Public Affairs Living-Learning Community: Online Resources

Public and International Affairs Resources

It isn't possible to include every possible online resource related to public affairs and international affairs on a single web page, but these links should provide a useful starting point for additional research in these areas.

Resources at FSU

Academic Departments

The College of Social Sciences (COSS) is the FSU unit responsible for the Social Science & Public Affairs Living-Learning Community. The College contains six departments that are likely to be of interest to students in this community, listed here along with their faculty lists (which might give you some ideas about each department's research and teaching strengths) and their undergraduate student resource pages:

Askew School of Public Administration and Policy (Note that this department does not offer an undergraduate major, but it does offer courses at the undergraduate level that, in some cases, can be counted toward other majors in the College of Social Sciences).
- Faculty list
- Student resources
Economics department
- Faculty list
- Student resources
Geography department
- Faculty list
- Student resources
Political Science department
- Faculty list
- Student resources
Sociology department
- Faculty list
- Student resources
Urban and Regional Planning department (Note that this department does not offer any undergraduate degrees, although students may want to consider it for graduate study)
- Faculty list

Other COSS and FSU Resources

From the College of Social Sciences:

COSS academic institutes
COSS interdisciplinary programs
Other COSS study opportunities
Social science majors and concentrations
Social science minors and certificates
World Affairs Program

From other FSU units:

FSU Beyond Borders (exchange programs)
FSU Center for Civic Education and Service
FSU International Programs (study abroad)
FSU Pre-Law Advising
Registered Student Organizations (many of which are relevant to students with an interest in public affairs, including the following:)
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Amnesty International
- FSU College Democrats
- FSU College Republicans
- Phi Alpha Delta (pre-law fraternity)
Student Government Association (SGA)

News Sources

News headlines are available from a variety of sources, such as:
- ABC
- BBC
- CBS
- CNN
- Fox
- MSNBC
Christian Science Monitor
The Economist
Financial Times
London Times
Miami Herald
New York Times
USA Today
Washington Post
Many more news sources -- including links to hundreds of online newspapers from dozens of countries -- are available on Dr. Hensel's news site.

State and Local Government Resources

Local Government: Tallahassee and Leon County

Tallahassee is located in Leon County, Florida. Because Tallahassee is the county seat, we have both the city and county governments here in town.

City of Tallahassee (talgov.com)
Leon County Government
Tallahassee Democrat (the local newspaper, featuring extensive coverage of both state and local government)

State Government: Florida

Tallahassee is the state capital of Florida, so we have unique opportunities to observe and experience state government in action.

MyFlorida.com (see especially the page on government resources)
Florida Government Information Locator (from the Florida Department of State; see especially the page on government resources)
Executive Branch: Florida Governor and Cabinet
Legislative Branch: Florida Legislature ("Online Sunshine")
- Florida Senate
- Florida House of Representatives
Judicial Branch:

State Government Agencies
Florida Constitution

Federal Government and Politics

The Federal Government

U.S. Constitution (from the Library of Congress web site)
FirstGov.gov ("the U.S. government's official web portal")
GPO Access (official source of information from all three branches of government, from the Government Printing Office)
Executive Branch:
- White House
Legislative Branch:
Judicial Branch:
- U.S. Supreme Court
Government Departments and Agencies

American Politics

Center for Public Integrity
Center for Voting and Democracy
Federal Election Commission
League of Women Voters
NY Times Politics Navigator (an impressive collection of links to web sites for political parties, candidates, organizations, and issues)
Project Vote Smart (information on current elected officials and political candidates at the local, state, and federal levels)
Major national political parties (in alphabetical order):

International Affairs Resources

Nation-States

International affairs involves a large number of actors. While most people think of nation-states (more commonly known as "states" or "countries") as the most important actors, there are many other important actors that are either larger than states (like the UN) or smaller than states. Here are a few major lists of states and state-like actors:

Many consider the list of UN members to be the most useful list of current countries in the world, at least for the post-World War II era when the UN has been in existence.
The Correlates of War research project has been the most important source of academic data on international relations in the last two centuries. They have produced a list of states since 1816 that is useful for a broader sweep of history than the United Nations era.
The U.S. State Department offers lists of both independent states in the world and "dependencies and areas of special sovereignty".
A variety of other actors have played important roles, though, as suggested by the following lists of entities with Internet country codes, entities that have issued postage stamps, and "nations" competing in the Olympics.

Major International Organizations

The following are a few of the thousands of intergovernmental organizations that are active in world politics today:

United Nations (UN) (access to an incredible amount of information if you dig deep enough, ranging from economic, social, and environmental data to information on every current or past peacekeeping operation and many thousands of reports, resolutions, and documents on every imaginable topic in international affairs)
African Union
European Union (EU)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Organization of American States (OAS)
World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Information about Political Actors and International Affairs

The U.S. government provides many useful international affairs resources:

Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members (from the CIA)
Country Background Notes (from the State Department)
Country Studies (from the Library of Congress)
International Data Base (demographic and socioeconomic information, from the Census Bureau)
World Factbook (from the CIA; one of the most useful collections of demographic, economic, geographic, historical, military, and political information about each country, as well as many good maps)

There are also numerous other useful international affairs resources on the Web:

Atlases and maps are available online from a variety of sources, including MapQuest and the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas
NationsWorld (links to a variety of official web sites related to each country in the world)
Rulers.org (world leaders; available since around 1700 for most countries, territories, and major international organizations)
World Statesmen.org (everything from lists of each country or other actor's leaders since independence to a list of major events in the country's history and -- for many countries -- links to maps, national anthems, constitutions, and basic political, demographic, and economic information)
Dr. Hensel's web site offers access to many more resources in international affairs.

Social Science & Public Affairs Living-Learning Community College of Social Sciences Florida State University