General Information on Politics
New York Times: Learning Network
This "free service for students in grades 3-12, their teachers and parents" offers background information on news stories, lesson plans and classroom activities, links to related resources, suggested family discussion topics, and other features to help with an understanding of current events. For more advanced information, you may want to visit
Politics Navigator
which is a lightly annotated site that provides numerous links to information on political media and commentary, public opinion, private organizations, state polls, and presidential candidates. requires (free) registration. From the New York Times.
Johns Hopkins University Library Guides: political Science Working Papers
Working papers are also called research reports, technical papers, or staff papers. Working papers are mostly sponsored by academic institutions, research organizations and some private organizations. Some working papers are eventually published in scholarly journals. Working papers summarize original research in a particular field of study. They are usually written by faculty, doctoral candidates, and research fellows, and can be very useful for identifying new ideas and concepts in a particular subject area. This site provides links to other sites which catalogue working papers from The Federal Reserve, The National Bureau of Economic Research, The Kennedy School of Government, The RAND Corporation, The Social Science Research Network, and more. Excellent, well-organized.
The Rhetorica Network: Analysis of Rhetoric, Propaganda, and Spin in Politics and Journalism
"Offers analysis and commentary about the rhetoric, propaganda, and spin of journalism and politics, including analysis of presidential speeches and election campaigns." In addition to a blog, this site has background information on rhetorics ("Rhetorics Primer") and explanations of critical terms and techniques ("Critical Meter"). From a rhetoric scholar and former journalist.
Encyclopedia of Television
"The Encyclopedia of Television includes more than 1,000 original essays from more than 250 contributors and examines specific programs and people, historic moments and trends, major policy disputes and such topics as violence, tabloid television and the quiz show scandal. It also includes histories of major television networks as well as broadcasting systems around the world and is complemented by resource materials, photos, and bibliographical information." The site is both accessible as well as browsable. From the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Teaching Websites from The American Political Science Association
An excellent annotated compendium of links relating to research and teaching of political science. The list ranges from information more appropriate for the serious researcher to links designed for the classroom teacher and student.
History and Politics Out Loud: a searchable archive of politically significant audio materials
This is "a collection of invaluable audio materials some available for the first time on this website capturing significant political and historical events and personalities of the twentieth century. The materials range from formal addresses delivered in public settings to private telephone conversations conducted from the innermost recesses of the White House." Contains audio from: Johnson, Nixon, Churchill, the 3 Kennedys, Clinton, Khrushchev and FDR, among others.
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace
The Web site for "one of the largest archives and most complete libraries in the world devoted to political, economic, and social change in the twentieth century." Includes research papers, newsletters, online books, weekly essays by Hoover Fellows, and more. Based at Stanford University.
A Dictionary of Political Economy Terms
This is the online edition of A Glossary of Political Economy Terms by Dr. Paul M. Johnson of Auburn University. Searchable and browsable.
American Government and Politics Online
This site offers a free online American government & politics "textbook," a historical & political documents archive and other resources for students, teachers and those generally interested in "this nation." The site includes a library of such items as the text of presidential inaugural addresses, important documents in US political history--i.e. the Constitution, Amendments, important Supreme Court decisions--and image and sound files of important political figures. Searchable.
The History Guy: A Resource for History, Military History, Politics, and Biography
Information on the governmental systems of selected nations, U.S. politics, biographies, news on current conflicts, and more from a high-school teacher and enthusiast.
Congress
CongressLink - A Resource for Teachers Providing Information About the U.S. Congress
CongressLink provides information about the U.S. Congress -- how it works, its members and leaders, and the public policies it produces. CongressLink is directed to teachers of American Government and civics. It is multi-featured, offering original content (including lesson plans and historical materials) and up-to-the-minute information about Congress. This is an excellent accessible site.
Congress for Kids - Interactive, Fun-filled Experiences About the Federal Government
Uncle Sam takes you on a tour through American history, the important documents and their creation, and the branches of government. Links to important government sites are also included.
FedNet - The Leader in Multimedia News Production
This site by FedNet offers broadcast coverage of the United States Government online. It delivers daily broadcasts of both the Senate and House floor debates, Congressional hearings, The White House and other agencies around the Washington, DC, area.
U.S. Senate: Virtual Reference Desk
If you are seeking general information on the Senate, the legislative branch and process, or on the federal government, this is a good place to begin. Links are arranged broadly by subject and may take you to PDF documents, useful sources on the Web, or other Senate Web pages.
House Committee on Foreign Affairs:: U.S. House of Representatives
This site contains press releases, a weekly schedule, hearing information and transcripts, along with other Committee material. This is the Committee with jurisdiction over matters including relations with foreign nations, embassies, national border lines, exports, foreign loans, international conferences, and international relations. The
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
has oversight over the foreign policy agencies of the U.S. government, including the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Peace Corps. The Committee reviews and considers all diplomatic nominations and international treaties, as well as legislation relating to U.S. foreign policy.
News
NewsIsFree: Your Personal News Portal
NewsIsFree is an online news reader, RSS Directory and news search engine. The site claims to have pioneered the RSS and news syndication field. It carries a broad selection of high quality news sources and provides headlines from sites which do not provide rss feeds. It includes world, sports, entertainment, science, health, technology, economic, and other news. Basic site information is available in English, French, or German; the sources cited are in their original language. Site is searchable, and may also be browsed through a categorized index. Free registration allows for personal customizing and there are also fee based options.
World Press
World Press Review is the journal of record for an influential global audience, providing an unprecedented platform for ideas and opinions on topics of significant international concern. For more than 30 years, World Press Review has been the only English-language magazine giving readers a first-hand look at the issues and debates that occupy the world's newspapers and magazines. Drawing upon publications around the globe, and a network of correspondents in dozens of countries, World Press Review illuminates the issues that barely see the light of day in the mainstream U.S. press, translating, reprinting, analyzing, and contextualizing the best of the international press from more than 20 languages.
Law
Legal Information Institute @ Cornell
This site by the Cornell Law School, presents summaries of recent Supreme Court decisions. During the past term the Supreme Court ruled on: Affirmative Action, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law and Procedure, First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, Intellectual Property, Foreign Policy, Foreign Sovereignty, and Voting Rights.
The Guide to Law Online – Law Library of Congress
The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information.
Web Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Research
A selection of annotated links to the most reliable, substantive sites for U.S. Supreme Court research. The sites mentioned here focus predominantly on information that is freely, or inexpensively, available on the Internet." Created by an Associate Law Librarian at Pennsylvania State University.
The Federal Judicial Center
The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency for the federal court system. Learn how the federal courts are organized. Discover
the history of the Supreme Court, courts of appeals, district
courts, circuit courts, and others. Find units for teaching
about notable federal trials -- the Sedition Act trials, the
Aaron Burr treason trial, Amistad, Chinese exclusion, and
others.
Lawyers, Legal Forms, Law Books, Legal Software, and Free Information – Nolo
While this site is less accessible than it once was, it is still an excellent resource for information about the law. It helps people handle their own everyday legal matters -- or learn enough about them to make working with a lawyer a more satisfying experience. Everything that is publish is regularly revised, updated and improved by the site’s staff of lawyer-editors. The site provides articles on almost any legal topic, and links to other helpful websites.
International Politics
Portals to the World
This site is a starting point for studying other countries. Learn about
the culture, economy, geography, government, history,
languages, politics, religions, and other aspects of more than
150 nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Find links to
authoritative, in-depth information selected by area
specialists and other staff at the Library of Congress.
WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources
"An Internet directory of over 2000 annotated links to high-quality English-language sources of information and analysis in a wide range of international affairs, international studies, and international relations topics. These sites are carefully selected for their long-term value, favoring those with cost-free, authoritative information and analysis online. Each website is described only in general terms because of the typically rapid changes in the details of its contents and features." Well-organized, easy to browse, and accessible.
Union of International Associations Online Databases
"Listings of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to parties, organizations, governments, media and more from all around the world." These databases have extensive links to sites on international organizations, biographical profiles, bibliographies, statistics, and more. Some sections of the site require paid registration while others are free. Searchable.
Erik Herron's Guide to Politics in East Central Europe and Eurasia
"The site is designed to facilitate research on the politics and economics of transition states in the post-communist world." Includes "thousands of links to governmental and non-governmental web sites based in post-communist states." The countries can be searched individually, and the language of each site is indicated. The author is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas. You may need to use the non-Java version if you have trouble accessing the site.
The Infography about International Affairs
"The World Online," from Tufts University, is a portal that collects and links to international studies websites created by scholars, libraries, and government organizations. Links to scholarly journals, news sources, and statistical information in the field are also provided.
Oxford Analytica
"Oxford Analytica is an independent, privately held company founded in 1975 to bring timely and authoritative analysis of world developments to business and government leaders from the best available scholar experts." Highly specialized and very accessible, you can find information on arms control, border conflicts, foreign policy, international law, international relations, invasions, sanctions, security, diplomatic talks, international treaties, war, industry, domestic politics of individual countries, and much more.
United Nations
The United Nations home page leads to thousands of full-page publications of documents relating to international relations as well as the world agency itself.
BBC News Country Profiles
This site by the BBC, offers full profiles that provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries. These profiles also include audio and video clips from the BBC archives. The site is exceptionally accessible. Searchable.
Freedom of the Press Publications
Freedom House has been at the forefront in monitoring threats to media independence since 1980. Its annual survey tracks trends in global press freedom and draws attention to countries or regions where such freedom is under threat. Considered an authoritative assessment of media freedom around the world, the survey's findings are widely utilized by policymakers, scholars focusing on democratic development, educators and students, press freedom advocates, journalists, and governments and international institutions. Now covering 194 countries and territories, Freedom of the Press: A Global Survey of Media Independence provides numerical rankings and rates each country's media as "Free," "Partly Free," or "Not Free." Country narratives examine the legal environment for the media, political pressures that influence reporting, and economic factors that affect access to information.
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