International Politics Blogs, Podcasts and Map sites

Below is a list of blogs that focus on various aspects of international politics. These are blogs and podcasts by people who have expertise and specialization in the topics they write or podcast about. I’ve also included a few cool map sites at the end.

If you have any suggestions to add to this blogroll, let me know.

General international politics blogs and sites

• Foreign Policy Blogs – The Global Affairs Blog Network
• Passport – A blog by the editors of Foreign Policy magazine
• Danger Room – What’s next in national security, from Wired magazine
• Democracy Arsenal – Opinion and commentary on US foreign policy and global affairs (last post 2013)
• Duck of Minerva – group blog of IR scholars
• American Power (neoconservative blog)
• The International Crisis Group is an “independent organization working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world”. Publishes excellent detailed reports on regions of conflict.
• Institute for the Study of War  “ISW advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education. ISW is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization.”
• Arms Control Wonk
• Blogs of War
• Progressive Realist
• War is Boring – “From drones to AKs, high technology to low politics, exploring how and why we fight above, on and below an angry world”
• Political Violence @ a Glance [no longer online] – Expert analysis on violence and its alternatives
• On Violence (an IR Liberal blog on counter-insurgency warfare, military and foreign affairs, art, and violence)
• War on the Rocks (Realist IR blog)
• Global Network on Extremism & Technology -initiative for better understanding, and counteracting, terrorist use of technology, based in the Dept of War Studies at King’s College, London.
• Saideman’s Semi-Spew – International Relations, Ethnic Conflict, Civil-Military Relations, Academia, Politics in General
• Just Security – “Just Security is an online forum for the rigorous analysis of U.S. national security law and policy. We aim to promote principled and pragmatic solutions to national security problems that decision-makers face. Just Security is based at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law.”
• Illiberalism Studies Program, George Washington University Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
• Global Security Review 
• A paper bird – Sex, rights and the world
• OpenCanada.org – Canadian views on international politics
• Post-Western World – How are emerging powers changing the world?
• Defense One US defense and national security policy

Regionally focused blogs

• Informed Comment: Thoughs on the Middle East, History and Religion
• Jadaliyya Independent ezine produced by ASI (Arab Studies Institute)
• Syria Comment
• Newlines Magazine “published by the Center for Global Policy, is a forum for the best ideas and writing about the Middle East and beyond.”
• +972 Magazine an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists. Founded in 2010, our mission is to provide in-depth reporting, analysis, and opinions from the ground in Israel-Palestine.
• MEMRI Independent non-profit non-partisan organization “exploring the Middle East and South Asia through their media, MEMRI bridges the language gap between the West and the Middle East and South Asia, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, Urdu-Pashtu, Dari, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends.”
• Registan.net – All Central Asia, All the Time [links to archive of now-closed site]
• MERICS – Mercator Institute for China Studies. MERICS is the largest independent research institute focusing on contemporary China in Europe. Experts from seven European countries, China, Singapore, Australia and the United States analyze China’s political, economic and social developments and their consequences for Europe.
• US-China Perception Monitor (中美印象) is an online publication that explores perception and misperception in U.S.-China relations through insightful commentaries, interviews with experts, surveys, and profiles on key figures in the bilateral relationship.
• Americas North and South
• The Diplomat: international current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific region.
• Balkan Insight, from BIRN, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, a network of non-governmental organisations promoting freedom of speech, human rights and democratic values in Southern and Eastern Europe
• Florian Bieber (Balkans)
• Reading the China Dream – devoted to the subject of intellectual life in contemporary China, and more particularly to the writings of establishment intellectuals, translated into English.
• In Moscow’s Shadows – Analysis and Assessment of Russian Crime and Security
• Russian Military Reform – Tracking developments in the Russian military
• Russia without BS [no longer online] – foreigner-in-Russia blog that strives to give all those interested in Russia an insight into life in the capital from the perspective of an ordinary working-class American
• Russia Direct [no longer available] (run by official Russian government paper, but does include opposing viewpoints)
• Window on Eurasia
• Hungarian Spectrum [closed in 2021; links to archive of the site at US Library of Congress] – daily analyses of news from Hungary—political, economic, and cultural
• Ottoman History Podcast Historical blog on Ottoman Empire

 Private Military and Security Company – related blogs

• Feral Jundi
• PMSCO
• Eeben Barlow’s Military and Security Blog (founder of Executive Outcomes)
• Civilian Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

Podcasts

• Global Translations. Global Translations unpacks the political roadblocks to smart policy decisions, examining the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions.
• US-China Dialogue Podcast from the Georgetown University Initiative for US-China Dialogue.
• On China’s New Silk Road. Join host Mary Kay Magistad as she explores how China’s New Silk Road may change the world.
• Global Dispatches Named by The Guardian as one of 27 “podcasts to make you smarter”, episodes often shine a spotlight on under covered global issues.

Cool maps stuff

• “40 maps that explain the world” (Wash.Post)
• The Afternoon Map, Cartograpy Blog, part of the Ottoman History Podcast site
• Maps on the Web
• CIA declassified maps from the past 75 years (here’s an article about this from Smithsonian Magazine)
• Stats/data on war and peace from Max Roser’s Our World in Data site (not maps but very cool charts)
• Linguistic maps from Muturzikin.com – Includes regional maps showing languages, dialects and regional variations on all continents
• Strange Maps at Bigthink.com
• “Ephemeral States of the Russian Civil War”
• Map Showing The Age of The World’s Borders
• “Map Porn” reddit (lots of cool maps)
• Brilliant Maps – Making sense of the world, one map at a time
• Maps of Immigrants in the US (from Migration Policy Institute)
• Mapologies – various interesting linguistic maps
• Metrocosm.com – cool site with dynamic maps illustrating all kinds of things – immigration, climate change and lots more
• Global Watersheds – interactive map that shows you watersheds anywhere in the world

Revised 6/11/2024