International Crisis Group

http://www.intl-crisis-group.org/

The International Crisis Group (ICG) is a private, multinational organization dedicated to understanding and responding to international crises. The organization’s analysts conduct field research and prepare reports about ongoing conflicts that are used to make recommendations to states’ decisionmakers. Currently, ICG has projects in Africa, the Balkans, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Students who are interested in these regional conflicts will find useful overviews of specific countries, reports on developments, and maps.


War, Peace, Security Guide.

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/foreign_policy/global_issues-en.asp

The Canadian Forces College has created an information resource center on war and peace at this Web site. Links to armed forces, peace and disarmament sites, and military information are available. Visit the section on world conflicts. Choose two contemporary conflicts to explore. Who are the main combatants? What are the main issues? Can you identify any similarities between the two conflicts? Do you have any suggestions for resolution to the conflict? Are other international actors a help or a hindrance to the conflict?


CAIN Web Service

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/index.html

The Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) is a joint project of three educational institutions in the United Kingdom (the University of Ulster, the Queen’s University of Belfast, and the Linen Hall Library) that seeks to provide information on the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland, historically known as "the Troubles." There are links to descriptions of the key events and issues of this long-term conflict and background on society in Northern Ireland. The site also includes full-length articles and lectures on the conflict that would be good sources for a research paper.


Dreams of Tibet

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tibet/

PBS Online offers this very educational Web site devoted to issues surrounding Tibet and its quest for independence. View the chronology of Tibet’s history starting in the year 600. Then read background about Tibetan Buddhism and find out who the Dalai Lama is. Review over ten interviews, including those with Jamyang Norbu, a Tibetan author in exile; actor Richard Gere, who is a "free Tibet" activist; and Martin Scorsese, who directed the movie Kundun, based on the biography of the Dalai Lama. The site includes excerpts from media articles and reports on the tenuous relationship between Tibet and the Chinese government. You can share your own thoughts in a discussion forum.


INCORE

http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/countries/
index.html

The University of Ulster has developed an Internet Guide for the Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity that allows you to examine the most recent international conflicts and nationalist movements in detail. Clearly arranged by geographic location, this site offers information about conflicts around the globe. Read about the Kurds’ quest for their own state and the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. There are links to research sources, news sources, maps, nongovernmental organizations, and e-mail lists and newsgroups. You can also gather information according to theme. Want to know how war affects children? Visit the Children and Conflict link.


Institute for War and Peace Reporting

http://www.iwpr.net

Students of international relations often have a hard time getting up-to-date information from conflict areas that is not heavily censored by government agencies. The main goal of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) is to bring unbiased information on international conflicts to Internet users. An independent media resource, IWPR informs readers on international conflicts and supports media development in war-torn areas. Special reports provide in-depth analysis of conflict, media, and human rights issues in regions across the globe. Read reports from trouble spots as events unfold. There is also an extensive list of Internet links for those who want more information on the conflicts.


Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs

http://www.cceia.org/

The best inventory of global issues, with Point of View commentary and links to other Web sites dealing with each issue.


International Futures Programme

http://www1.oecd.org/sge/au/index.htm

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has designed a program to help decisionmakers in government and industry to deal with the formidable challenge of assessing the long-term trends that shape our global future. Scan the Web site and read about conferences and projects now under way. Do you think this is a good model for other organizations that strive to understand the changes occurring in the international system? What suggestions can you give?


World Citizen Foundation

http://www.worldcitizen.org/

As a student of international relations, you may ask yourself if there is a better way to organize international relations than the state system. The World Citizen Web site allows you to think about your world citizenship, asking how we, as sovereign world citizens, can collectively govern our world. The World Citizen Foundation believes that the Internet can help serve as a communication tool whereby the citizens of the world can vote on common global issues. Do you believe that one day soon we may be able to vote on world issues like we do national issues? Is it possible to form a world government?


World Future Society

http://www.wfs.org/

The last chapter of World Politics asks you to think about future global trends. To help with this task visit the World Future Society Web site. The World Future Society is a nonprofit educational and scientific organization whose main interest is how social and technological developments are shaping the future. Its Web site is a neutral clearinghouse for ideas about the future. Participate in one or more of the several discussion forums. You can also read quotes offering wisdom on the new millennium. Feel creative? Submit your own quotes to be posted.


Patterns of Global Terrorism

http://www.usis.usemb.se/terror/

The U.S. Department of State has compiled a Web site that reviews region-specific information on terrorism from 1995 through 2000. Choose a year, then view appendices for a chronology of terrorist attacks, background information on specific terrorist groups, and attack and casualty statistics. Choose a terrorist group. What are its demands? Should the United States ever negotiate with terrorists? Why or why not?


Terrorism Research Center

http://www.terrorism.com/index.shtml

This site is a good source for research on terrorism and links to other Web sources on terrorism. Look at the Terrorist Profiles for discussion and analysis of groups.. Keep in mind that one group’s "freedom fighters" may be another group’s "terrorists."


LaborNet

http://www.labornet.org/

LaborNet provides labor news from around the world, Internet services, and Internet training to those interested in workers’ causes. Want to be a sympathetic striker? Click on the Strike Page and find out the who, what, where, and why of current strikes anywhere in the world. This Web site also has extensive links to international labor unions. Want to form a student union organization? This is the place to look for support and more information. It also gives the reader a sense of how the Internet has contributed to the globalization of labor.


Migration Dialogue

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/

The University of California at Davis has created a Web site that "promotes an informed discussion of the issues associated with international migration by providing unbiased and timely information on immigration and integration issues." Most useful to you at this site is Migration News, which has up-to-date reports on migration issues in various states and regions of the world. Its archive allows you to search news by year and month, so you can track migration issues over time. Based on your exploration of the site’s offerings, do you think there is a "global migration crisis"?


The Progress of Nations

http://www.unicef.org/pon99/

As described in the chapter, AIDS is a disease that has spread around the world through the process of globalization. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has created a Web site that details the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS on children. Use this site to analyze the effects of AIDS on children in a variety of countries. Charts present a cross-country comparison of the number of children orphaned by AIDS and the impact it has had on their lives. What country’s children are most affected by the AIDS epidemic?

American Journalism Review News Link

http://www.newslink.org/news.html

If you are interested in "going to the source" for your news, check out the American Journalism Review’s Web site. This site provides links to electronic newspapers from the United States or anywhere in the world. Even campus papers are accessible through this site. You can read the news in a foreign language or try to find an English version. You may want to compare the same news story found in different newspapers around the world to see how different countries interpret the same event.


CNN Interactive World News

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Surf the Web site of the news organization that changed the way world news is reported by providing constant, minute-by-minute coverage of breaking news stories from around the world. CNN’s World News main page is divided according to world region and reports the top stories in each area. Over the course of a week, compare and contrast the content of the top stories from each region. Do you see a pattern concerning the type of news stories reported for each area?


Foreign Affairs Online

http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/rjb.html

This comprehensive Web site has been specifically designed to assist students and other individuals interested in international law, international relations, and U.S. foreign policy. It has links to general references, map resources, foreign states, the United Nations system, international organizations, international legal entities, think tanks, and media resources. This is an important gateway to numerous international affairs resources on the Web, so you may want to bookmark it.


The National Geographic Society

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/index.html

Publisher of the popular National Geographic magazine, the Society has created an impressive Web tool called the MapMachine Online Atlas, one of the best interactive map sets on the Web. Viewers can choose many different types of interactive maps. For instance, the Dynamic Maps, which use geographic information systems (GIS), display population densities, ecoregions, weather patterns, earthquake fault lines, mineral deposits, and other features anywhere in the world. The Atlas Maps identify 191 independent states and provide a brief overview of each state. A quick click anywhere on the map gives key geographic, demographic, and economic data. As Chapter 1 explains, all maps focus on specific features while ignoring others, which leads to distortions. Compare the Map Machine maps with those found in the Controversy: Should We Believe What We See? The Organization of Observations and Projections of Global Realities in this chapter. Are the "dynamic" maps more accurate representations of reality? What distortions do they depict?


National Public Radio Online

http://www.npr.org/

As an alternative to reading the news, access National Public Radio Online. This site lets you listen to the top news stories and is updated every hour. You can also search the entire site for stories of particular interest from a variety of NPR radio shows. You may also want to take a minute to cruise the discussion area and give your thoughts on the headline stories. You will need to download the RealAudio player to listen to the news stories at this site.


New York Times on the Web

http://www.nytimes.com

"All the news that’s fit to print" is available on-line following a free registration. International news stories are easily accessed by clicking on the "International" news category. Keep in mind that the Times is a news source produced in the United States and may have American biases. While you read the news stories, think of ways in which they may have an "American slant."


University of Texas Library On-line Map Collection

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html

If you’ve ever wondered exactly where Rwanda, Kosovo, Taiwan, or Pakistan was, this site can help. The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection of the University of Texas at Austin is an extensive collection of electronic maps. It features regional as well as state maps according to political and shaded relief criteria. When reading about a specific country in World Politics, make sure you can locate the country and identify its neighbors. This will give you a better understanding of international events.