A curated list of high-quality resources, tools, datasets, and educational content related to political science.
Political Science is the study of politics, government systems, political behavior, institutions, public policy, and international relations. This list is intended for students, researchers, journalists, and anyone interested in understanding politics and governance more deeply.
- General Resources
- Courses & Learning
- Books
- Journals & Publications
- Data & Datasets
- Research Tools
- Think Tanks & Institutes
- Political Philosophy
- Public Policy
- International Relations
- Political Economy
- Elections & Voting
- Governance & Institutions
- Related Awesome Lists
- Political Science Guide - Library of Congress – Overview of political science research topics and tools.
- Political Science - Open Textbook Library – Free, peer-reviewed political science textbooks.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Political Philosophy – Scholarly articles on political thought.
- Introduction to Political Science (MIT OCW) – Course covering the U.S. political process and institutions.
- The Politics of International Law (Yale) – Yale lecture series on international politics and law.
- HarvardX - U.S. Political Institutions – Explore the structure and function of U.S. government branches.
- The Logic of Political Survival – Explains why leaders stay in power.
- Democracy in America – A classic work on American democracy by Alexis de Tocqueville.
- The Republic – Plato’s foundational work in Western political thought.
- The Prince – Machiavelli’s treatise on political power and leadership.
- The Federalist Papers – Foundational essays defending the U.S. Constitution.
- American Political Science Review – Top-tier journal publishing cutting-edge political science research.
- Journal of Politics – Scholarly articles on political theory and practice.
- Foreign Affairs – Analysis and commentary on international relations and global policy.
- Political Studies Review – Reviews and discussion articles in political science.
- Polity Project – Dataset measuring governance characteristics of states.
- V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) – Democracy indices with detailed data coverage.
- World Bank Governance Indicators – Metrics for voice, accountability, corruption, and more.
- The Manifesto Project – Political party platforms and ideological positions.
- Correlates of War – Historical data on wars and international conflicts.
- Zotero – Free tool for managing references and research sources.
- Perusall – Collaborative platform for engaging with texts in study groups.
- Connected Papers – Tool for visualizing academic research connections.
- Brookings Institution – Nonpartisan public policy research organization.
- Council on Foreign Relations – Think tank on international affairs and foreign policy.
- Chatham House (UK) – UK-based institute for international dialogue and policy.
- Cato Institute – Libertarian think tank focusing on limited government and free markets.
- RAND Corporation – Global policy research organization.
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Political Philosophy – Concise and accessible articles on key political ideas and theorists.
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought – Foundational texts in political theory.
- Open Yale – Introduction to Political Philosophy – Lectures on classic political thought from Plato to Rawls.
- Policy Agendas Project – Data and tools for analyzing U.S. policy trends.
- OECD Policy Resources – Insights and statistics on policy development and implementation.
- The Wilson Center – U.S. think tank for global policy dialogue.
- SIPRI – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute – Research on global security, arms control, and peace.
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – Global network of policy research centers.
- United Nations University – UN’s academic and research arm for global development.
- The Global Peace Index – Ranking of countries by peacefulness.
- Papers in Political Economy – SSRN – Academic papers on global and national political-economic topics.
- Ideas RePEc – Economics research database including political economy papers.
- EconPapers – Political Economy – Working papers and articles related to political economy.
- International IDEA – Global database on elections, democracy, and constitutional design.
- The Electoral Integrity Project – Assessment and data on electoral processes worldwide.
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission – U.S. federal resource on election administration.
- OpenElections – Open-source election results data for U.S. states.
- The Constitution Project – Advocacy and resources for rule of law and constitutional government.
- World Justice Project – Independent data and tools on the rule of law.
- OECD Public Governance – Research on public governance practices.
- Awesome Open Science – Open research tools and resources.
- Awesome Climate Change – Resources on climate science, policy, and activism.
- Awesome G7 – Information and resources on G7 nations and policies.
- Awesome Journalism – Tools and resources for investigative and data journalism.
- Awesome Human Rights – Tools and platforms for human rights research and advocacy.
Contributions are welcome!
