Subject databases
Subject databases are specialist online resources that you can use to:
- find literature in journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, PhD theses
- access documents, data, images, film and broadcast material in digital archives
- search online newspaper content and reference works
There are many databases covering different research topics and disciplines. Below are some which are particularly useful for politics and international studies students.
The full list of resources for politics and international studies is available on the recommended databases page.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new windowUse to find international journal articles, books and chapters. Cross-disciplinary in scope with political science as one of four main subject areas, IBSS is recommended for all assignments and dissertation research
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowContains academic journals, books, and primary sources, primarily in the humanities and social sciences
- Politics Trove This link opens in a new windowebooks from Oxford University Press. Titles are in Library Search but you can use this link to browse the collection.
- Chatham House Online Archive This link opens in a new windowPublications and archives of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). A brief guide to using the archive is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Twe_rYQPVc
- Public Information Online This link opens in a new windowProvides access to UK parliamentary papers from the Westminster Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Government
- OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new windowThe online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) featuring its books, papers and statistics and is the gateway to OECD's analysis and data.
- UK Data Service This link opens in a new windowRepository of government data, census material, longitudinal studies, qualitative data
Open access resources
A selection of free, open-access resources relevant to politics and international studies:
Location-specific resources
- British Political Speech This link opens in a new window
An archive of British political speech and place for the discussion, analysis, and critical appreciation of political rhetoric. It includes texts of speeches given by Conservative, Labour and Liberal/Liberal Democrat Party leaders going back to 1895.
- SciELOBibliographical database of open access scholarly journals relating to Latin America, Portugal and Spain.
- African Journal Archive This link opens in a new window
African journal literature originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent.
- SciELOBibliographical database of open access scholarly journals relating to Latin America, Portugal and Spain.
Political philosophy
International affairs
- Statewatch Statewatch produces and promotes critical research, policy analysis and investigative journalism to inform debates, movements and campaigns on civil liberties, human rights and democratic standards.
Gender & Sexuality
Data sources
Below is a list of freely available data sources relevant to politics and international studies. The library also subscribes to paid-for data sources, such as the UK Data Service, Mass Observation, OECDiLibrary and Statistica, available in the A-Z databases list for politics and international studies. For a list of qualitative, or quantitative data sources, or if you need help with finding data, please see Finding Research Data.
- Data.gov U.S. Government open data, providing access to hundred of thousands of datasets from state and federal agencies
- General Social Survey Nationally representative survey of adults in the United States conducted since 1972. The GSS collects data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends in opinions, attitudes and behaviours.
- Google dataset search Discover data sets hosted in thousands of repositories across the web. Filter results based on the type of dataset you want (e.g., tables, images, text), or whether the dataset is available for free from the provider
- Harvard Dataverse Research data from across research fields, from Harvard University and beyond
- Henry A. Murray Research Archive Repository for quantitative and qualitative research data at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science, comprising over 100 terabytes of data, audio, and video.
- HSRC Research Data Service The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) research data in support of evidence based human and social development in South Africa and the broader region
- ICPSR - Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research Mixed methods and qualitative research studies available for download from an international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations. a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioural sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
- Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) This link opens in a new window Microdata for social and economic research containing census and survey data from around the world
- OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
The online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) featuring its books, papers and statistics and is the gateway to OECD's analysis and data.
- Open Data Network An initiative designed to foster data-centred collaboration between governments and the private sector, where you can search across tens of thousands of datasets
- Qualitative Data Repository A dedicated archive for storing and sharing digital data (and accompanying documentation) generated or collected through qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences and related disciplines
- UN DataEconomic, social and environment indicators for all countries from the United Nations Statistics division.
- World Bank Data Catalogue World Bank's development data
- World Data Atlas Economic, social and demographic indicators for all countries and regions, selected from over 200 public datasets
News sources
- British Cartoon Archive This link opens in a new window
National collection of socio-political cartoons from British newspapers and magazines, plus comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines.
- Conversation, the This link opens in a new window
An independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.
- European Union Newsroom This link opens in a new window
Official news website of the institutions of the European Union. It provides online access to the latest official press material released by all EU institutions
- Onlinenewspapers.com This link opens in a new window
Links to thousands of national and local newspapers around the world.
- PoliticsHome This link opens in a new window
British political journalism across the political spectrum
Quick links
A complete list of databases recommended for students of politics and international studies.
Help with databases
For guidance on using databases you can book onto one of our library training workshops or contact your Subject Librarian for 1:1 help.
Please email me at Catherine.Downs@bristol.ac.uk