Political Science Research Guide: International & World

The Country Studies Series 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.

List of links about a country geared toward legal researchers. Includes links to Constitutions and information about branches of government.

Background information about a country prepared by the U.S. Department of State.

1991-present
Full-text of scholarly theory and research on international affairs; working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers from non-governmental organizations, foundations, conference proceedings; links to websites

The Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people's assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day. Nearly 300,000 interviews in 59 countries have been conducted as part of the project's work.

Eurostat was established in 1953 to meet the requirements of the Coal and Steel Community. Over the years its task has broadened and when the European Community was founded in 1958 it became a Directorate-General (DG) of the European Commission. Eurostat’s key role is to supply statistics to other DGs and supply the Commission and other European Institutions with data so they can define, implement and analyse Community policies.

The construction blocks of peacebuilding take many forms. But perhaps the most basic is language. If we are to be successful in what inevitably is a collective enterprise, we must communicate in terms that are direct and operationally useful. But the language of peacemaking is not always clear. The meanings of diplomacy, mediation, and negotiation are relatively straightforward. But what exactly is a “resource curse,” and what do we mean by “social media”? What is the difference between autonomy and sovereignty, between proximity talks and shuttle diplomacy, and perhaps most pertinent, between peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding?

To help answer these questions, USIP's Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, under the leadership of Pamela Aall, has produced this compendium of Peace Terms.