=139&edition=7
• Focal Points-International Law & Other Countries (Emory University School of Law)
  http://www.law.emory.edu/erd/subject/intl.html
  http://www.law.emory.edu/erd/foreign.html
• Foreign Affairs - an online searchable journal
  http://www.foreignaffairs.org
• Foreign Governments and International Governmental Organizations (Northwestern Univ. Library)
  http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/resource/internat/foreign.html
  http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/resource/internat/igo.html
• Full-text Intergovernmental Organization Information
  http://govinfo.ucsd.edu/internat.html#igo
• Governments on the WWW
  http://www.gksoft.com/govt/
• International Documents Task Force Web Links
  http://www.ala.org/ala/godort/taskforces/internationaldocuments/idtf.htm
• International Organizations and (Country) Information
  http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/foreign-country-info.html
• Offical WEB Locator for the United Nations System of Organizations (and Other International Organizations)
  http://www.unsystem.org
• Intute: Social Sciences - Politics
  http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/cgi-bin/browse.pl?id=120101
• University of Michigan Documents Center
  http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/
• United Nations System of Organizations
  http://www.unsystem.org/
• Virtual Library: International Affairs
  http://www.etown.edu/vl/
• World Affairs Council Library
  http://www.itsyourworld.org/wac/Library.asp
• Yahoo's foreign and international links
  http://www.yahoo.com/government/countries
  http://www.yahoo.com/government/international_organizations

III. Directories

• Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments. http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/chiefs/index.html
  A list with bimonthly updates.

IV. Human Rights Sources

• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
  http://www.umn.edu/humanrts
• Human Rights Databank ( Human Rights Internet )
  http://www.hri.ca/databank/
• Yahoo's Human Rights links
  http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/Law/International/

V. Indexes to Official Records and Other Proceedings

• United Nations Press Releases search (http://www.un.org) -- Unofficial summaries of meetings. Searchable by U.N. document number and by keyword.

VI. International Law

• EISIL (American Society of International Law)
  http://www.eisil.org/
• Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World
  http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/nations.html
• LLRX.com Resource Center - International Law & Comparative and Foreign Law
  http://www.llrx.com/international_law.html
  http://www.llrx.com/comparative_and_foreign_law.html
• WWW Virtual Library: International and National Law
  http://www.etown.edu/vl/intllaw.html
• Washburn University School of Law Foreign and International Law links
  http://www.washlaw.edu/forint/forintmain.html
• Willamette University School of Law international & foreign links
  http://www.willamette.edu/law/longlib/forint.htm

VII. Maps

•  Map Collection at Univ. of Texas at Austin http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

VIII. Statistical Information 

• United Nations Nation Statistics Division. ( http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/inter-natlinks/sd_natstat.htm )
• InfoNation (http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation3/menu/advanced.asp)
• U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook. ( http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html)
• UN/ECE Statistical Division's WWW site (http://www.unece.org/stats/links.htm)
• European Union. (http://europa.eu/index_en.htm )
• Foreign Government Data Sources -- University of Michigan
  (http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stforeig.html)
• Social Watch Country Reports
  http://www.socialwatch.org/en/fichasPais/fichaPaisPortada.htm
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics
  http://www.who.int/countries/en/
• World Bank Data and Statistics
  
  IX. Military and Armament Information 

• The International Relations and Security Network (http://www.isn.ethz.ch/)
• U.S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, annual.
  

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Last updated by Kim Lim: 4-30-08
Created 2-7-01 by Kim Lim, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA