Comparative Politics: A Research Guide
Comparative Politics: A Research Guide
Overviews and General Information:
Country Studies and briefer Country Profiles (from the Library of Congress)
CIA World Factbook (use "dynamic statistics tables" and "country comparisons")
Foreign Information by Country (from the University of Colorado at Boulder)
Portals to the World (from the Library of Congress)
Constitutions of the World (from FindLaw)
Recommended databases:
Political Science Complete
SocINDEX
Google Scholar
Major Comparative Politics journals:
Comparative Politics
Comparative Political Studies
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Policy
Journal of International and Area Studies
Party Politics
Political Studies (UK)
World Politics
Major Journals:
Journal of Latin American Studies (current year via Cambridge; older issues via JSTOR)
Latin American Research Review
Latin American Politics and Society (formerly the Journal of Interamerican Studies & World Affairs)
NACLA Report on the Americas
Journal of Interamerican Studies & World Affairs
Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) (from the University of Texas)
ECLAC - UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Information on Latin American society and economy
LAPOP: Latin American Public Opinion Project (from Vanderbilt University)
A series of public opinion surveys.
LexisNexis Academic
Use the Advanced Search feature to search the full-text of English, Spanish, and Portuguese language news articles.
LADB: Latin American Data Base
Search over 24,000 articles published in English about Latin America since 1986. Lake Forest does not subscribe to the full-text, so check our Journals List.
OxLAD: Oxford Latin American Economic History Database
Includes a range of economic and social indicators, 1900-2000.
Internet Resources for Latin American and Iberian Studies (from the University of California, Santa Barbara)
Includes indexes, primary sources, portals, resarch centers, and more.
Latin American Election Statistics: A Guide to Sources (from the University of California, San Diego)
Election resources by election by country in chronological format - an excellent source for those looking at Latin American elections.
Brazilian Politics Data
Links to resources relevant to Brazilian politics.
Vote Shares by Bloc (from Notre Dame)
Percentages of the vote won by parties in various ideological blocs in more than 160 elections in 11 countries.
SEDLAC
Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Carribean, from CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and the World Bank's LAC Poverty Group (LCSPP) and MECOVI Program. Access statistics on poverty from 155 household surveys carried out in 21 Latin American and Carribean countries.
Inter-American Development Bank -Annual Report 2004
The site of the IADB also includes detailed information by country.
Major Journals:
Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies (previously Journal of Southern Europe & the Balkans)
South European Society & Politics
Studies in East European Thought (older issues via JSTOR)
West European Politics (current issues via EBSCO)
French Politics, Culture & Society (recent issues via Ingenta)
German Politics
German Politics & Society
Journal of Communist Studies & Transition Politics
Other Sources:
European Resources (from Carleton College)
Links to research sources on Europe.
European Union Handbook
REF D1060 .E8685 1996
eurostat
Detailed and comparable statistical data at EU level. See also the official web site of the European Union.
Eurobarometer
Public opinion surveys of citizens of Member States since 1973. (Note: those interested in the European Union see also the surveys collected by Liesbet Hooge below). Access these data in several forms and formats:
• Interactive Search System
• Recent Standard Eurobarometer (download pdf files of national reports and executive summaries by country)
• Special Surveys (download pdf files by report title)
• Candidate Countries Eurobarometer (countries applying for membership, pdf files)
• Flash Eurobarometer (targeted, ad hoc telephone interview surveys, pdf files)
• ICPSR (download raw data files, please ask for assistance)
National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
The premier economic research institute in the U.K. publishes a quarterly journal, National Institute Economic Review. Each issue contains a UK and World Economies Forcast, which are frequently cited in the media. Lake Forest College
does not subscribe to this journal, but it is indexed in the EconLit database (username and password required;
please contact the Reference Desk). Search for its title in EconLit and request articles
you find there through Interlibrary Loan.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Statistical Database
Contains data covering Europe, North America and Central Asia.
Parties and Elections in Europe
Includes historical (1945- ) data as well as results by province (under each country)
Major Journals:
Asia-Pacific Review
Contemporary South Asia
Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International & Strategic Affairs
Critical Asian Studies
Journal of Contemporary Asia
East Asia: An International Quarterly
Europe-Asia Studies
South Asia Research
Asian Economies
African & Asian Studies
Asian Affairs: An American Review
Asian Journal of Political Science
Pacific Studies
Other Sources:
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Asian Development Bank - Key Indicators 2008
See also previous editions on topics such a poverty, trade, and health
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (older issues in JSTOR; current issues in EBSCOhost)
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Policy
Middle East Journal
Arab Studies Quarterly
Journal of Palestine Studies
Israel Studies
Other Sources:
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Access a variety of indicators
Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC)
Excellent statistics database available at this site enables you to do cross-country comparison
Major Journals:
African Studies Review (older issues in JSTOR; older issues in JSTOR)
Journal of Modern African Studies (older issues in JSTOR; current issues via Cambridge)
Review of African Political Economy (older issues in JSTOR; newer issues in Political Science Complete)
Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social & Cultural Series
Africa Today
African Studies Quarterly
African Studies Review
African Affairs (older issues in JSTOR; current issues via Ingenta Connect)
Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Journal of Southern African Studies (older issues in JSTOR; newer issues in Political Science Complete)
Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies
Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies
ProudFlesh: New Afrikan Journal of Culture, Politics, and Consciousness
West Africa Review
African & Asian Studies
Other Sources:
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
This site has no "statistics" page, but the individual reports contain statistics.
African Development Bank - Statistics
Statistical publications available from the ADB include:
• Gender Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries 2005
• Selected Statistics on African Countries 2005
• Compendium of Statistics on Bank Group Operations
• Latest ADB Statistics Pocket Book
Major Journals:
Journal of Developing Societies
Conflict, Security & Development
Review of Development Economics
Journal of Developing Areas
The Developing Economies
Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies
Journal of Third World Studies
Other Sources:
International Household Survey Network
Click on Central Survey Catalog to access a catalog of censuses and surveys done in developing countries, with metadata.
Organizations such as the OECD and UN collect much of their data directly from some of agencies you can access from this list.
International Statistics Agencies (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
Links to the offical statistical offices of foreign countries and IGOs.
National Agencies and Compendia (from Vanderbilt University)
Provides links by country to the main statistical office and to each country's main statistical compendium.
International Documents (from Northwestern University)
Guide to official web sites of foreign governments.
Foreign Government Data Sources (from the University of Michigan Documents Center)
Includes links to statistics agencies by country and also links to other comprehensive sources of country data.
International Statistical and Electoral Resources (from Emory University)
Links to statistical agencies by country.
Governments on the WWW
Quick links to national, regional, and international government web pages. Close competitors include:
International Government Information (from the University of California at Berkeley)
An extensive subject guide from UC Berkeley to International government information.
Starting with statistical indexes and compendia is a good time-saver, especially if you are not sure exactly which agency collects, or which dataset contains, the parameters that you need.
Political Handbook of the World
This includes regime type, party system, electoral system, system of government by country and much more.
REF JF37.P6
Statistical Abstract of the United States
This compendia of statistics produced by the U.S. government contains basic tables summarizing the vast amount of data collected by the government. Comparative international data included as well.
Statistical Yearbook (United Nations)
REF HA12.5 .U63
Stateman's Year-Book
REF JA51.S7
Little Data Book
REF HC59.15 .L47
Europa World Yearbook
REF JN1 .E854
Country reports (brief history, political overview, names of leaders and agencies, etc.) along with statistical overviews of each country. Information is very up to date, and documentation leads to the sources of the statistics -- important information for finding more detailed, less aggregated statistics.
Human Development Reports, United Nations Development Programme
Not strictly a compendium, but can function like one. These annual reports from 1990 to present, are downloadable in .pdf. The tables draw from publicly available sources and, beyond their inherent use, are good for locating other sources for data.
EarthTrends Database
From the World Resources Institute which publishes the World Resources series of reports and data tables, this comparative online database includes demographic, economic, infrastructure, politics, and natural resources. It draws from major sources listed on this page.
Nationmaster.com
"a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD."
Maplecroft Maps
This interactive mapping application allows you to visualize data from such sources as Transparency International, the OECD, and the World Bank on many topics divided into four broad categories: economic, political, social, and environmental. Besides the value of the maps themselves you can use them and their accompanying documentation to access the data used to create them or to find other sources of data on that topic.
Data on the Net
From the University of California, San Diego's searchable listing of 850 Internet sites of numeric Social Science statistical data, data catalogs, data libraries, social science gateways, addresses and more. Try searching on the term 'comparative'.
University of Rochester: Political Science Data
A nicely annotated list of comparative election results, comparative datasets, election results, polls, and more (maintained by a friend of Kristin's).
Council of Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA)
Search or browse CESSDA's data portal to simultaneously search the collections of 11 data archives across Europe. Most of the datasets are free to the public, but access is determined by each individual archive. Contact Kristin for help determining access. Use their map of data archives to locate other European data archives.]
ICPSR
Thousands of datasets compiled, contributed, and archived are available to the Lake Forest College community from ICPSR. Search the catalog for datasets. Sign up for an account for permission to download data and its documentation. It is highly recommended that you download only the codebook for a dataset before dowloading all of the data itself.
Paul Hensel's International Relations Data Site (from the University of North Texas)
"the most useful data sources on processes of international conflict and cooperation, as well as data covering international economic, environmental, political, and social data and data on similar topics for the United States." quoted from web site.
Political Science Data (from the University of Michigan)
A list of links to datasets useful for comparative politics research.
IQSS Dataverse Network (from Harvard University's Institute for Quanitative Social Sciences)
Access and search across a huge number of social science data archives.
The following links provide entryways into sources of statistics of interest to those looking for comparative country data. Rather than starting with the home page for the UN, save some time and start with these recommended pages.
World Development Report
REF HC59.7 .W659 1978-2006 CD-ROM
World Bank - Data
The data and maps section of their web page.
Data by Country
A listing of country-level data collected by the World Bank.
Research Datasets
Search and browse these datasets compiled for World Bank research.
Governance Datasets
The World Bank Institute's Governance group provides access to a group of datasets, indices and surveys.
See below for more development banks
UNData
Combines 15 databases and 55 million records from different UN agencies and branches. Topics include agriculture, employment, education, health, human development, industry, and more. Replaces the now defunct UN Common Database.
Statistical Yearbook
REF HA12.5 .U63
Like the Statistical Abstract of the United States, this book is a great way to find out what kind of data are collected by the UN and where to find them.
United Nations Statistics Division - Unrestricted Access Databases
Find listed and described on this page all unrestricted access databases from the UN, including:
• Demographic Yearbook
• InfoNation
• Millennium Indicators Database
• National Accounts Main Aggregates Database
• Population statistics
• Social Indicators
Comtrade
You will see frequent references in the literature to the Comtrade database from the UN Statistics Division. Lake Forest College does not subscribe to the full resource, so if you get an "access restricted" message, you are, in fact, at a dead end. Increasingly more free trade data are to be found here, however, so remains a great resource. (More resources on international trade and trade barriers)
International Statistics
Listing of all statistics programs of the UN as well as other places to find international statistics.
The Least Developed Countries Report
This annual report from the UN includes socio-economic analysis and data on the countries rated "least developed" by the UN.
Social Indicators
A short list of statistics (by country) on population and development, children, social development and women from the UN Statistics Division.
UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics Online
The UN Conference on Trade and Development produces this "comprehensive collection of statistical data relevant to the analysis of international trade, investment and development, for individual countries and for economic and trade groupings."
Note: If you are looking for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), you will find it here.
International Labor Organization
The ILO is a specialized UN agency that focuses on labor rights. Its LABORSTA database provides yearly and periodical labor statistics.
Human Development Reports - Statistics, UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) produces the annual statistical compendium "Human Development Reports." This site allows you to get data from those reports. You can also download the reports back to 1990.
United Nations ESCO (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics Data Center
Access data from "over 1000 types of indicators and raw data on education, literacy, science and technology, culture and communication" collected from more than 200 countries and international organizations.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
This link goes to a list of all FAO statistical databases. FAOSTAT is the one to start with, which covers time series data for over 210 countries and territories on agriculture, nutrition, fisheries, forestry, food aid, land use and population.
Main Economic Indicators
Current issues in Periodicals on Second Level; Older issues in Bound Periodicals on Lower Level
OECD Statistics Portal
This portal provides free access to seven OECD databases and selections from all others to the public. Browse statistics by topic or by country.
OECD Factbook 2008
This compendium of statistics collected by the OECD is free on the web. A good way to learn what types of data are collected by this organization and where to find them.
OECD In Figures 2006-07
A smaller compendium than the OECD Factbook, this simple book of statistics on OECD countries is small enough to download to your computer and keep on hand for ready reference.
List of Frequently Requested OECD Statistics
OECD.Stat Extract
A selection from OECD's statistical datasets, freely accessible on the web.
SourceOECD
Though Lake Forest College does not subscribe to most material on this large site, searching here is the best way to find full citation information for publications from the OECD. Interlibrary Loan is an option for many titles.
European Union Handbook
REF D1060 .E8685 1996
eurostat
Detailed and comparable statistical data at EU level. See also the official web site of the European Union.
Eurobarometer
Public opinion surveys of citizens of Member States since 1973. (Note: those interested in the European Union see also the surveys collected by Liesbet Hooge below). Access these data in several forms and formats:
• Interactive Search System
• Recent Standard Eurobarometer (download pdf files of national reports and executive summaries by country)
• Special Surveys (download pdf files by report title)
• Candidate Countries Eurobarometer (countries applying for membership, pdf files)
• Flash Eurobarometer (targeted, ad hoc telephone interview surveys, pdf files)
• ICPSR (download raw data files, please ask for assistance)
International Data Base - Census Bureau
Database for 227 countries plus some useful links.
International Energy Agency (IEA)
International Iron and Steel Institute
Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)
African Development Bank - Statistics
Statistical publications available from the ADB include:
• Gender Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries 2005
• Selected Statistics on African Countries 2005
• Compendium of Statistics on Bank Group Operations
• Latest ADB Statistics Pocket Book
Asian Development Bank - Key Indicators 2008
See also previous editions on topics such a poverty, trade, and health
Inter-American Development Bank -Annual Report 2004
The site of the IADB also includes detailed information by country.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
"The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organisation which fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks." The BIS provides access to publications and statistics on their web site.
Governance Indicators: 1996-2004
The World Bank Institute's aggregated governance research indicators for 209 countries for six dimensions of governance:
• Voice and Accountability
• Political Stability and Absence of Violence
• Government Effectiveness
• Regulatory Quality
• Rule of Law
• Control of Corruption
See also the World Bank's spreadsheet inventory of 140 governance datasets
Pippa Norris (from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government)
Exceptionally valuable global indicators datasets and their documentation being shared by this scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Polity IV
Coded annual information on regime and authority characteristics for all independent states (with greater than 500,000 total population) in the global state system and covers the years 1800-2008.
Freedom House
Assessment of state of freedom, by country or region
Transparency International
This international non-governmental organization devoted to fighting corruption collects information on corruption worldwide. See especially their Corruption Perceptions Index and Global Corruption Barometer Survey.
Political Terror Scale (from the University of North Carolina)
A scale developed by Mark Gibney at University of North Carolina measuring government terror and political violence.
World Audit
Audit reports "re-examine the prevalence of public corruption, the state of human rights, political rights, free speech and the rule of law in 150 nations (all those exceeding one million population)." World Audit is an international not-for-profit company.
Penn World Table (PWT) (from the University of Pennsylvania)
Purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 168 countries for some or all of the years 1950-2004. The European Union or the OECD provide more detailed purchasing power and real product estimates for their countries and the World Bank makes current price estimates for most PWT countries at the GDP level.
World Business Environment Survey
Data from 1999-2000, provided by 10,000 firms in 80 countries. Questions in the survey focused on the quality of the investment climate as shaped by domestic economic policy; governance; regulatory, infrastructure, and financial impediments; and assessments of the quality of public services.
Private Sector Development
Three reports and databases from the World Bank:
Global Competitiveness Report
This report from the World Economic Forum is "one of the leading monitors of the competitive condition of economies worldwide. ...The report is unique in that the methodology combines publicly available data with survey data that captures the perceptions and observations of business leaders in a given country." The Growth Competitiveness Index, a composite of three sub-indices, and the introduction to the report are available from the site (look in the right-hand column).
Economic Freedom of the World (from the Fraser Institute)
Data measuring the extent to which 127 nations allow their citizens economic freedom. The report contains detailed country tables. Data from 1970 to 2006 are available for download.
International Networks Archive (from Princeton University)
The INA collects current and historical data suitable for network analysis (e.g. communications, trade, tourism, etc.) and organizes links to other sources all organized by topic. You may need to contact the INA for full documentation of data, which is not always included.
International Crime Victimization Survey
American Political Science Association (APSA) Submitted Datasets
"Best Datasets" included
2002 State New Economy Index of Globalization
Each of the 50 states are ranked by their globalization defined as "1) the extent to which the state's manufacturing workforce is employed producing goods for export, and 2) the share of the workforce employed by foreign-owned companies."
Polyarchy and Contestation Scales for 1985 and 2000 (from the University of Notre Dame)
Data used in publications on democratization
International Almanac of Electoral History
Available from ICPSR as study number 8247
World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties
REF JF2011 .W67 2006
Multinational Elections (from the University of Michigan)
An extensive list of elections data on the web
Parties and Elections in Europe
Includes historical (1945- ) data as well as results by province (under each country)
Election World (from Wilfried Derksen)
Select a country, then view recent elections results along with other pertinent political information. Note: yes, this is now hosted at Wikipedia.
Lijphart Elections Archive (from the University of California, San Diego)
District level election results for approximately 350 national legislative elections in 26 countries.
Adam Carr's Election Archive
"Largest, most comprehensive archive of electoral information in the world, with election statistics from 174 countries."
Center on Democratic Performance (from Binghampton University)
A collection of data on presidential and national legislative elections from 134 countries that have minimum ratings of 5.5 rating on Freedom House and 6 on Polity IV.
Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2000 (from Matt Golder)
A dataset "that covers the electoral institutions used in all of the democratic legislative and presidential elections in 199 countries between 1946 (or independence) and 2000. This amounts to 867 legislative elections and 294 presidential elections."
Europa World Yearbook
REF JN1 .E854
Contains statistics from most recent elections: vote totals and number of seats in each country's parliament
Elections and Electoral Systems Around the World
Arranged by country, links to election information.
NationMaster - Election Results by Country
NationMaster draws from many data sources to provide reports, rankings, and statistics that can frequently be viewed as graphs or maps.
Election Resources on the Internet (from Manuel Alvarez-Rivera)
Election results by country.
Vote World: The International Legislative Roll-Call Voting Website
"Vote World is a central website which archives, maintains, and distributes datasets of roll-call voting from legislative bodies throughout the international community. The nucleus of the website contains data for the United States House of Representative and Senate (assembled by Keith Poole of Houston and Howard Rosenthal of Princeton), from the European Parliament (assembled by Simon Hix of LSE, Abdul Noury of ULB and Gerard Roland from UC Berkeley), and from the United Nations (assembled by Erik Voeten). The United States data covers the entire history of Congress from 1789 until the present."
Carey Data Archive (from Darthmouth University)
Datasets include:
• Legislative voting
• Primary elections in Latin America
• Candidate nomination strategies in Chile
• U.S. state legislative term limits
District Level Electoral Data on the Internet (from Matthew M. Singer at Duke University)
This site aims to "highlight and provide links to on-line sources of complete electoral results at the constituency level." It also contains additional recent electoral results compiled in Excel files by the site author.
World Values Survey
This valuable (very large) survey available for download from ICPSR (requires signing up for an account) consists of surveys that "study the values and attitudes of mass publics across nations of different economic, educational, and cultural backgrounds." The unit of analysis is individual survey-takers, however, so if you need country-level data, see first Pippa Norris's dataset. The WVS data include:
• The importance of work, family, friends, leisure time, politics, and religion.
• Attitudes toward government and religion, including how often respondents participated in group activities within religious and government organizations.
• Perceptions of economic, ethnic, religious, and political groups and feelings of trust and closeness toward these groups.
• Assessment of the relative importance of major problems facing the world and willingness to participate in solutions.
• Self-reported assessments of happiness and class identity.
• Demographic information includes family income, number of people residing in the home, size of locality, home ownership, region of residence, occupation of the head of household, and the respondent's age, sex, occupation, education, religion, religiosity, political party and union membership, and left-right political self-placement.
Those looking for public opinion/confidence surveys should see also the Eurobarometer and the Latinóbarometro surveys.
ISSP: International Social Survey Program
Lake Forest College does not have direct access to these data, but they can be purchased from the web site.
CSES: Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
Registration (free) required to download data.
ESS: European Social Survey
Registration (free) required to download data.
Gallup International Voice of the People
Unions, Employers, Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations Dataset
For 16 OECD countries, 1950-1995. Collected, coded and made available by Miriam Golden (ULCA), Michael Wallerstein (Yale University) and Peter Lange (Duke).
Comparative Welfare States Data Set
Original dataset (1997) by Evelyne Huber, Charles Ragin, and John D. Stephens updated (2004) by David Brady, Jason Beckfield, and John Stephens.
Luxembourg Income Study
Household surveys that provide demographic, income and expenditure information on three different levels: household, person and child.
Duane Swank's Comparative Parties Data Set (from Marquette University)
WIDER World Income Inequality Database (WIID)
The World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) provides the WIID2a, which incorporates an earlier version of this dataset with updates from sources such as the Deininger & Squire database (World Bank) and the Luxembourg Income Study and Transmonee. It measures income inequality using the Gini coefficient from reported sources as well as those calculated by WIDER, for developed, developing and transition countries.
PovertyNet
This resource from the World Bank draws together "information on poverty measurement, monitoring, analysis, and on poverty reduction strategies for researchers and practitioners." See especially the page Data on Poverty and Inequality.
The Concise Encyclopedia of Statistics (2008)
REF HA17 .D63 2008
The Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics (2002)
REF QA276.14 .E84 2002
Eco5.com
For those of you trying to find historical data, try the Eco5 portal. Select "historical data & forecasts" then click "global" for sources of comparative data.
Gini index (from Carleton College)
Looking for a gini coefficient (measure of inequality) variable for your dataset?
This guide drew heavily on "Comparative Politics," a subject research guide developed at Carleton College, with permission.