International Studies: Country Information

Country Overviews & Current Awareness

UN Member States: On the Record
Provides direct access to official documents reflecting the views of United Nations Member States.
UN Public Administration Programme
Profiles for different countries that include discussion of the legal system, local government, ethics, civil service, public sector employment.
U.S. Commercial Service: Market Research Reports
These reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce look at the market conditions, economic situations, political environment, best export sectors, trade regulations, investment incentives, and finance techniques of nearly 150 countries.

Constitutions of the World
Links to free sites with constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents.Nations of the world are linked to their constitutional text posted somewhere on the Internet.
Political Handbook of the World (M. U. only)
Information on the major aspects of each country's government and political party system.

Encyclopedia of World Cultures (M. U. only)
Describes the various ethnic and national subcultures from around the world.
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Published with the assistance of the Human Relations Area Files at Yale, this describes the various ethnic and national subcultures from around the world. The articles about all of these groups are not yet in eHRAF, which is still being added to.
eHRAF World Cultures
Collection of thousands of books and articles on cultures from all regions of the world.
Countries and Their Cultures (M.U. Only)
Descriptive entries on each country, including demographic, historical, cultural, economic, religious, and political information.
World Education Encyclopedia (M.U. Only)
Country-by-country survey of educational systems in 233 countries.

Europa World Plus This link opens in a new window
Online edition of the Europa World Year Book. Provides political and economic information for more than 250 countries and territories.

Background Notes
Basic information on most countries of the world from the Department of State.
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These often talk briefly about countries' political relations with the United States and other countries. Although they are updated periodically, the schedule is irregular and some are several years old. There are links to other government sources of information.
Country Studies
Older, book-length documents containing a great deal of valuable information about many, but not all, countries of the world.Online versions of books published from 1988 through 1998 by the Library of Congress
UN Statistics Division: National Accounts
Provides detailed national accounts estimates for 189 countries from 1996-2007. From the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division.
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GovUN HC79 .I5 N373 2007 v.1-4
World Press Encyclopedia (M.U. only)
Arranged by country, entries include the number and type of media, press laws, censorship issues, and state-press relations for 200 countries.
World Fact Book
Good source of current, basic information, especially statistics, about most countries of the world. It is published on the web by the Central Intelligence Agency and updated bi-weekly.