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Research Guides for Politics JP Workshops
#7 Developing Countries & Multilateral Pressures
Created by John J. Hernandez, Politics Librarian
Firestone Library, Social Science Reference Center

Office: A-15-J-1
Phone: (609) 258-3209
 Email: jhernand@princeton.edu
Reference Works
 Background Information
 Finding Books
 Journal Articles & Papers
 News Sources
 Statistical Sources
 Useful Websites
General Reference Works

bullet Dictionary of Development: Third World Economy, Environment, Society.
Publisher: New York: Garland Pub., 1990.
Location: Social Science Reference Center (SSRC). Firestone
Call Number: HC59.7 .D513 1990

bullet Directory of International Economic Organizations.
Publisher: Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1997.
Location: Pliny Fisk Library (SXF). Firestone
Call Number: HF1418.5 .S37 1997

bullet Guide to Country Information in International Governmental Organization Publications.
Publisher: Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service, 1996.
Location: Social Science Reference Center (SSRC). Firestone
Call Number: Z7164.G7 G842 1996

bullet Handbook of Development Economics.
Publisher: Amsterdam; New York: North-Holland, 1988-1995.
Location: Pliny Fisk Library (SXF). Firestone
Call Number: HD82 .H275 1988

bullet Historical Dictionary of Aid and Development Organizations.
Publisher: Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996.
Location: Firestone Library (F)
Call Number: HC60 .A738 1996

bullet The International Development Dictionary.
Publisher: Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1991.
Location: Social Science Reference Center (SSRC). Firestone
Call Number: HF1359 .F79 1991

bullet The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics.
Publisher: New York: Stockton Press, 1987.
Location: Pliny Fisk Library (SXF). Firestone
Call Number: HB61 .N49 1987

Country Background Information

bullet Background Notes
URL: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
Factual publications prepared by the staff of the U.S. State Department that contain information on all the countries of the world with which the United States has relations. Each report contains information about the country's people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations, relations with the U.S., and travel and business. These reports are updated periodically.

bullet EIU Country Reports (PU only)
Annual reports by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is considered to be a definitive source of business intelligence, provide detailed information on political and economic trends for 180 countries worldwide. Each report includes annual and quarterly economic indicators; economic forecasts; and information on domestic politics, international relations, economic growth, and foreign trade. Annual reports are updated by quarterly EIU Country Profiles. Reports and profiles from 1996 forward are available online with earlier reports in paper are held in Firestone, see the catalog for more information.

bullet Encyclopedia of the Third World.
Publisher: New York: Facts on File, 1992.
Location: Social Science Reference Center (SSRC). Firestone
Call Number: HC59.7 .K87 1992
Provides a compact description of the dominant political, economic and social systems of 122 developing countries. While the information presented here is up to date as of September 1991, the encyclopedia provides useful background information. It begins with a explanation of common acronyms and brief descriptions of organizations including publications where appropriate. Country entries include a chronology that begins generally from the year of independence up to 1991, along with a brief bibliography and listing of official publications where appropriate.

bullet Europa World (PU only)
The online version of the indispensable Europa World Year Book published since 1926. Europa provides detailed up-to-date surveys of over 250 countries and territories, a comprehensive listing of over 1,650 international organizations, directory information, and current analysis. Includes essential names and addresses and other information covering such areas as a country's constitution, government, legislature, political organizations, diplomatic representation, religion, media, finance, trade, industry, transport, and tourism. Paper copies of the yearbooks (1959- ) are located in Firestone (F) under call number JN1 .E85, with the current volume in General & Humanities Reference (DR).

bullet Global Development Finance.
Publisher: Washington, DC: World Bank, 1975-
Location: Firestone Library (F)
Call Number: HG4517 .I51  (1975- )
Current Volume: Social Science Ready Reference (SSRC)
Formerly the World Debt Tables, this is the World Bank’s annual review of trends of financial flows to developing countries, as well as projections of the global outlook in light of current global geopolitical uncertainties. The Summary and Country Tables provide comprehensive statistical data for 138 countries that report debt under the World Bank Debtor Reporting System, and summary data for regions and income groups. The data are also available online, see GDF Online below under "statistical sources" for more information.

bullet Human Development Report.
Publisher: New York: Oxford University Press, 1990- 
Location: United Nations Collection (UN). Firestone 
Call Number: HD72 .H85 (1990- )
Produced by the United Nations Development Programme, the HDR series advocates a shift in the development debate away from a sole concern with economic growth toward a balanced concern for equity, sustainability, productivity and empowerment. The report's Human Development Index (HDI), offereds an alternative to GNP as a measure of development. In addition to the global report, there are national, subnational, and regional Human Development Reports for 135 countries.

bullet Political Handbook of the World.
Publisher: Binghamton, NY: CSA Publications, annual.
Location: Firestone Library (F)
Call Number: 7560.729 (1928-1970)
Call Number: JF37 .P6 (1975- )
Current Volume: Social Science Ready Reference (SSRC)
Provides essential political information about every country in the world, including heads of government, cabinet members, leaders and programs of political parties, representation in national legislatures, news media, and membership in international organizations. The handbook's primary focus is on government and development of the country's political climate.

bullet The Statesman's Yearbook.
Publisher: New York: St. Martin's Press, annual.
Location: Firestone Library (F)
Call Number: JA51 .S7 (1876- )
Current Volume: General and Humanities Reference (DR)
Similar to the Political Handbook above, Statesman's Yearbook also provides detailed information about all the countries of the world. The yearbook's focus is more on social and development indicators. Each entry includes a small map for quick geographical orientation, as well as a list of references for further reading.

bullet World Development Report.
Publisher: Washington, DC: World Bank, 1978-
Location: Firestone Library (F)
Location: Pliny Fisk Library (SXF). Firestone
Call Number: HC59.7 .W6 (1978- )
Current Volume: Social Science Ready Reference (SSRC)
This annual report discusses the state of the world economy and prospects for the next decade. Recent volumes have been dedicated to particular themes such as the environment, health investment, and poverty. The statistical appendix World Development Indicators, now published separately, provides tables of economic data that allow the researcher to compare the low, middle, and high-income economies of the world, see WDI Online below under "statistical sources" for more information.

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Finding Books

The Main Catalog is your primary tool for finding books in the Princeton University Libraries. The catalog also helps you find other materials, including videos, sound recordings, internet sites, and journals (the journals themselves- not individual articles). You can search the catalog by title, journal title, author, subject, or keyword.

Research Tip: Start your search out using keywords, which tend to get more results. Use the Long View feature to see the full record displaying the subject headings that describe the subject matter of the item. When you find items that seem relevant to your topic, use these subject headings to find additional related items. See the list below for a few ideas.
Sample Keywords
 Sample Subject Headings
  • debt relief
  • economic aid
  • economic development
  • foreign aid
  • foreign debt
  • external debt
  • international development
  • third world
  • underdeveloped countries
  • Use the names of organizations such as:
    • International Monetary Fund
    • United Nations
    • World Bank
  • Developing countries
  • Economic assistance
  • Economic development
  • Industrialization
  • Rural development
  • Use the name of a country with the following sub-headings:
    • --Economic Conditions
    • --Economic Policy
    • --Foreign Economic Relations
    • --Foreign Relations
    • --Politics and Government
    • --Population
    • --Social Conditions

When you find an item you'd like to see, be sure to pay attention to the location, call number, and status as indicated in the catalog record. See the list of location codes for help determining in which library collection the item is held. The call number shows where in the collection the item should be, and the status tells you whether the book is available or not. For more information on the call numbers used at Princeton and for help with locating a book in Firestone, see the Library Call Numbers & Locations page.

If after several tries you still don't find good results, you might want to look at the Library of Congress Subject Headings, copies of which are located at the General & Humanities and Social Science reference desks. This set of large red volumes provides a listing of the appropriate subject headings that correspond to various topics. Be sure to ask the staff at the reference desk for help. You can also schedule a research consultation with myself or another subject specialist.

Beyond the main catalog, you have access to other Princeton library catalogs, as well as regional and worldwide catalogs via the Library Catalogs page. For information on how to obtain books you find at other libraries that are not held at Princeton, see the Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan pages.
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Journal Articles & Papers

Click here to go right to the databases.

Some Tips on Searching Online Databases:
  1. Break up your topic into its component concepts. For example, suppose your topic is the impact of foreign debt on attempts to relieve the poor in the Third World. This can be broken down into the component concepts: foreign debt, poor, and Third World.

  2. Think of possible synonyms (similar words) for these concepts. For example, a synonym for foreign debt might be external debt, a word similar to poor might be poverty, and another way of saying Third World is developing countries. Construct a keyword search on each of the concepts separately by combining the synonyms with a Boolean OR operator. For example, foreign debt OR external debt.

  3. Use truncation symbols to find variations on words. For example, the search term democra* will find democracy and democratic. Note: not all databases use the asterisk * for truncation. Some use a question mark ? or exclamation point ! or some other character. See the help pages of the particular database for more details.

  4. After you've executed searches on the separate concepts, combine the concepts using the Boolean AND operator. Group your synonyms using parentheses ( ) to represent the concepts. For example, (foreign debt or external debt) AND (third world or developing countries). Note: many databases have a Search History feature that allows you to select previously executed searches and combine them using AND or OR.

  5. By first doing searches on the individual concepts and then combining them, you can modify your search more easily, as well as try other combinations with different keywords. The resulting set of references should cover the main concepts contained in your topic. Scan the abstracts to see if the articles you found are relevant. Note: many databases will highlight the keywords you searched indicating where they were found within the record.

  6. Pay attention to the subject headings or descriptors of articles that seem particularly good. You can use these terms as additional keywords for further searches!
    7.
Selected Databases for Researching Development:

The following databases provide references to scholarly journal articles and papers. For additional databases, see the Article Indexes & Research Databases page. For additional print indexes, consult the staff at the Social Science Reference Center.

bullet CIAO - Columbia International Affairs Online (PU only)
CIAO publishes online a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, NGO occasional papers, foundation-funded research projects, conference proceedings, books, journals, and policy briefs.

bullet EconLit (PU only)
Provides citations and selected abstracts of journal articles, books, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings and book reviews dating back to 1969. Covers topics including regional and international economics, urban economics, economic development, fiscal and monetary theory, business and public finance.

bullet Historical Abstracts (PU only)
This database has long been recognized as the leading bibliography providing unmatched coverage of world history (excluding North America) dealing with time periods from 1450 to the present. It covers approximately 2,000 journals, as well as books and dissertations published worldwide since the mid 1950s in history and related areas, including anthropology, genealogy, multicultural studies, political science, and sociology.

bullet International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (PU only)
Compiled by the British Library of Political & Economic Science of the London School of Economics & Political Science, this database provides bibliographic information from an international selection of publications (including over 2,600 journals) in the fields of economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. Indexing covers material published from 1951 to present.

bullet International Political Science Abstracts (PU only)
Provides abstracts in English or French to articles selected from over 1,000 international journals. Topics covered include political science method and theory, political thinkers and ideas, governmental and administrative institutions, political process, international relations, and national and area studies. Index covers material published from 1989 to present.

bullet JOLIS Library Catalog
URL: http://jolis.worldbankimflib.org/uhtbin/webcat/
JOLIS is the joint library network catalog of the 13 World Bank and International Monetary Fund libraries in Washington, DC, and provides detailed coverage of literature in the fields of international economics, development, and finance. This catalog includes references to books, journal titles, journal articles, working papers, conference proceedings, and technical reports, with links to full-text items when available.

bullet PAIS International (PU only)
This database by the Public Affairs Information Service provides citations to articles, books, reports, and select government documents on public and foreign policy issues from 1972 forward. PAIS is generally considered to be a comprehensive index to policy literature.

bullet Policyfile (PU only)
Provides indexing and abstracts of research publications addressing the complete range of public policy research. PolicyFile draws its content from public policy think tanks, university research programs, research organizations, and trade publishers. The database consists of over 50,000 abstracts dating from 1990 to present, with some full-text where available and links to organizational home pages.

bullet RAND Publications
URL: http://www.rand.org/Abstracts/abstracts.html
A nonprofit public policy research institution established after World War II to study national security, in the 1960s RAND added domestic policy problems to its research agenda. Current areas of research and analysis include national defense, education and training, health care, criminal and civil justice, labor and population, science and technology, community development, international relations, and regional studies. The publications database goes back to 1946, with online versions of many documents available generally as of 1998. See the RAND Publications Research Guide for more help in locating RAND publications held in Princeton libraries.

bullet Sociological Abstracts (PU only)
Provides access to the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. The database includes abstracts of journal articles selected from over 2,500 journals, as well as books, conference papers, dissertations, and book reviews. Coverage of this database goes back to 1963.

bullet SourceOECD (PU only)
This is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The database contains all the OECD's monographs, reports, and periodicals published from 1998 onwards, as well as the OECD's statistical databases. The books and reports are gathered into 20 thematic collections. The interface for SourceOECD can be somewhat difficult to navigate, so if you have trouble be sure to consult the staff at the Social Science Reference Center for help. Many earlier OECD publications are held in Firestone.

bullet World Bank e-Library (PU only)
A full-text database of over 1,200 World Bank titles, including each new book as it is published. The publications are searchable by broad subject or by geographic regions.

bullet Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (PU only)
Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science, including international relations, law and public policy. Indexing covers material from 1975 to present. Also provides references to reliable web resources.
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News Sources

bullet FBIS Index (PU only)
Provides indexing to the Daily Reports of the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service. These reports include translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals, and government statements from nations around the world focusing on political, economic, scientific, and cultural issues and events. Search by keyword, region and date. This index covers reports from 1975-1996, which are mostly available in microfiche with some in paper. Ask for help locating these reports at the Social Science Reference Center. For more recent material, see the World News Connection below.

bullet LexisNexis Academic (PU only)
Provides full-text access to news from across the U.S. and around the world. Coverage of most newspapers goes back to the mid 1980s, but varies widely. Also provides access to business, legal, and medical journals, as well as corporate financial information.

bullet ProQuest Newspapers (PU only)
Provides indexing and full text of the Wall Street Journal (1984- ) and Barron's (1988- ), and abstracts only of the New York Times and USA Today (1989- ). After you click on the link above, pull down the database menu and select "News- ProQuest Newspapers" to search these titles.

bullet New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
Provides retrospective coverage of the New York Times going back to the first issue (1851-2001) in full text. Search by keywords and date.

bullet Wall Street Journal (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
Provides retrospective coverage of the Wall Street Journal going back to the first issue (1889-1986) in full text. Search by keywords and date.

bullet Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
Provides retrospective coverage of the Washington Post going back to the first issue (1877-1987) in full text. Search by keywords and date.

bullet World News Connection (PU only)
Continues coverage of the FBIS reports mentioned above from 1996 to present, and with full text. The search functions are similar (by keyword, region, and date) with a "latest headlines" feature for monitoring current news.
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Statistical Sources

For numeric data files and assistance in data analysis, see the folks at Data & Statistical Services.

bullet Statistical Universe (PU only)
Provides indexing and abstracts to federal, state, and international statistical publications as well as selected business and professional publications containing statistics. Many statistical tables are available in full text, and direct links to many web-accessible statistical sources are also provided. Statistical Universe is the web equivalent of the print American Statistics Index, Statistical Reference Index, and Index to International Statistics; and provides indexing for the corresponding ASI, SRI and IIS microfiche sets located on the C-Floor of Firestone. IIS provides abstracts for reports and other statistical publications issued by IGOs such as the United Nations, IMF, World Bank, and OECD.

bullet EIU Country Data (PU only)
A service of the Economist Intelligence Unit that provides international economic data and forecasts on a time series basis. Data are derived from national governments, trade associations, BIS, IMF, IFC, OECD, the World Bank, and EIU's own researchers. A related product, EIU Market Indicators and Forecasts (formerly EIU Country Indicators) provides more social and political risk data. EIU also provides detailed cost comparisons of major international cities in EIU City Data. All three are accessible from the link above. Once in, click on "EIU Data Services" at the top of the page and choose the desired database.

bullet GDF Online
URL: http://devdata.worldbank.org/apponline/default.asp?app=GF
GDF Online is the web version of the data tables from the World Bank's annual Global Development Finance report. Select data by region, country, series and years.

bullet WDI Online
URL: http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/
WDI Online is the web version of World Development Indicators, the World Bank's statistical appendix to the World Development Report. Select data by country, series and years.

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Additional Useful Websites

Select IGO Websites:

bullet International Monetary Fund
URL: http://www.imf.org/

bullet United Nations Development Programme
URL: http://www.undp.org/

bullet United Nations Economic Commissions
URL: http://www.un.org/esa/regional.htm
There are five regional economic commissions: Africa (includes Egypt), Asia and the Pacific (includes many states of former Soviet Union), Western Asia (the Arab countries of the Middle East, includes Egypt), Europe (also includes many states of former Soviet Union), and Latin America and the Caribbean.

bullet Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
URL: http://www.oecd.org/home/

bullet World Bank
URL: http://www.worldbank.org/

bullet World Trade Organization
URL: http://www.wto.org/

Related Princeton Research Guides:

bullet Globalization Resources
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~ssrc/globwebb.html
Courtesy of Susan White, UN Documents Librarian. Links to more specialized region-specific databases.

bullet Guides to Economics and Finance
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~econlib/ecoinfo.html
Courtesy of Bobray Bordelon, Economics and Finance Librarian.

bullet UN Collection of Princeton University Library
URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~sbwhite/un/generalun.html
Go here for guidance on locating and using United Nations documentation related to development.
Select Pages from Other Institutions:

bullet British Library for Development Studies
URL: http://www.ids.ac.uk/blds/
The home library of the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, the BLDS is Europe's largest research collection on economic and social change in developing countries.

bullet Development Organizations
URL: http://www.oired.vt.edu/resanddev/links/dev_org.htm
From Virginia Tech's Office of International Research, Education & Development, this page provides links to many development organizations, including NGOs, UN agencies, U.S. government sites, other national development organizations, and development institutes.

bullet ELDIS Gateway to Development Information
URL: http://eldis.org/
Electronic Development and Environment Information System provides access to a variety of information on development issues, with summaries and links to online documents, a directory of websites, databases, library catalogues, and email discussion lists. ELDIS is hosted by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and is funded primarily by the Danish International Development Agency.

bullet International Affairs Resources - International Development
URL: http://www.etown.edu/vl/intldev.html
Useful list of links from the WWW Virtual Library.

bullet International Relations Resources by Topic: Political Economy & Development
URL: http://www.library.yale.edu/ia-resources/polecon.html
Courtesy of Sandra Peterson, Director of Social Science Libraries and Information Services at Yale University Library.

bullet OneWorld.net
URL: http://www.oneworld.net/
OneWorld brings together more than 1,500 organizations from across the globe to promote sustainable development, social justice and human rights. The OneWorld network spans five continents and produces content in 11 different languages, published across its international site, regional editions, and thematic channels.

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jhernand@princeton.edu
URL: www.princeton.edu/~jhernand/politics/developing.html
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