Women: political and economic participation
Beijing +20 The UN has launched a new website to mark the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a visionary agenda for women’s empowerment. Relive the occasion with Hillary Clinton’s inspiring speech However a recent summary report has revealed that, despite progress, urgent action is still needed in some areas. IPU […]
Israel Elections 2015
Elections are due to take place on 17th March. The Israel Democracy Institute website is a good starting point for background information on the electoral process. It also has a collection of public opinion polls which cover the relationship between the elections and the peace process. For historical materials try: National Library of Israel Election […]
1979 elections
Rewind to the 1979 elections #79 rewind from the Open University is tweeting stories from the 1979 campaign to examine how they correspond with current issues.
70th Anniversary of the United Nations (next year)
A new online exhibition is being created by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library which celebrates 70 key documents in the history of the UN.
British Political Speech Archive
A great resource developed by Swansea University. It lists all major speeches for Conservative, Labour and Liberal/Liberal Democrat Party leaders from 1895 onwards. Where possible transcripts are available. The site also offers guidance on studying political rhetoric.
What is the world’s most influential think tank?
Find out by checking the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report released by the University of Pennsylvania . It has rankings by region and specialism as well as an overview of current research trends. However the list is not uncontroversial. See this critique from Foreign Policy.
NATO Archives Online
The official website now contains early committee documents from 1949-1959, press releases from 1961 onwards and over 300 full text books. These provide insight into the history of the organisation, military and security alliances and the NATO perspective on international crises. A good example is post-war Berlin situation
What institutions do people trust?
The 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer surveyed 33,000 people in 27 countries on their trust in the institutions of government, media, business and NGOs. Its annual report for 2014 found that only 43% believe CEOs have credibility. However levels of trust in search engines and social media are rising.
State of the Union 2015
Read the official White House transcript of President Obama’s speech. The Atlantic has some interesting analysis of the words used in all speeches since 1790
Open government
How open is your government? The latest Global Open Data Index from the Open Knowledge Foundation ranks 97 nations according to the openness of their data on 10 themes: national statistics, government budget, election results, legislation, national maps, company registers, transport timetables., pollution levels, postcodes and government spending. Useful examples from the UK government at […]
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