Identifies resources and search strategies to access relevant items for the VCE Global politics - Global actors & challenges
See the boxes below on some of the key Global Actors: Non-state actors - including legal non-government organisations (NGOs) and global terrorist movements - and transnational corporations.
Some quick definitions and suggested searches for eBooks and Articles are provided. It is a good idea to read widely so you can compare and contrast the definitions of terms that you encounter, leading to a more in-depth understanding of the ideas that are presented to you.
Non-state legal organisations often take the form of non-governmental organisations, or NGOs. These may be human rights, humanitarian, or environmental NGOs.
Religious non-state actors (RNAs) also hold enourmous global influence, and may organise as religious-based NGOs.
See the definitions below and then find some more of your own.
Search our eBooks collection for items with non-governmental organizations in the subject (note that subject headings tend to use American spelling)
This is a large, broad search. Narrow it down by adding additional keywords, or use the filters to restrict the date range. For instance, try adding an additional search line in Advanced Search, and adding extra search terms such as human rights.
Other suggested eBook subject headings include:
Environmental NGOs in World Politics : linking the local and the global by 
NGOs and Human Rights : comparing faith-based and secular approaches by Union of International Associations has free search for both international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and intergovernmental organisations (IGOs). Search by name for brief information about specific organisations. Most of these organisations will also have informative websites of their own.
Select the Articles Search and try a simple search for non-governmental organisations. Here we have restricted the results to peer-reviewed journals that are available online. You may also want to use the Creation Date filter to restrict to recent articles from the last 10 years.
This is still a very broad search returning a large group of articles. Add additional terms, or search for specific organisations. For example, here is a search on for articles on Greenpeace and Arctic oil drilling by Shell.
See the definitions below and then find some more of your own.
Search for eBooks using the subject heading Terrorism, or the keywords global terrorism.
These are large, broad searches. Narrow them down by adding additional keywords such as specific organisations, such as Islamic State. This will look for this phrase anywhere in the catalogue record. Alternatively, try a subject heading such as IS (Organization).
Alternatively, try narrowing your results by date.
Select the Articles Search and try a simple search for terrorism. Here we have restricted the results to peer-reviewed journals that are available online. You may also want to use the Creation Date filter to restrict to recent articles from the last 10 years.
This is still a very broad search returning a large group of articles. Add additional terms, or search for specific events or organisations to focus your search. For example:
To search our eBook collection, set the drop-down menu to the right of the search box to 'Ebooks'.
To search articles, change the drop-down menu to 'Articles'.
You can search your keywords anywhere in the record, or search more specifically within the subject field. See the Catalogue tab of this guide for more information about searching.
Alternatively, you may want to search for a eBook or article within a specific database, which will have additional searching options. See the box on key online resources for more information about databases, or visit our A-Z Databases page.
See the definitions below and then find some more of your own.
The best suggested subject heading for eBooks on transnational corporations is international business enterprises.
This is a large, broad searches. Narrow it down by adding additional keywords, or use the filters to restrict the date range.
International Business Diplomacy : how can multinational corporations deal with global challenges? by The Library subscribes to the Transnational Corporations journal produced by the United Nations. This covers a range of issues relating to transnational companies. Articles relate to the relationship between countries and corporations. SLV holds many of these in hard copy, but also much of the time from April 2001 onwards online.
See online resource Encyclopedia of global brands, available via the Gale eBooks database, for an overview of a wide range of transnational companies.
ProQuest's Hoover company records is a good place to find company overviews. Browse or search for individual companies.
Current and recent annual reports tend to be on company websites, however if you are searching for annual reports for specific companies prior to 2009 browse or search the Proquest annual report collection.
Select the Articles Search and try a simple search for transnational corportations. Here we have restricted the results to peer-reviewed journals that are available online. You may also want to use the Creation Date filter to restrict to recent articles from the last 10 years.
This is still a very broad search returning a large group of articles. Add additional terms, or search for specific companies by name. For example, here is a search for peer-reviewed articles about Nestle with a focus on their status as a multinational corporation.
Looking for a book? SLV has a range of physical books relating to politics. Many will be in storage, but some will be available on the shelf in the Redmond Barry Reading Room.
Perform a catalogue search using the Books scope. You can Ask a Librarian for assistance if you need to order an item from storage. Alternatively, use the Find on Shelf search scope to limit results to books you can read immediately. Note that SLV is not a lending library; books are to be read onsite at the Library.
If you would like to browse the shelves, Politics as a broad subject is held at 320-329. This will be downstairs at the east end of the Redmond Barry Reading Room (closest to the Russell Street Welcome Zone). You will find other books under Social Sciences, Economics and other areas depending on the focus. It is a good idea to perform a catalogue search first.
Try the following call numbers, and browse around the locations for similar books:
Global Community : the role of international organizations in the making of the contemporary world by 
The Roots of Terrorism by 
The Rise of the Global Company : multinationals and the making of the modern world by 
