Research Guides: International Studies: Topic Sources

Topic Sources

Open Data by World Bank economic, financial data by country or by topics.
Economic Freedom of the Fraser Institute Reports and data on economic freedom by country.
Index of Economic Freedom by Heritage Foundation statistics on 184 countries and their economic well-being
World Development Indicators from World Bank The World Bank's principal data source on the global economy. More than 550 time series, 1960-present, on more than 200 countries and 18 country groups, covering demographic, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.
Understanding Poverty from World Bank Research reports from studies on poverty by the World Bank.
Poverty Data by World Bank Data and ranking on poverty worldwide

Constitutions of Value: law, governance and political ecology by I. Feichtner & G. Gordon (Eds.) Addresses legal constitutions of value. Global value production and transnational value practices that rely on exploitation and extraction have left us with toxic commons and a damaged planet.

Politics Database A collective database on government issue (PAIS: Public Affairs Information Services), politics (WPSA: Worldwide Political Science Abstracts) and policy (Policy File Index) that covers political science since 1972.
GreenFILE Provides articles on the of human impact to the environment, including global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, etc.
Agricultural and Environmental Science Collection Abstracts and citations from over 6000 journals, conference proceedings, reports, books and government publications in agriculture; air quality; bacteriology; ecology; ecotourism; energy resources; environmental impact statements; hazardous waste; human population dynamics; industrial hygiene; microbiology; pollution; risk assessment; and toxicology. Coverage: 1967 to date.
ScienceDirect Full text of Elsevier's journals, covering sciences, health, and social sciences since 1995 as well as indexing of other publisher's journals.
Academic Search Complete Comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Environmental Issues Online Brings together multimedia materials around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more.

Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Provides multidisciplinary research which focuses on research and policy related to climate change and the environment. Use Research areas to find topics and sources
Global Sustainability Journal from Cambridge search directly in this journal for articles
European Union Energy Policy Collection of topics, strategies, studies, publications from the European Union Commission on Energy (all types)
Global environment Outlook GEO-6 from United Nations Environment Assembly Report release March 2022 on the Global Environment Outlook
Global Environment Outlook GEO-7 work from United Nations Environment Assembly Work currently happening to create this study.

Earth Science
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Environmental Science and Policy
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Benefit-Sharing in Environmental Governance by L. Parks Case studies on the bottom-up findings in the wider debate about global civil society and deliberative democracy in environmental governance. Covers environmental politics, environmental law, political ecology and global governance, as well as multilateral environmental agreements.
Geography Today by I. Muehlenhaus (Ed.) Geography Today provides a thoughtful and thorough introduction to the study of geography--from maps and technology to the study of different cultures, political systems, and economies, and an investigation of plate tectonics and climate systems. Approaches the study of geography by concept, in contrast to most other works, which are organized by world region.
Plastic free : the inspiring story of a global environmental movement and why it matters by R. Prince-Ruiz Plastic Free tells the inspiring story of how ordinary people have created change in their homes, communities, workplaces, schools, businesses, and beyond. It is easy to feel overwhelmed in the face of global environmental problems and wonder what difference our own actions could possibly make

Country reports on human rights practices by United States. Department of State. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress. The reports cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
SAGE Handbook of Human Rights by A. Mihr, & M. Gibney (Eds.) Inter-disciplinary approach, combining work in such traditional fields as law, political science and philosophy with such non-traditional subjects as climate change, demography, economics, geography, urban studies, mass communication, and business and marketing. In addition, one of the aspects of mainstreaming is the manner in which human rights has come to play a prominent role in popular culture, and there is a section on human rights in art, film, music and literature.

Country Reports on Human Rights Situations from Organization of American States Reports by country of specific human rights events of note. Many are published in the language of the country.
Peoples under Threat by Minority Rights Group International Search by incident or place for reports on threats to minority groups.
State of the World's Human Rights by Amnesty International Annual report on the state of countries throughout the world's human rights in past year and future issues.
Women's Refugee Commission Reports by International Rescue Committee Various reports on children and women
World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples Trends by Minority Rights Group International Yearbook on unique trending topics affecting world minority and indigenous peoples.

Immigration Profiles and Demographics from Migration Policy Data, articles and news on various countries immigration
International Displacement Monitoring Centre Statistics by region or country on displaced peoples.
People worldwide were forcibly displaced from UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) Statistics on displacement (creating refugees).
Refugees and Migrant Reports from Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Division defends the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced people, and migrants worldwide from articles, data and news..

Countries and Regions of Conflict by United State Institute of Peace Report on resources and analysis for those working to prevent or reduce violent conflict.
Nations in Transit by Freedom House Analysis of the progress of democratic change in the 29 former Communist states of Europe and Eurasia including electoral process; civil society; independent media; national democratic governance; local democratic governance; judicial framework and independence; and corruption.

Airplane Security and Hijacking from Aviation Safety Network statistics, background on airplane terrorism
Center for Global Risk and Security from RAND Develop multi-disciplinary research and policy analysis dealing with systemic risks to global security and environment.
CrisisWatch: database on significant situations of conflict or potential conflict around the world A global conflict tracker, an early warning tool designed to help prevent deadly violence.
Global Peace Index (2024) from Institute for Economics and Peace This think tank ranks 163 independent states and territories according to their level of peacefulness, using the GPI measure of global peacefulness. The GPI covers 163 countries comprising 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators based on Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarization.
Global Terrorism Database from National Consortium for the study of terrorism and responses to terrorism graphic data, timeline, background on terrorist attacks around the globe

Military Balance by International Institute for Strategic Studies Annual on military in countries.

Reports on Terrorism by U.S. Bureau of Counterterrorism Provides special reports, Country reports, etc.

Strategic Survey: The Annual Review of World Affairs by International Institute for Strategic Studies arranged by country includes military events, spending and political climate.

Terrorism History (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Definition of Terrorism and the history from French Revolution to today.

Worldmark Modern Conflict and Diplomacy by C. Johnson (Ed.) The set will cover specific conflicts that have had a truly global impact, as well as the efforts and organizations focused on solving these conflicts. Topics include historical and current conflicts from World Wars I & II to Al-Qaeda and the Arab Spring, as well as diplomatic efforts such as the United Nations and the Nobel Peace Prize.

War, what are the costs? Data on human, political, economic and social costs of war.

Explainers via podcasts, videos and special report from the Council on Foreign Relations Helpful podcasts, explanation of foreign happenings, timelines and research guides (like human trafficking and displaced persons)
Freedom in the World by Freedom House These reports assess the condition of political rights and civil liberties for 195 countries and 15 territories. External analysts assess 210 countries and territories, using a combination of on-the-ground research, consultations with local contacts, and information from news articles, nongovernmental organizations, governments, and a variety of other sources.

World Bank Search Internal search of location of materials within the World Bank website
Open Data by World Bank economic, financial data by country or by topics.
Poverty Data by World Bank statistics concerning world poverty
Understanding Poverty from World Bank Research reports from studies on poverty by the World Bank.
World Bank Documents by Topic reports from the NGO World Bank
World Development Indicators by World Bank The World Bank's principal data source on the global economy. More than 550 time series, 1960-present, on more than 200 countries and 18 country groups, covering demographic, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.