Not all of the following will lead to international political or social data, but here is an A-Z list of SU Libraries databases containing Statistics & Data
A sampling of helpful web sites for International Relations study:
AidData - (Partnership between Development Gateway, William & Mary University & Brigham Young University) A Database for global development finance & foreign aid data and analysis, contains development projects financed by numerous donors, with coverage dating back to 1945. Supplements and descriptively expands upon information available via OECDs Creditor Reporting System.
ASIL Guide (American Society of International Law) - Guide to electronic resources on international law.
Center for Systemic Peace - Supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal development.
Council on Foreign Relations - Provides information and analysis about world events and American foreign policy. See CFR's Explainers for concise overview articles addressing a variety of political and economic issues.
Freedom House, Freedom in the World - Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world. Freedom in the World is an annual study of political rights and civil liberties.
Gapminder - Non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels. Uses Trendalyzer software to show major global development trends with animated statistics.
Human Development Index (HDI) - From the United Nations Development Programme, HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living.
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) - IDMC was set up in 1998 at the request of the international community to fill an important knowledge gap on the global scale and patterns of internal displacement. Includes open access to a "Global Internal Displacement Database" and an annual "Global Report on Internal Displacement."
International Relations and Security Network - Based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), provides a variety of full text information on international relations, area studies, international business, security and military studies, comparative studies, and human rights.
NationMaster - Country statistics from a variety of sources. Users can create graphs comparing countries on particular statistics.
OECD Development Aid QWIDS - Query Wizard for Development Aid, hosted by the OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. PLEASE NOTE: SU Libraries also makes available licensed access to the comprehensive database from OECD known as OECD iLibrary.
Payl Hensel's Data Site - The International Relations Data Site, created and maintained by Paul Hensel of the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas. This site includes seven pages of links to on-line data resources for the serious international relations scholar. PLEASE NOTE: For some categories of data linked to here, SU Libraries may offer additional databases leading to that data, and further options for sorting and analyzing it (e.g., a comprehensive access to current and historical International Monetary Fund data is available at SU via the database called Data-Planet Statistical Datasets. At left margin of its homepage, select - 'browse by subject' and then the link to 'international' data.)
Political Terror Scale - Started by Michael Stohl and several graduate students at Purdue University in the early 1980s, essentially as a way of empirically testing whether U.S. foreign aid was being sent to countries that violated international human rights standards, thereby being in violation of federal law. The five level coding scheme employed by the PTS was taken directly from the 1980 Freedom House Yearbook and it has been used ever since.
Reliefweb - The leading humanitarian information source on global crises and disasters. It is a specialized digital service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
SIPRI databases (Stolkholm International Peace Research Institute) - Information compiled here includes freely downloadable time series data on subjects such as multilateral peace operations, military expenditures, arms transfers, arms embargoes and arms exports.
UN Data - Data access system to United Nations databases.
World Development Indicators (Featured Indicators)- Primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates. PLEASE NOTE: SU students or faculty interested in exploring additional World Bank analysis and publications also have access to the database called World Bank eLibrary.