Peace Studies: Web Sites

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Practice and Practitioners--Reports from the Field

Global Nonviolent Action Database
From Swarthmore College.
More than 600 case studies of nonviolent actions. Begun in 2007.
Peace Accords Matrix
From the University of Notre Dame's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
" ... a database of comprehensive peace accords."
PRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo)
This institute has lots! Datasets, project papers, publications, research.
United States Institute of Peace
Created in 1984, "USIP is the independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict without resorting to violence."
Their blog, The Olive Branch, provides interesting reading.
Their publications, many of which are online, are also very useful.

Online dictionaries, glossaries

Glossary of Terms for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding
From the United States Institute of Peace.
DFID Glossary
From the UK's Department for International Development.

Governmental (national) aid organizations

Another very brief, very selective list ...

Department for International Development (DFID)
"UK aid"
EuropeAid
From the EU.
USAID (U.S.A.I.D.)
U.S. Agency for International Development.

International organizations

International Court of Justice
United Nations
This link is to the website for the top-level organization. Below are links to parts of the UN with the most relevance to peace.
UN Department of Political Affairs
UN Development Programme
UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG's)
At the Millennium Summit in the year 2000, 8 goals for poverty reduction in the world's poorest countries were developed and agreed to by the world's G8 countries and other bodies. The web site linked above will give you information on the background of the MDG's, and progress on them. Here is link to the text of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.
UN Human Rights (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)
UN Peacebuilding Commission
UN Peacekeeping Operations
UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
World Bank
World Food Programme (WFP)
World Health Organization (WHO)
"WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends."

Development banks

Policy institutes ('think tanks')

Here's a sampling of think tanks that do work in the areas of development, peacebuilding, or human rights only. For a more comprehensive list, look at the NIRA directory linked below!

Here's more about think tanks.

Guide to "Key Policy Institutions and Think Tanks in Peacebuilding and Related Fields"
From PCDN, the Peace & Collaborative Development Network
NIRA's World Directory of Think Tanks
Includes ~ 450 think tanks from 100 countries. Published by the National Institute for Research Advancement.
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)
This site serves as a clearinghouse almost for materials from many sources on all aspects of international affairs. A great starting point.
On their Policy Briefs page, you'll find a longer list of think tanks actively involved in these topics.
Brookings Institution - Global Development
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Center for Strategic and International Studies
"CSIS has become one of the world’s preeminent international policy institutions focused on defense and security; regional stability; and transnational challenges ranging from energy and climate to global development and economic integration."
Council on Foreign Relations
Human Rights Watch
International Peace Institute
Formerly the International Peace Academy.
"IPI is dedicated to promoting the prevention and settlement of conflicts between and within states by strengthening international peace and security institutions."
Project on Defense Alternatives (part of the Commonwealth Institute)
RAND Corporation
This policy institute produces huge amounts of research, most of which is freely available. For more about their history, click here. Many of their reports are also available and searchable within the ebrary database, available above.
United States Institute of Peace
Created in 1984, "USIP is the independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict without resorting to violence."
Their blog, The Olive Branch, provides interesting reading.
Their publications, many of which are online, are also very useful.

About think tanks

So what exactly is a think tank?!

Below are a couple of brief definitions. Hopefully reading those will explain why we're including them on this page.

What's the viewpoint or agenda?

If you're wondering about the viewpoint (if any) that a particular think tank may espouse, look them up on SourceWatch.org (link below; from the Center for Media & Democracy). FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) also has an analysis of the pattern of news media cites to think tanks.

Think Tanks, from The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society
Norck, S. (2015). Think Tanks. In F. F. Wherry & J. Schor (Eds.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society (Vol. 4, pp. 1595-1597). SAGE Reference.
Think Tanks, 2-page article in Dictionary of American History.
Critchlow, D. T. (2003). Think Tanks. In S. I. Kutler (Ed.), Dictionary of American History (3rd ed., Vol. 8, pp. 117-118). Charles Scribner's Sons.
FAIR Extra! "Right Ebbs, Left Gains as Media 'Experts': Think tank balance still skews right"
An Extra! report by Michael Dolny and FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting). FAIR has done occasional studies of the pattern of news media citations to think tanks.
(Published in 2009; analysis based on data from 2007.)
SourceWatch.org
From the Center for Media & Democracy. SourceWatch gives nice descriptions of think tanks, including ideological slants and funding sources when they can find the information.