Olin Library: International Relations: Internet

Includes facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of independent states, some dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty.

"An instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories." including audio and video news clips from the BBC archives.

Extensive information on the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, and military of the world's countries; includes maps.

Updates the Country Studies with current information on selected countries.

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; covers 101 countries between 1988 and 1998.

A portal that "contains selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world."

An online directory published and updated by the CIA.

The official home page of the UN, containing much current information about world events. Follow the white and yellow links in the header of the page. To search the entire site for material of interest, click on the Search link in the lower right.

A browsing approach to finding material of interest using an alphabetical listing of all parts of the Web site.

Includes an expanding set of full text documents from the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, and International Court of Justice.

UNBISnet is a catalogue of UN documents and publications indexed by the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the UN Office at Geneva. Includes non-UN sources held in the Library back to 1979 with full text from 1993.

UN division focusing on educational, scientific and cultural issues. In the right margin under Services, it includes links to full text documents and statistics.

A collection of texts, finding aids, data sets, maps, and links to print and electronic data; covers disarmament, economic and social development, environment, human rights, international relations, international trade, peacekeeping, and demography.

A major source of current statistics on the world economic outlook under the link "Data and Statistics." The IMF is controversial for its economic philosophy in promoting international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and exchange arrangements.

Provides access to 27 statistical database maintained by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

UNCDB provides selected series from numerous specialized international data sources for all available countries and areas.

Provides loans to middle-income countries through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and to poor countries through the International Development Association. Statistics available to subscribers.

A global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.

A very valuable listing of Web-accessible statistics on economic, environmental, political, and social concerns, maintained by a political science professor at Florida State University.

A site that draws country statistical data from a number of reliable resources and creates a search engine for comparing nations graphically

"The OFFSTATS database provides access to free statistics from official sources on the web. Web links are arranged by country, region or subject. The database can be searched by a single category, or a combination of categories."

The latest report (2010) to Congress by the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency on progress on arms control issues; provides country assessments in each area of concern.

Maintained by SIPRI (see below), a factual reference system on IR and security trends; information on conflicts, arms transfers, military expenditures, facts on states and international organizations, and economic and social statistics.

A widely cited source of background information and developing news stories in the fields of defense, space, intelligence, WMD, and homeland security.

Maintained by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the ISN aims to promote greater knowledge sharing, learning, and collaboration among international relations and security professionals worldwide.

A valuable source of information and analysis on nonproliferation issues maintained by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

A non-profit organization seeking to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons;co-chaired by philanthropist Ted Turner and former Senator Sam Nunn.

Conducts research on questions of conflict and cooperation of importance for international peace and security, with the aim of contributing to an understanding of the conditions for peaceful solutions of international conflicts and for a stable peace.