Search Guides
International Studies
Introduction
The sources below provide broad, top-level coverage of Middle Eastern affairs. However, there are many country-specific resources freely available online. Most countries will have national archives with some digital collections, and they will almost all have online news organizations, government websites, and much more.
Data and Statistics
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Arab BarometerProduces scientifically reliable data on political attitudes of ordinary citizens.
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Arab Human Development ReportFrom the United Nations Development Programme. The site also links to reports from individual countries.
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Economic and Social Commission for Western AsiaStatistics from the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
Primary Sources
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Middle East Media Research InstituteThe Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media, websites, religious sermons and school books. MEMRI also provides English translations of these media sources.
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Middle East Documentation Unit (MEDU)From Durham University, this collection consists of government publications, statistical data, documents from political entites, governmental and non-governmental organizations and more. The documents are in English, Arabic, French, Turkish, Persian and Hebrew.
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Iranian Oral History Project (IOHP)Through the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, this is a collection of "the personal accounts of 134 indiduals who played major roles in or were eyewitnesses to important political events in Iran from the 1920s to the 1980s.
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Islamic Heritage Project (IHP)Harvard University has cataloged and digitized hundreds of Islamic manuscripts, maps and published texts.
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NEFA Foundation - Translations of Statements/Documents from Terrorist groups.Areas of coverage include: Al-Qaida Leadership, Iraqi Insurgent groups, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestinian, Pakistan and more. Unfortunately the original site is not longer available but much of it was captured by the Internet Archive.
Secondary Sources
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Index Islamicus This link opens in a new windowIndex Islamicus Online is THE international classified bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world.
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Brill Islamic Studies Online: Reference Works This link opens in a new windowProvides searchable full text access to the following titles: Encyclopedia of Islam, Encyclopedia of the Quran, and Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.
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RAND Center for Middle East Public PolicyThis website, from RAND, provides information and expertise on the Middle East in the political, social, economic, and technological areas.
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Foundation for Middle East PeaceFMEP focuses specifically on fostering peace between the Israeli and Palestinian states. It also offers pertinent information about the conflict.
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Middle East Research and Information ProjectMERIP is a non-profit NGO that is dedicated to providing up-to-date information and analysis on the Middle East.
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Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceThe Carnegie Endowment for International Peace provides up-to-date information about various countries within the Middle East and policy decisions affecting these countries.
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The Iran PrimerA comprehensive website on Iran, “The Primer” brings together 50 experts—Western and Iranian—in concise chapters on politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and the nuclear program.