LibGuides: International Government Organizations and Foreign Government Information: International Organizations

Overview

International organizations are often divided into Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The book, Guide to IGOs, NGOs, and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations (Hol Ref JZ4850.A17 2000) provides the following explanations: an IGO is formed "when two or more governments sign a multilateral treaty to form such a body and agree to finance its operations." An NGO is a "private, self-governing, not-for-profit organization" which is "dedicated to the service and protection of those sectors of society that tend to be unserved or underserved by governments and other official institutions such as the United Nations."

The Union of International Associations divides International Organizations into 3 categories: Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and provides definitions.

The links on this page are divided into IGOs and NGOs.

International Government Organizations (IGO) Resources

IGO Search (Union of International Associations)
"This unique free service allows you to search the websites of all intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), comprising over 3000 bodies including the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, etc."
Policy Commons
"Policy Commons is a one-stop platform where researchers, academics, librarians, and students discover, access and share millions of publications from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs, and NGOs."
Note: You must create a free account; you'll get 15 searches a month.
World Development Indicators
"The primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates."
The World Bank: Documents & Reports
"The Documents & Reports (D&R) site is an official disclosure mechanism for the World Bank Group’s final reports. The repository contains official documents and reports which are made available to the public in accordance with the Bank’s Access to Information Policy to better share the institution's knowledge base. The D&R site contains final and official documents and reports from 1946 through the present,..."
World Bank Open Data
"Free and open access to global development data" Can search or browse by country or indicator. Lots of data and statistics.
UN Archives Geneva
"The UN Archives Geneva platform gives access to the fonds and collections managed by the United Nations Library and Archives in Geneva, including the archives of the United Nations in Geneva, the League of Nations (1919-1946), international peace movements (from 1870), and private papers.
It offers the possibility to search both the description of files or archival documents and in the full text of archival documents that have been digitized."
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
World Bank’s open access repository for its research and knowledge products; search World Bank open access content since 2000, with some embargoes.

Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)

Directories

Links to IGOs (Northwestern University Library) A list of IGOs with web sites.

United Nations Directory (alpha list) A "portal to web sites of the United Nations, its funds and programmes, and specialized agencies. It also includes links to key projects and initiatives and to various joint programmes of the UN System."

Search Engines

Google Intergovernmental Organizations Custom Search Engine A custom search of hundreds of intergovernmental organization web pages

Non-Governmental Organizations Custom Search Engine A custom search of hundreds of non-governmental organization web pages.

United Nations Information

The United Nations publications are available on the website Official Documents of the United Nations (1993- ). The Media Materials & Reserves unit houses the Index to UN Documents and Publications CD-ROM (JX1977.A18 I53x) indexing documents from 1948-present which are full-text in the Readex microfiche collection (JX 1977 .A2, cabinet 18) in the Holland Microforms Rm.

For more about United Nations information see the WSU Libraries Guide United Nations.

IGO Search
""This unique free service allows you to search the websites of all intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), comprising over 3000 bodies including the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, etc.""

Nongovernment Organizations (NGOs)

Directories

Associations Directory (American Society of Association Executives)

WANGO (World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations) Search their directory of NGO's by region and then by country and/or activity. WANGO also offers documents and resources for administrators of NGO's.

NGO List (Duke University Libraries) Provides region, subject, affiliation, country and a link to the home page of the organization

Search Engines

Non-Governmental Search Engine Searched are web pages of NGOs with Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, sites listed on the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, the Duke University Libraries' NGO Research Guide, and the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO).

State NGOs

State Associations and Organizations (American Society of Association Executives) Limit to state name in the State/Province search box

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)

Global Civil Society Database
"This information is part of the Open Yearbook, a free service of UIA's subscription-based Yearbook of International Organizations (YBIO). It includes profiles of non-profit organizations working worldwide in all fields of activity. The information contained in the profiles and search functionality of this free service are limited." Note: WSU does not have a subscription to the Yearbook of International Organizations.
Policy Commons
"Policy Commons is a one-stop platform where researchers, academics, librarians, and students discover, access and share millions of publications from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs, and NGOs."
Note: You must create a free account; you'll get 15 searches a month.