International Affairs and Global Studies : POLS 3406 - International Law

Welcome to the resource page for POLS 3406, International Law

Gather Information - These are suggestions based on library collections and databases. You may have alternative resources in mind!

~~Check News Sources box below - Examples of NU Library news resources are The Economist, Foreign Policy, and Access World News.

~~Search for statistics/data on topics of interest  - economic indicators, including imports and exports, etc.

~~ Explore maps

~~Search for country information

~~Capture citations - As you gather materials, save the information you'll need for your bibliographies and works cited pages!!

~~Store your citations in a citation management software package like Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, or RefWorks. (If you've used EasyBib, NoodleTools, or a similar kind of software, you've used a citation manager.)

EIU Viewpoint (formerly EIU.com) and Europa World are excellent sources for country information.

The Country Reports are particularly valuable. Here's an example of the Russia "One Click Report" which provides extensive coverage of political and economic circumstances. Data is included in the One Click report and a separate Data tool is also available in Viewpoint.

Europa World provides both country and regional profiles.

Select the Countries/Territories link, type a country name in the search box and press enter. Choose Recent History o other topics of interest from the menu at the left The History section often provides valuable information about previous conflicts and their resolutions or lack thereof.

Regional profiles may provide additional context since neighboring countries may be affected by the conflict or involved in negotiations. Select the Regions link and make your choice from the map or list of regions.

Consider using the Political Handbook of the World to build a more complete country profile. The Political Handbook provides an overview of a nation's political landscape as well as coverage of government organization and structure. Political parties, including extremist groups or ethnic parties, are covered. Editions from 2005-2006 to present are available.

Use the following links to view 2 minute videos on Access World News features.

Use Europa World to identify other potential news sources. Europa also provides detailed country histories and directories of government agencies, political parties, and broadcasting and communication outlets. Search Country profiles and consider reviewing Regional profiles to establish context around events in an individual country.

Research Tip!  Statistics can lead you to datasets! When you find a relevant table or chart, look for its source. 

Here's an example from Statista, one of the NU Library's major statistical databases. EIU Viewpoint is also a rich source of country statistics and data. Also, try the Data/Statistics/Polls tab on this Guide!

The NU Library does not maintain a map collection. However, we offer a robust suite of Geographic Information Systems services (GIS) supported by Senior Research Data Analyst, Bahare Sanaie-Movahed.

Some sources for maps include:

Nations Online Project - Offers maps for a variety of geographical areas.

Click the images below to retrieve the maps!

Other options include the Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection (University of Texas, Austin) and CIA Maps. Maps may be included in news stories and news magazines as well.

Use these tools to find work published by NGOs, IGOs, and think tanks. Some of these reports may provide insight into the current state of the conflict and previous negotiations.

Please e-mail Roxanne Palmatier, library contact for Political Science and International Affairs.