International Studies Encyclopedia

A new title has been added to Blackwell Reference online: The International Studies Encyclopedia.

Published in association with the International Studies Association, the encyclopedia is also known as the International Studies Compendium Project.

According to the official description:

“This resource is the most comprehensive reference work of its kind for the fields of international studies and international relations. 

Key features:

• A-Z: Presented in an A-Z format
• 400+: Specially-commissioned, peer reviewed essays of up to 10,000 words focusing on the most important topics and issues
• Diverse: Written and edited by an international team of the world’s leading scholars and teachers
• Up-to-date: Essays quickly bring readers up-to-date on the nature of the questions asked, past attempts at formulating responses, and the current state of debates
• Accessible: Aimed at students, scholars, and practitioners
• Online: International Studies Online will be updated annually and enhanced by live links to archives, datasets, cases, pedagogical aids, and other relevant materials.”

Canadian TV news transcripts

Print news sources, their current decline notwithstanding, are fairly conducive to preservation in comparison with other types of news media. The question of how web-based news will be preserved for future study has yet to be addressed…but some progress has been made in documenting TV news broadcasts.

Canadian material of any genre is often difficult to come by, but several of the library’s article databases now provide access to transcripts from CBC and CTV broadcasts.

CBCA Complete from ProQuest includes transcripts from several CBC and CTV programs from the early 1990s to the present, including The National. To browse the sources, click on the Publications link near the top of the screen.

Lexis-Nexis includes articles from CBC websites with coverage from 2006 onward as well as CTV transcripts. From the main page, click on the Sources tab near the top left of the screen (next to the red Search button). Then on the right side of the page, there will be a box where you can search for the name of the broadcaster. After you select CBC News or CTV, click the red “Ok-Continue” box.

Another database with CBC transcripts is CPI.Q (Canadian Periodicals Index). From the main screen, click on the Publication Search link at the top, then search for CBC. Again, the coverage is from 2006 on.

Canadian Reference Centre has CBC transcripts for the National (2004-present) and the Saturday and Sunday reports (2009 only). In addition, there are transcripts of CBC radio from 2003-present. Click on Publications, then search for CBC.

Finally, WestLaw has a few CTV and CBC transcripts. To search them, click on the WestLaw International tab and type the name of the broadcaster in the Directory search box.

Failed State Index

Last month, the American organization The Fund for Peace published the Failed State Index for 2011.

The Index rates countries based on the following indicators:

Social indicators

1. Demographic pressures
2. Massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples
3. Legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievance
4. Chronic and sustained human flight

Economic indicators

5. Uneven economic development along group lines
6. Sharp and/or severe economic decline

Political indicators

7. Criminalization and/or delegitimisation of the state
8. Progressive deterioration of public services
9. Widespread violation of human rights
10. Security apparatus as ‘state within a state’
11. Rise of factionalised elites
12. Intervention of other states or external factors

The Country Profiles are also useful overviews of countries’ political and economic situation.

The most recently updated (June 2011) profiles include Guinea, Yemen, South Sudan, and Iraq.

New e-books from Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

The library has recently acquired over 400 new e-books on human rights and international law published by Martinus Nijhoff.

You can find the titles in the catalogue by searching for the publisher’s name. In addition, lists of the human rights and international law collections are available online.

Here is a small sampling of titles:

Akpinarli, N. (2010). The fragility of the ‘failed state’ paradigm: A different international law perception of the absence of effective government. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Woodward, B. K. (2010). Global civil society in international lawmaking and global governance: Theory and practice. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Nafziger, J. A. R., Nicgorski, A. M., & Brill Academic Publishers. (2010). Cultural heritage issues: The legacy of conquest, colonization, and commerce. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Eboe-Osuji, C. (2010). Protecting humanity: Essays in international law and policy in honour of Navanethem Pillay. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

University of Virginia., Nordquist, M. H., Heidar, T. H., & Moore, J. N. (2010). Changes in the Arctic environment and the law of the sea. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Susnjar, D. (2010). Proportionality, fundamental rights, and balance of powers. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Conforti, B., & Focarelli, C. (2010). The law and practice of the United Nations. Leiden, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Laulhe, S. S. (2010). The EU and Cyprus: Principles and strategies of full integration. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Davies, S. E., & Glanville, L. (2010). Protecting the displaced: Deepening the responsibility to protect. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Anagnostou, D., & Psychogiopoulou, E. (2010). The European Court of Human Rights and the rights of marginalised individuals and minorities in national context. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Arctic research resources

The journal College & Research Libraries has published a compilation of resources useful to anyone engaged in the study of the Arctic region.

Among particular interest for Political Scientists are the following:

• Arctic Portal, a general gateway
• Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), with bibliographic database and images
• Indigenous Peoples Secretariat (IPS), an international organization with useful newsletters and backgrounder documents

Source: Acadia, Spencer. “Arctic Research.” College & Research Libraries News 72, no. 2 (2011): 104-07.
http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/2/104.full

Information resources South Sudan

Here are some suggestions for resources on the economic and security outlook for the world’s newest nation, the Republic of South Sudan:

1. World Bank country page for Sudan

2. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s reports on South Sudan and Sudan includes daily news, monthly assessments, and backgrounders. [McGill subscription]

3. Jane’s Military and Security Assessments has extensive reference information on Sudan, including political climate, maps, military assessments (budgets, armaments, etc.), presence of terrorist groups, demographics, and external relations. In addition, news features provide analysis on the emergence of the newly independent South Sudan. [McGill subscription]

4. The World Bank data site has an article introducing the the Southern Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation, which will collect statistical information for the new nation.

5. The World Bank’s “mapping for results” project also provides a helpful overview of the economic situation of the region.

Incidentally, the New York Times recently published an article praising the World Bank’s many initiatives to make their data freely available, accessible, and generally useful to the public.

See: Stephanie Strom, “World Bank Is Opening Its Treasure Chest of Data,” New York Times, July 2, 2011

International Political Education Database

A recent find: The International Political Education Database (IPED) is a great resource for educators, managed and made available by the Teaching and Learning Specialist Group of the Political Studies Association in the UK.

IPED is a bibliographic index of “journal articles relating to teaching and learning in politics, international relations, public administration and related fields.” 800 citations are currently included.

The entire index can be displayed as a single list. It can also be browsed by category: Active Learning  Critical thinking  E-learning  Experiential Learning  Films and Novels  Gender  Large Group Teaching  Problem-based Learning  Race and Ethnicity  Research Methods  Service learning, Placement Learning and Internships  Simulations  Small Group Teaching  Surveys of Teaching and Learning Practice 

Journals included are:

• PS: Political Science and Politics – from volume 24 (1991)
• Journal of Political Science Education – from Volume 1 (2005)
• International Studies Perspectives – from Volume 1 (2000)
• European Political Science – from Volume 1 (2001)
• Politics – from Volume 1 (1981)
• ELiSS: Enhancing Learning in Social Science – from Volume 1 (2008)
• LATISS: Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences – from Volume 1 (2008)
• LATISS: Learning & Teaching in the Social Sciences – Volume 1 (2004) to 3 (2007)
• Australian Journal of Political Science
• Innovative Higher Education
• Public Administration
• Perspectives on Politics

Human rights resources

The most recent issue of College & Research Libraries News has a column that compiles key resources for human rights research.

Read the full article for descriptions of the resources:

Search engines and gateways

Human Security Gateway.
http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/
.

HuriSearch.
http://www.hurisearch.org/
.

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library.
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/
.

Organizations broad in scope

Amnesty International.
http://amnesty.org/en
.

Human Rights Watch (HRW).
http://www.hrw.org/
.

United Nations (UN).
http://www.un.org/en/rights/
and UN Research Guide page:
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.htm
.

United States Department of State.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/
.

Organizations with special focus

AAAS Science and Human Rights Program (SHRP).
http://shr.aaas.org/
.

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).
http://www.anhri.net/en/
.

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.
http://www.business-humanrights.org/
.

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN).
http://www.crin.org/
.

Global Witness.
http://www.globalwitness.org/
.

International Labour Organization (ILO).
http://www.ilo.org/global/lang–en/index.htm
.

Minority Rights Group International (MRGI).
http://www.minorityrights.org/
.

Recent acquisitions

The library has acquired several new online indexes, databases, and other types of collections over the past few months. I will describe a few of them in more detail on this blog, but for now, here is a partial list:

• Confidential Print: Middle East 1839-1869 – Adam Matthew
• Films on Demand
• NFB streaming videos
• Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications – ProQuest
• 19th Century British Library Newspapers – Gale
• Illustrated London News Archive, 1842-2003- Gale
• State Papers Online, parts 2-4 – Gale
• Middle East Online Series 1-2 (Arab-Israeli relations) – Gale
• 19th Century US Newspapers – Gale
• British Literary Manuscripts Online – Gale
• Making of the Modern World (economic literature)– Gale
• ArchiveGrid – OCLC

Paper of Record

The historical newspaper database Paper of Record is now back online.

Originally launched as a fully searchable digital archive of historical newspapers, Paper of Record was dearly loved by researchers before being acquired by Google in 2009. Much of the content disappeared as Google developed its own newspaper archive.

Last month, however, Paper of Record reappeared on its original Canadian website. The archive contains newspapers from Europe and the Americas, chiefly from the 19th century, but with some running up to the 2000s.

The titles can be browsed by country in addition to the full text search functions.