Library: Public Administration Research Guide: International Relations

Country Profiles, Statistics, & Data

BBC News Country Profiles
Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. They also include audio and video clips from BBC archives.
CIA World Factbook
The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
UNdata (United Nations Data)
Statistics sources from the United Nations on education, health, population, human development, business, and more.

United States Statistics & Demographic Information

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. Note Requires registering a free account once you access the database.
Please review this training guide for assistance with using Social Explorer.

U.S. Census
Home page for the Bureau of the Census. It's QuickFacts page is a good starting point for easy access to facts about people, business, and geography.

Human Rights

Amnesty International
Amnesty International has worked to defend the rights of Indigenous peoples in all regions of the world and demands that states apply and develop urgently needed laws to protect their lands, cultures and livelihoods.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need.
Civil Rights Defenders
We partner with and support human rights defenders who work in some of the world’s most repressive regions on four continents. Through advocacy, litigation, and public campaigns, we advance people’s rights globally. We also act as Sweden’s watchdog civil rights group.
Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF)
HRWF takes very seriously the task of providing accurate information to policy makers and others who are working to create a more humane world for everyone. For this reason, much care is given to analyzing reported incidents of human rights violations, getting to the facts and presenting them in a compelling and usable way.
UN Watch
UN Watch is a non-profit organization dedicated to holding the United Nations accountable to its founding principles. UN Watch is funded entirely by charitable donations

Courts & Tribunals

European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a contracting state has breached one or more of the human rights enumerated in the Convention or its optional protocols to which a member state is a party. The European Convention on Human Rights is also referred to by the initials "ECHR". The court is based in Strasbourg, France.
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.

The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America).

The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
United States Institutes of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace is a national, nonpartisan, independent institute, founded by Congress and dedicated to the proposition that a world without violent conflict is possible, practical and essential for U.S. and global security. In conflict zones abroad, the Institute works with local partners to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict. To reduce future crises and the need for costly interventions, USIP works with governments and civil societies to build local capacities to manage conflict peacefully. The Institute pursues its mission by linking research, policy, training, analysis and direct action to support those who are working to build a more peaceful, inclusive world.
United States Institutes of Peace Truth Commission Digital Collection
The United States Institute of Peace’s Truth Commissions Digital Collection is part of the Margarita S. Studemeister Digital Library in International Conflict Management. The collection contains profiles of truth commissions and substantive bodies of inquiry from nations worldwide - offering general background information on the composition of each body, links to the official legislative texts establishing such commissions, and each commission's final reports and findings.

News Sources

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Covers News, Legal, and Business domains. Contains full text of newspaper and journal articles, court cases, legal briefs, business information and more. Content in this database is NOT currently included in ALL-Search
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch is available as two resources, Ethnic NewsWatch™, which is a current collection, and Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, which is an historical collection.
Ethnic NewsWatch™, the current file, covers 1990 to present and includes newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The publications offer both national and regional coverage. Ethnic NewsWatch™ is the only current database devoted to presenting multi-ethnic and multi-cultural publications in one resource. Coverage begins in 1990 and is updated daily with new content. Many of the titles are not found in any other aggregated resource.
Ethnic NewsWatch: A History™, the historical file covering the years 1959-1989, offers a rare collection of over 30 full-text titles, focusing on African American, Hispanic American, and Native American presses from 1959-1989. Unique perspectives are presented on the most important issues concerning ethnicities and minorities in the U.S. and Canada during the pivotal years of the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Resource covering national & international newspapers
US Northeast Newsstream This link opens in a new window
U.S. Northeast Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. It features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, and news sites in full-text format. U.S. Newsstream includes regional titles titles such as The Buffalo News and The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Individual News Publications

New York Times Online This link opens in a new window
For information on gaining full access to The New York Times' website through Butler Library, see instructions here.
Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window
Published since 1889, the Wall Street Journal includes coverage of U.S. and world news, politics, arts, culture, lifestyle, sports, health and more.
You must login with your Buffalo State network login and create an account with your Buffalo State email address.

Foreign Affairs
A scholarly bimonthly journal published by the Council on Foreign Relations that covers international affairs and foreign policy and provides an international forum for new ideas, analysis, and debate on significant world issues. Audience includes government officials, academics, business leaders, and non-governmental groups such as human rights organizations.