LibGuides: Political Science: Comparative Politics

Internet: UN Documents Databases

The United Nations is making more and more of it's older publications available online through retrospective conversion. However, do not assume that what is online is all that exists. Refer to print indexes for historical UN documents

Official Documents System of the United Nations
All types of UN documents from 1993, with some older materials.
UN Bibliographic Information System (UNBISnet)
Voting records and speeches for General Assembly and Security Council. Generally coverage is from 1979- but some documents come from as early as 1946.
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* Resolutions passed by the Security Council, ECOSOC, and General Assembly (1946 onward);
* Voting records for all resolutions which were adopted by the General Assembly (1983 onward) and the Security Council; and
* Speeches made in the General Assembly (1983 onward), the Security Council (1983 onward), the Economic and Social Council (1983 onward), and the Trusteeship Council (1982 onward).

Free IR Databases and Repositories

FIRST- Facts on Intl. Relations and Security Trends
The FIRST system offers researchers, politicians and the media an authoritative and structured factual reference system on international relations and security trends.

Resources

CIA World Factbook
Quick facts on individual countries; created by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Constitution Finder
Constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents; searchable by country.
Council on Foreign Relations

Non-partisan "think tank" that publishes Foreign Affairs; the site includes vast array of in-house publications (policy briefs, journal articles, etc) as well as external material focusing on international affairs and American foreign policy.
Country Background Notes
Created by the U.S. Department of State; provides information about a country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations.
Country Rankings Guide
List of country rankings based on indicators that try to measure different characteristics of countries around the world.
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Annual report prepared by the U.S. State Department.
Electronic Information System for International Law
Maintained by the American Society of International Law, includes a mix of primary documents, Web sites, and research guides to aid international law researchers.
GlobaLex
Tool for researching foreign and international law; published by New York University School of Law.
World Bank Data Catalog
A listing of free World Bank data sources, including databases, pre-formatted tables and reports. Search results can be exported in different formats, such as Excel. Users can also choose to download the entire database directly from the catalog.
World Development Indicators
Electronic access to more than 865 development indicators with time series for more than 225 countries and 18 country groups from 1960 to the present, where data are available. Produced by The World Bank Group.

Open Data

Australian Open Government Data
Site language is English. Data.gov.au provides an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from the Australian Government and state and territory governments. The main purpose of the site is to encourage public access to and reuse of government data by providing it in useful formats and under open licences. It was created following the Government’s Declaration of Open Government and response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce.
Austria Open Government Data
Site language is German. They have a collection of various datasets from federal agencies and organizations including GIS data, micro-census, census, environmental dta, traffic data, and various data from NPOs and NGOS. In both human and machine-readable formats.
Belgium Open Data Initiative
Site language options include English. Data on topics including Animals, Culture, Economy, Research, Tourism, Work, Education, Science, Enviroment, Diaster, Geography, Poplution, Family, Birth, Death, Government, Taxes, Health, Housing, Justice, and Mobility/Traffic. This data is of various types (including Download, Newsfeed, Script, Twitter feed, webpage and web service) at various granularity (including Country, Region, Provience, Arrondissement, Municipality and St
Canada Open Data
Site language is English. The Open Data Pilot is part of the Government of Canada's commitment to open government, which is being pursued along three streams: open data, open information & open dialogue, & aims to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians. The Open Data Pilot seeks to improve the ability of the public to find, download and use Government of Canada data. Search the catalogue, download datasets and explore the possibilities of Open Data.
Netherlands Open Data
Site language is Dutch. Data.overheid.nl is the open data portal from the Dutch government. On this portal you will find other information about open government data and the national registry of references to existing open data sets. The portal focuses on public government. For geographic datasets can also search the National Georegister.
Estonia Open Data
Site language options includes English. Open data from the government of Estonia. Data includes statistical information on the topics of the Economy, Environment, Population, Social life and from the 2000 Population Census and the 2001 Agricultural Census.
France - Open Platform of French Public Data
Site language is French. Open data from the government of France. In May 26, 2011 the Prime Minister of France asked the government to open the public data of their administration to enhance the transparency of governmental action. Data.gouv.fr is the result of the Prime Minister's request and the number of dataset's available on the site continues to grow.
Hong Kong Open Data
Site language is English. The Hong Kong government has made geo-referenced public facility data and real-time traffic data for free download and value-added re-use by the public on their site. The data includes names, addresses and co-ordinates, etc. of public facilities such as government offices, hospitals, schools, country parks as well as recreational, cultural and sports venues. Real-time traffic data is also available. Much of the data is available in the XML format.
Ireland's Official Statistics - StatCentral.ie
Site language is English. In Ireland, official statistics are those produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), along with government departments, agencies and other state bodies. Most of these are available on the web through a variety of websites and formats. The StatCentral portal provides standard documentation on recurring official statistics and links to where they can be found.
Italy Open Data
Site language is Italian. The Italian government has a catalog of some 176 datasets from 38 different administrative bodies. On topics including Environment, Art & Culture, Citizens & public life, Economy & investment, Jobs, Politics, Social Policy, Security, Wellness, Technology, and Transportation Infrastructure in a variety of formats (including XLS, CSV, XML, TSV, Shapefile, PDF, ODS and HTML).
Kenya Open Data
This site makes public government data accessible to the people of Kenya. High quality national census data, government expenditure, parliamentary proceedings and public service locations are just a taste of what's to come. Our information is a national asset, and it's time it was shared: this data is key to improving transparency; unlocking social and economic value; and building Government 2.0 in Kenya.
Korea Open Data
Page language is Korean. Topics of data include Education, Language, Labor, Cultural heritage, Art Health Care and Food Safety.
New Zealand Open Data
Site language is English. data.govt.nz is a directory of publicly-available New Zealand government datasets. The site focuses on machine-readable (ie, well-structured and open) datasets, but has links to "grey" data (for example, web pages) as well. Formats include CSV, KML/SHP, GEO & API).
Romania Open Data
Site language is Romanian. Data available on a variety of topics including, Land Relations, Tourism, Education, Intellectual Property, Social Insurance, Medical Insurance, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Agriculture & Food, Defense, Economy, Education, Finance, Justice, Enlivenment, Technology in a variety of formats (including XLSx, zip, & csv).
Saudi Open Government Data
Site language is English. Open Government Data from the Saudi government, on the topics of Weather conditions, Prices and indices, Social Insurance, Trade (internal and external), Education and training, Social services, Agriculture and fishing, Population and Housing, Accounts Financial monetary affairs and Industry, Health, Energy and Water, Transport and Communications, Labor market, Industry, and the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Singapore Government - Open Data
Site language is English. data.gov.sg is the first-stop portal to search and access publicly-available data published by the Singapore Government. Launched in June 2011, data.gov.sg brings together over 5000 datasets from 50 government ministries and agencies. Topics include economic, legal, housing, education, judiciary, media, national parks, science & technology and Urban Redevelopment.
Spain Open Data
Site language is Spanish. Data sets on topics including Culture & Leisure, Science & technology, Environment, Transportation, Education, Economy, Law & Justice, Trade Security, Planning & Infrastructure, Society & welfare, Energy, Health, Finance Housing, Employment, Tourism, Industry and Sports, in a variety of formats (including xhtml, html, pdf, xls, csv, xml & json).
United Kingdom Open Data
Site language is English. There are currently over 5,400 datasets available, from all central government departments of the United Kingdom and a number of other public sector bodies and authorities. Topics on various nations (including England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) on various topics (including Health, Communities, Children, Finance) from various publishers (Department of Health, UK Statistics Authority, British Geological Survey, Center for Ecology & Hydrology).
United State Open Data
Site language is English. A primary goal of Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of government by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives to make government more transparent and is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. The openness derived from Data.gov will strengthen our Nation's democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

Statistics from United Nations Agencies

The UN Statistics Division oversees UN collection, organization and distribution of statistics and provides links to the UN databases from their web site. Here are some of the major UN statistical databases.

GenderInfo
Gender statistics for population, families, health, education, work, and political participation...
Social Indicators
Child-bearing, Child and early populations, contraceptive use, education, health, housing, human settlements, income and economic activity, literacy, population, unemployment, water supply and sanitation
UN Comtrade
International Merchandise Trade Statistics from 1962- present.
UN Demographic Yearbook
World summary, population, fertility, foetal mortality, infant and maternal mortality, general mortality, nuptiality, divorces
UNCTAD Databases
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's databases: Global databank on world trade in creative products, Handbook of Statistics, Foreign Direct Investment, ICT Statistics, Millennium Indicators, Trade Analysis
United Nations Statistics Division
Clearinghouse, portal and standards keeper for United Nations statistics.