So191 Web Resources

So 191: Web Resources for Project Research

Great Starting Places:

Latin American Studies - gives you links to country reports as well as actual links to in-country sources. This is the place to start if you wish to study a Latin American country.
Africa Studies - you will find specific information on every African country, including a map, US State Department travel advisories, and access to recent World Factbook data. Start here if you wish to study an African country.
Middle Eastern Studies - gives you links to country reports as well as actual links to in-country sources. This is the place to start if you wish to study a North African/Middle Eastern country.
Asian Studies - the place to start if you wish to study an Asian country. Look here also for the Asian republics of the former Soviet Union.
Russian and Eastern European Studies - gives you a links to a number of in- country sites as well as country home pages.

General Resources:

Britannica Nations of the World, Britannica Online. The "article entry" for each country will give you an overview of its politics, economic situation, and history. The "recent events" section will cover major events happening in recent years. The "statistics" sections is good for what has happened short overview of both country statistics and recent events.
CIA World Factbook -- Good, brief, compilations of very current country data brought to you from the US Central Intelligence Agency. Also contains good country and regional maps. One of the few sources giving estimates of sex ratio at birth and net migration rates.
Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments (CIA) -- Find out a country's current chief of state.
State Department Background Notes -- Approximately 20 page descriptions for each of 170 countries. The information is recent (1996-1999) and easily accessible. Gives good short histories. Also a good source for finding out your countries' ethnic and language groups.
Country Studies/Area Handbook Project -- A continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. This online series presently contains studies of 91 countries. These books are a good source for historical information on your countries.
State Department Human Rights Reports - The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress. The reports cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 1999 Reports are now available.
State Department Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets - brief descriptions of current country conditions. The emphasis is on giving travelers an assessment of current security conditions.
State Department Country Reports On Economic Policy and Trade Practices - Modeled on the Department of State annual reports on country human rights practices, the reports are intended to provide a single, comparative analysis of the economic policies and trade practices of countries with which the United States has significant economic or trade relationships. 1998 Reports are available.
Country Health Statistics Profiles (United States Agency for International Development) -- Great source for health as well as population statistics for developing countries. Contains some historical information back to 1950 for population size, crude rates, infant mortality rates, etc. Has very extensive health and nutrition statistics, especially for children.
Global surveillance of HIV/AIDS -- AIDS Epidemiological Fact Sheets for each country. Contains information on the percent of the population infected with the HIV virus and the number of deaths attributable to AIDS.
The Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS (Population Division, United Nations) -- Short overview of 2000 AIDS trends. Reading this short piece will allow you to better interpret the relative significance of your particular countries' AIDS situation.
State Department Homepage - source of recent US foreign policy statements and pointers to a variety of information sources for country data.

Great Databases of Country Information:

Social Indicators of Development (World Bank) -- good source for economic, demographic, and social data for each of 170 countries. Simply highlight the "GNP per capita (US $)" data category, then your country's name, then "all available dates." A table will be returned with the information for your country. You will generally, but not always, find data for the period 1965 to 1993.
International Demographic Data (from U.S. Census) -- This is a good source of a whole range of demographic data from 1950 to the present for all countries. Not all measures for all times or all countries. Also contains projected measures until the year 2050.
Comparative International Statistics (Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1998) -- Great source for many hard-to-get statistics: from comparative military expenditures to extent of debt. Uses Adobe Reader.
World Resources 1996-97 - access to the World Resources Institute data. Good country-level information on a variety of topics: Education and Child Health; Mortality and Nutrition; Foreign Aid and Foreign Debt Indicators; Population Size and Growth; Trends in Life Expectancy and Fertility; and Urbanization Trends.
Food and Agricultural Organization Databases -- Data on agricultural production, land use, fisheries, food aid, population, etc. Some data goes back to 1950. Excellent site.
InfoNation (United Nations): easy-to-use, two-step database that allows you to view and compare the most up-to-date statistical data for the Member States of the United Nations.
World Bank Trends in Developing Economies -- good source for summary reports on the economy trends of developing countries. First choose your country's name and hit the "SEARCH FOR REPORTS BY COUNTRY" button. Choose the "MEDIUM-TERM PROSPECTS" and the "RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS" options for brief reports on the economic conditions in your less developed country. Trends in Developing Economies is also found in the reference section of the library (CALL NUMBER: Ref. HC59.69.T74 1996 ).
World Bank African Data -- It is just for African countries, but this is way to access social indicators of development data as well as thematic maps and reports.
World Bank's "Regional Economic Prospects" -- You can find the recent assessment of regional economic developments for Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. These short reviews will allow you to place a particular country's performance within a regional perspective.
The World Bank's "Countries and Regions Page" -- An easy way to access a variety of World Bank data and reports on particular countries. Simply go to the map, get the listing of countries, and click on a particular country.
World Bank's "Research Tools Page" -- provides links to a digital library, electronic journals, policy reports, and avariety of other resources.
World Bank's "Data Page" -- Provides access to information on a variety of topics contained in the tables of the World Development Report and well as other sources.
World Bank's Competitiveness Indicators -- a collection of 49 indicators to quickly assess economic
performance and the environment for competitive business development in a large number of countries.
World Bank 1999 Country tables -- The country tables available here are drawn from the World Development Indicators 1999. The tables are intended as quick reference and cover the 210 countries (181 World Bank members and 29 other economies with populations of more than 30,000) reported on in the World Development Indicators and the World Bank Atlas.
World Resources Data Tables -- 4-page fact sheets on a country-by-country basis which highlight data on each country's economic and social context, agricultural resources, forests, freshwater, marine and coastal resources, biodiversity resources, energy and mineral resources, and involvement in international agreements.
Recent Economic Information on Countries: Do a special LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe search. Here is how to do a special Lexis-Nexis search for a current economic report on your country. At the initial Lexis-Nexis screen choose the "Business" option. At the "Business" screen, choose the "Business News" option. In the box next to "Keyword" type this phrase: "country-name's economy" (for example: "Iran's economy") -- do not forget to include the quote marks (") around this phrase. You can leave the Date box set at six months since you want a recent report. You should get several good reports. One of the best is the World of Information Country Report. The MEED Quarterly Report, and recent articles in The Economist are also very good.
DHS+ Indicator Data Search -- Find Demographic and Health Survey data results for all less developed countries in which a DHS survey has been taken. You can find data on Fertility (Total Fertility Rate, and Wanted TFR), Childhood Mortality (Infant Mortality Rate, Under-Five Mortality), Contraception (Current use of any method, Current use of a modern method), Maternity Care (Births with professional prenatal care, Births with professional delivery care), Child Health (Median duration of breastfeeding, Children 0-35 mos stunted, Children 12-23 mos fully vaccinated).
World Health Organization -- basic health statistics for each country.
WHO's AIDS Epidemiological Fact Sheets -- 8 page summary of the AIDS status of each country.
United Nations Scholars' Workstation Home Page - a pathway to much international data.
Links to Countries' Statistical Agencies
World Bank Development Report 1996 Tables: Table 1 Basic socio-economic indicators; Table 2 Macroeconomic indicators; Table 3 External economic indicators; Table 4 Population and labor force; Table 5 Distribution of income or consumption; Table 6 Health; Table 7 Education; Table 8 Commercial energy use; Table 9 Land use and urbanization; Table 10 Forests and water resources; Table 11 Growth of the economy; Table 12 Structure of the economy: production; Table 13 Structure of the economy: demand; Table 14 Central government budget; Table 15 Exports and imports of merchandise; Table 16 Balance of payments; Table 17 External debt; Table 1a Basic indicators for the economies of small countries. These are Excel files and they require that Excel be on your computer.

Maps

CIA Reference Maps
National Geographic Map Machine -- great source for physical maps of countries, regions, etc...
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection -- best collection of on-line maps, for regions, countries, historical, etc.
Maps: World, Regions, Nations, and Cities - access to all kinds and types of maps. Includes CIA maps, tourist maps, and city guides.
Lonely Planet Maps -- good maps of regions and particular countries.
Map Center, ReliefWeb, Department of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations (New York). Maps grouped by continent, then region and country, often including administrative boundaries and roads.
GIS Maps: (GIS software, such as MapInfo, is needed to make use of digital map data)

Digital Chart of the World (Penn State) -- downloadable GIS maps of each country and various attributes -- not political subdivisions.
Digital Maps of African Nations -- downloadable GIS maps of each African country and their political subdivisions.
ArcData Online -- allows you to browse a wide variety of geographic data to create maps of your

ADOL Data Browser -- allows you to browse a wide variety of geographic data, to select and download

Full-text Retrival of News Articles

Search the New York Times on-line -- As of now this is a free service, although you do have to "register" and enter a "password." Just remember your "Subscriber ID" and "password" so that you won't have to go through the registration process each time. Go to the "search" area on the Frontpage and then "search" for your country. Its easy, and if you are in one of the computer labs you can just print out a copy of any relevant articles.
Search newspapers in your project country -- Pick your continent and see if there are on-line editions of newspapers from your project country. This is an excellent way of finding out information about current events within your country.
Search a variety of magazines/news services for full-text articles -- Go to the "search" area and enter the name of your country. You are likely to get "many" hits and you might have to spend time filtering out the "good" from the "bad." You can choose just to retrieve articles from Time or Fortune.
LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe -- provides access to a wide range of full-text news stories from around the world from the early 1970s to today. Here is how to do a Lexis-Nexis search for newspaper stories dealing with topics relevant to development issues in your country. At the initial Lexis-Nexis screen click on "News." On the "News" screen choose the option that makes the most sense for your particular search -- for example, choose "World News" if you wish text of news stories from newspapers within your country. Next, type in the box next to "Keyword" a phase that will identify relevant articles -- for example choose the phrase: "country-name's economy" (for example: "kenya's economy") -- do not forget to include the quote marks (") around phrases. In the box next to "Source" pull down the arrow and choose the appropriate source for your search. For example, choose "Middle Eastern/African News Sources" for a search on Kenyan stories. In the box next to "Date" pull down the arrow and choose the appropriate time period -- remember "All available dates" will go back twenty years. Now click on the Search Button at the bottom of the screen. You will then get a listing of newspaper stories dealing with the economy of your country. The Kenya search produced 27 stories appearing within the last 6 months. Click on the stories (the most recent are on the top of the list) to get the full text of the actual story and its source.

Full-text Scholarly Articles:

hodgson@fair1.fairfield.edu

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