Because international affairs can change so quickly, websites are a key tool in an introductory class, both to keep up to date, and to find resources for students. In our Teacher’s Manual, we list some helpful sites but here is a longer list that you might want to explore:
Data:
My thanks go to my colleague, Dr. Stephen Frenkel, for sharing what I think is one of the most fascinating websites for International and Global Studies. Gapminder advertises itself as creating a “fact-based” view of the world. Don’t let the reference to statistics make you think that it might be inaccessible for beginning students though. Its resources range from detailed information on equality to videos on everything from population growth to democracy. Check out the resources under the “For Teachers” link. Explore it yourself: http://www.gapminder.org/
Analysis:
The website for Foreign Policy magazine often has good articles to refer students to. These pieces are usually brief, current, and informally written, and often have a touch of humor too: www.foreignpolicy.com/
For a French perspective on global issues, see Le Monde Diplomatique, but be aware that non-subscribers only have access to some articles: http://mondediplo.com/
For a left-of-the-spectrum take on global affairs, see: www.geopoliticalmonitor.com
National Perspectives
For international news from different national perspectives, see the following websites of public news sources:
Britain: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/
Germany: http://www.dw-world.de/
Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/
United States: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/
Russia: http://rt.com/news/
Japan: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
China: http://china.org.cn/world/index.htm
South Africa: http://www.sabc.co.za/news
Newspapers and News-sites:
For English-language translations of articles from newspapers around the globe, see: http://www.worldcrunch.com/
The Christian Science Monitor is always a good place for insightful coverage: www.csmonitor.com/World
For an Indian perspective on the news, see: http://www.ndtv.com/
For Asian news, particularly from a geopolitical perspective, see: www.atimes.com
For English language news on Russia see: www.themoscowtimes.com
For a regional perspective on the Middle East, see Al Jazeerah: http://english.aljazeera.net/
For news from a Canadian perspective see: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
For a more conservative Canadian viewpoint see: http://www.nationalpost.com/
For Israeli news from a liberal perspective, see: http://www.haaretz.com/ For a conservative perspective see http://www.jpost.com/
Time has good global coverage. See: www.time.com/time/world It also has a blog with articles on international themes, which are generally well-written and insightful: globalspin.blogs.time.com/
For the CNN equivalent of the Time site, see: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/
Finally, Reuters is always an excellent site to track breaking events: www.reuters.com/news/world
In other languages:
For news in French, see: www.rfi.fr/
For Brazilian news in Portuguese see: http://www.estadao.com.br/
Interactive Websites:
I already mentioned this website in the teacher’s manual (click on the tools for teachers link above). But sometimes events are so large that they are difficult to visualize, and sometimes having someone visualize an issue can be a powerful teaching tool. The BBC website “Dimensions,” contains interactive maps that place one site relative to another. Do you want to put the Great Pacific Garbage patch over a map of your location, or visualize the size of the 2010 Pakistan flood? Check out: http://howbigreally.com/
Environmental news:
Grist is a (sometimes very) informally written website for environmental news: http://www.grist.org/
The BBC Earth blog has a lot of video links: http://bbcearth.posterous.com/
For a British perspective on environmental news see: www.guardian.co.uk/environment
For an environmental blog –with guest blogs that include webcam links that will let you watch a Great Fruit Eating bat- see: http://www.wildlifefocus.org/blog/category/wildlife
Security:
For security issues, with a focus on militaries, terrorism and intelligence issues, see, take a look at CNN’s Security Clearance: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/
For an journal on low intensity conflict or counter-insurgency, see: smallwarsjournal.com For every possible website that you could want related to this topic, see: http://smallwarsjournal.com/content/reference
The Long War Journal often has inside security news regarding the Afghanistan conflict before it appears anywhere else in the media, from a conservative perspective. Because much of its readership appears to be U.S. military officers with experience in the region, sometimes the comments are even more interesting than the articles. It also has a good set of links to related news on the web: www.longwarjournal.com
Teaching Tips:
Many thanks to my colleague Stephen Frenkel, who suggested this website on how to help get students to use academic sources:
Employment:
One useful way to track trends in the field is to look at the job ads. Academic postings are available free at the International Studies Association website: sites.google.com/a/isanet.org/employment-ads/
What’s Your Find?
Now it’s your turn. What are the best sites that I’ve missed, and that you want to share with others teaching Global Studies? Please post a comment below.
Shawn Smallman, Portland State University