General political science
International relations
Political theory
Canadian government and politics
United States government and politics
European politics
Women in Politics
Online journals

Encyclopedia of government and politics. 2nd ed. Ed. Mary Hawkesworth and Maurice Kogan. (London : Routledge, 2004). JA 61 .C66 2004 in reference area on main floor of Library.
This two volume set contains 88 short essays in key topics and themes in political science written by prominent scholars in the field. This encyclopedia aims to provide "an overview of political studies in the new millenium" (p.4) and so covers traditional topics such as the state, power, elections as well as tackling more current concerns such as globalization, non-governmental organizations, the internet and terrorism. Also provides bibliography of sources at the end of each chapter.

Richard Kimber's political science resources
(Richard Kimber, University of Keele, UK) This excellent site "exemplifies what a truly useful and efficient research source a Web site can and should be to serious users." Choice (Vol. 37, Supplement, 2000): p. 180. 

Poly-cy: Internet resources for political science (Robert Duval, West Virginia University). Wide range of clearly organized links to political science resources on the web.

Political science resources on the Web
(Grace York, political science librarian, University of Michigan)
This award winning Web site is well organized and frequently updated. Sidebar provides links to an alphabetical list of topics including international relations, internet guides, dissertations, new media, political theory, reference tools, think tanks and statistics.

Bealey, Frank. Blackwell dictionary of political science. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999). JA 61 .B43 1999 Reference section, main floor of Library
This provides concise definitions of the terminology of political science. Most entries also have a bibliography of key readings for further research. 

Robertson, David. The Routledge dictionary of politics. 3rd ed. (London: Routledge, 2004)
JA 61 .R63 2004 in the reference section, main floor of the Library. Great quick reference for the terminolgy of the discipline. Updated third edition also covers new ideas and themes emerging in the study of politics.

The Blackwell encyclopaedia of political thought. Ed. David Miller (Oxford, UK : B. Blackwell, 2000). JA 61 .B57 1991 REF Reference section, main floor of Library. Longer entries also include recommended readings for further research.

The Cambridge history of political thought series
This important series was in many ways a monumental undertaking - 99 essays written by distinguished scholars covering key themes and thinkers in political thought from the ancient Greeks to the present day. Extensive bibliographies in the back of each book. All books are located on the 2nd floor of the Library.
Cambridge history of Greek and Roman political thought. Ed. Chistopher Rowe and Malcolm Schofield (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000) Call number: JC 51 .C294 2000
Cambridge history of medieval political thought c. 350 - c. 1450. Ed. J.H. Burns (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988) Call number: JA 82 .C27 1988
Cambridge history of political thought 1450-1700. Ed. J.H. Burns (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991) Call number: JA 81 .C283 1990
Cambridge history of twentieth-century political thought. Ed. Terence Ball and Richard Bellamy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003) Call number: JA 83 .C25 2003

Richard Kimber's political science resources: political thought 
(Richard Kimber, University of Keele, UK)

Political science: a net station - political philosophy / political thought (Iza Laponce, Librarian, University of British Columbia Library). This helpful site is no longer being maintained, but is still accessible via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine by clicking here.

Political Science resources on the Web: political theory (Grace York, political science librarian, University of Michigan)

Routledge encyclopedia of philosophy. Ed. Edward Craig. (London: Routledge, 1998).  Call number: B 51 .R68 1998 REF (10 volume set) Reference section, main floor of Library

Political theorists might also find the Mount Allison Library subject guide to philosophy helpful.

McMenemy, John. The language of Canadian politics : a guide to important terms and concepts. (4th ed). (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2006). Call number: JA 61 .M33 2006 Reference area, main floor of library
This is organized like a dictionary and provides expanations of key terms and phrases in Canadian government and politics. Also offers concise summaries of key issues.

Guide to Canadian political science resources: federal institutions and their structure
(Norma Gauld, Reference and Information Services, National Library of Canada) This annotated collection of print and online resources covers web sites, key databases, bibliographies, basic text books and overviews. Note: if the text on this page seems very small - adjust the font setting in your browser. In Internet Explorer, select View, text size and medium will do the trick.

Canadian politics on the Web
(Nelson Thompson Learning, Canada) This site organizes web resources for students studying introductory Canadian government and politics. 

Canadian political parties
(Alex E.H. Ng. enthusiastic observer of Canadian politics) This award winning Web site contains links to federal and provincial parties plus other sites of interest.

Elections Canada
This government web site contains a wealth of information an all aspects of Canada's electoral system including: official voting results, registered political parties, electoral districts and boundary changes.
Also worth looking at is Electoral Insight Magazine. This is published by Elections Canada and issues from June 1999 are available full text in pdf format from the Web site. This provides in-depth analysis of electoral issues and democracy in Canada and overseas. It is also available in print at the Library. Call number CA1 SS71 E53 in the government documents area in the basement of the Library.

Canadian information by subject: political science
(National Library of Canada) This site provides a comprehensive listing of web resources in Canadian government and politics. Subjects covered include: structure and function of government, policy making, local government, human rights, political parties (Federal and Provincial), elections, Canadian international relations and federal and provincial legislative bodies.

Canadian Journal of political science
This is a publication of the Canadian Political Science Association, and the library has volume 1 number 1 (March 1968) to present. Call number JA 4 .C3, located on the ground floor of the library.

Canadian Political Science Review
The Canadian Political Science Review is an open-access, peer-reviewed electronic review of political science research undertaken by Canadians or about Canada.

Policy options / options politiques
This is a publication of the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Montreal. Past themes have included such topics as Afghanisan, border security, the fiscal imbalance, trade relations, and governance and scandal. The library has online access from July/August 1997 and print copies from January 1980. Call number JL 1 .P64, located on the ground floor of the library.

Isuma: Canadian journal of policy research
(Policy Research Initiative, Government of Canada)
This bilingual academic journal provides multidisciplinary research on Canadian public policy issues. Available full text on the web from vol. 1, no. 1 (Spring 2000). Past theme issues include sustainable development, social capital, climate change and North American integration.  Also available in the Library at call number CA1 PV8 I70 in government documents

Parliament of Canada
This site provides an overview of the functions and work of Parliament and provides access to a wealth of information about the operation of Canadian government. From "Main menu" highlights include: click on "Chamber business" to see Hansard for latest debates in House of Commons and the Senate available full text in pdf, "Bills" to see the agenda of bills to be debated in the House of Commons and Senate, "About Parliament" for historical information and "Virtual Library" for information provided by the Library of Parliament. Of particular interest to researchers (especially those studying Canadian public policy) are Parliamentary Information and Research Service publications which are a series of short papers on issues in Canadian goverment prepared for MPs and Senators. Papers are very informative and cover a wide range of issues organized by subject. Issues covered include: aboriginal issues, crime, culture and communication and foreign affairs.

History of Federal Electoral Ridings since 1867
(Canada, Library of Parliament, Information and Documentation Branch)
This web site "provides information on the electoral history of Canada since Confederation. Included you will find the names of all the candidates to all the federal elections as well as a description of all the ridings. Users can search by riding name, name of a candidate, political party, general election, and by-election, or even do a full text search on the description of a riding".

The Hill Times - Policy Briefings
The Hill Times Policy Briefings are published every other week, highlighting a key and timely public policy issue which is being debated in the federal political arena.  They publish some 22 Policy Briefings every year. Each policy briefing includes an indepth Q&A interview with the key Cabinet minister in charge, as well as columns filed from the experts and political players involved.

Canadian Politics: Reference Resources on the Internet
(Iza Laponce, Librarian, University of British Columbia Library)

Foreign relations of the United States
(Office of the Historian, US Department of State)
This site provides declassified State Department documents related to significant events and decisions in American foreign policy. Full text documents cover the period 1945 to 1968, from Truman to Johnson administrations. Topics include: beginning of the United Nations, Cold War, Cuban missile crisis and the start of the Vietnam war. The Library has the full series in print from 1938 to 1968 at call number JX 233 .A35 on the second floor.

The reader's companion to the American presidency.  Eds. Alan Brinkley and Davis Dyer. ( Boston :  Houghton Mifflin, 2000). Call number: E 176.1 .R295 2000 REF, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.
This publication covers George Washington to Bill Clinton. Sections provide a concise but detailed assessment of each presidency, a chronology of main events and a bibliography for further reading and research.

POTUS: Presidents of the United States (Robert S. Summers, School of Information, University of Michigan). This site contains list of all US Presidents with links to biographical information, election results, historical documents, audio and video files and other sites of interest.

ThisNation: The American Government and Politics portal
(Dr. Jonathan Mott, Political Science Professor, Brigham Young University).
This web site proudly bills itself as "the most comprehensive guide to American government and politics on the net". This site has everything including: most of the major documents in U.S. political history, current news headlines, an online text book and a search engine for over 5,000 websites on U.S. politics.

United States Politics
(Grace York, political science librarian, University of Michigan)
Large collection of links to sites including lobby groups, political associations, watchdogs, etc.  

Campaigns and elections
(Campaigns and elections magazine, Congressional Quarterly)
Convenient way to access US political news. 

Binning, William C. Encyclopedia of American parties, campaigns, and elections. (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1999.) Call number: JK 9 .B56 1999 REF, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.
Helpful introductory guide for students of US government and politics. Most entries also provide a short bibliography of  key readings for further research.

Center for American women and politics (Center for American women and politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey). 

Political Information.com
This is “a search engine for politics, policy and political news.” It has a searchable directory of over 5,000 carefully selected links to web sites on US government and politics, although the links are no longer being updated. Click on “The POLITICAL Web” link to begin searching for sites by category.

Thompson Hill, Kathleen and Hill, Gerald N. The Facts on File dictionary of American politics. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2001). Call number: JK 9 .H54 2001 in the reference collection, main floor of the Library. Quick reference to the language of US politics. Appendices in this book are a mine of information including: US constitution and amendments, Gettysburg address, Presidential election results 1789-2000 and short biographies for all presidents and vice-presidents.

Leach, Rodney. Europe: a concise encyclopedia of the European Union from Aachen to zollverein. 3rd ed. (Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000).  Call number: JN 30 .L42 2000 REF, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.

Roberts, Geoffrey K and Hogwood, Patricia. The Politics Today companion to West European politics. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003) Call number: JN 94 .A58 R682 2003 REF, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.

Both volumes provide concise explanations of key subjects, concepts, issues, policies, events, treaties and people of the EU. They also include commonly used acronyms (eg. CAP, CEI, EUROPOL, etc ) listing what the term stands for and directing the reader to the appropriate entry. Roberts and Hogwood have a whole section devoted to abbreviations (p.143-148).

Moussis, Nicholas. Guide to European policies. 11th rev. ed. Call number HC 240 .M68 2005, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library. This guide covers a wide variety of internal and external policies of the European Union, including institutions, treaties, commerce, citizens’ rights, and the environment.

Europa: The European Union online
(Official web site of the EU)

European Union Internet resources
(Andrea Sevetson, Librarian, University of California, Berkeley)
A thorough research guide to EU information on the web.

The European Union (EU) in the US Delegation of the European Commission to the US, Washington DC 

Directory of European Union political parties. Ed. Alan J. Day. (London : John Harper, c2000). Call number: JN 50 .D39 2000 REF, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.
This book is organized by country and includes a summary of election results, contact information for each political party (including email and website), brief history of the party and current status.

Women in Parliament (Julie Cool, Political and Social Affairs Division, Library of Parliament, Canada). This short paper was “originally prepared for general distribution to Canadian Parliamentarians to provide background and analysis of issues that may arise in the course of their Parliamentary duties.” Written in 2006, it examines past and current work undertaken by women in politics, both in Canada and abroad.

Martin, Mart. The almanac of women and minorities in world politics (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2000). Call number: HQ 1236 .M385 2000, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.

Encyclopedia of women in American politics. Eds. Jeffrey D. Schultz and Laura van Assendelft (Phoenix, Ariz. : Oryx Press, 1999). Call number: HQ 1236.5 .U6 E53 1999, located in the Reference Collection on the main floor of the library.

Center for American women and politics (Center for American women and politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey).

Directory of open access journals: political science
Links to 63 free online full text scholarly journals in political science