Constitutions

• International Constitutional Law
  English translations of and other textual material related to constitutional documents.
• World Law (JURIST: The Legal Education Network)
  Concise descriptions of foreign governments and links to official sites (University of Pittsburgh Law School).
  
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Country Studies
Comprehensive Resources | Specialized Resources | Foreign Government Directories

Country Studies - Comprehensive Resources

• Countries of the World (Infoplease.com)
  Country maps and profiles provided by the publishers of Information Please Almanac.
• Country Profiles (BBC News)
  Guides to the history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
• Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas
  Maps and articles related to the world's nations and major cities. Select a country from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.
• Nations of the World
  An excellent gateway to multiple sources of country information via the Law Library of Congress including links to constitutions, government sites, legal guides, and a number of standard reference sources including:
  • Background Notes
    Summary information on countries worldwide.  Included are links to sources of information on broader geographical regions (U.S. Department of State).
  • Country Studies
    Each book-length study offers a comprehensive description and analysis of a country or region's (currently covering 101 countries/regions) historical setting, geography, society, economy, political system, foreign policy, and national security (U.S. Library of Congress).
  • World Factbook
    Summary data (including maps) on foreign countries and governments provided by the CIA; regional maps in PDF format.
• Oxford Guide to Countries of the World
  Succinct overviews covering the contemporary social, economic, religious and political issues that shape each country (Oxford Reference Online collection).
• World Almanac
  Articles and statistics about nations of the world.
• World Flags
  A quick reference guide to national flags, including flag history and symbolism (Oxford Reference Online collection).
• World Data Analyst (Encyclopædia Britannica)
  Single page "country snapshots" with current data (PDF format); create tables and charts comparing countries across multiple statistical categories, or focus on statistics for a single country; create tables and charts comparing changes over time. Data spans up to 90 years.
  
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Country Studies - Specialized Resources

• Commonwealth Secretariat
  Information on the 54 member countries comprising the United Kingdom and a number of its former dependencies.
• Country at a Glance
  Vital statistics for all United Nations Member States; links to UN mission web sites.
• Country Briefings
  Political and economic data and recent articles on selected countries (Economist.com).
• Country Commercial Guides - US&FCS Market Research Reports
  Information on the business and economic situation of foreign countries and the political climate as it affects U.S. business (U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service and U.S. Department of State).
• Development Gateway Country Overviews
  Information drawn from standard international sources on economic and social development in approximately 160 countries classified as low and middle income.
• Foreign Embassies in the U.S.
  Links to web sites for foreign embassies in the U.S., which are often valuable informational resources (U.S. Department of State).
• Freedom House
  Freedom House, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization, has actively published comparative surveys and special reports focused on the state of democracy and human rights around the world. Click on the "Publications" tab on their home page.
• Human Rights Watch
  HRW is an independent, nongovernmental organization focusing on human rights abuses and publishes numerous reports on countries and regions worldwide.
• INCORE Internet Country Guides
  Resources relating to ethnicity and/or conflict in selected countries or regions.
• Index of Economic Freedom
  Reference guide to the world's economies including country-by-country analyses and current data available on foreign investment codes, taxes, tariffs, banking regulations, monetary policy, black markets, and more (The Heritage Foundation).
• International Database
  Statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world (U.S. Census Bureau).
• NationMaster.com
  Create custom graphs in order to compare different nations across a broad range of statistics. The site also has links to national profiles, which include the available statistics for each country, and images of the country's flag and a political map.
• Political Database of the Americas
  Reference materials, primary documents, comparative studies, and statistical data for countries in the Western Hemisphere.
• Science and Development Network
  Reliable and authoritative information on science- and technology-related issues that impact on the economic and social development of developing countries.
  
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Foreign Government Directories

• Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
  Monthly updates from the CIA.
• Europa: Gateway to the European Union
  Provides annotated links to various government sites for European countries.
• Foreign Governments
  Links to official sites of governments worldwide (Northwestern University).
• International Governmental Organizations
  (Northwestern University)
• Rulers
  Heads of state and heads of government (both current and historical) of all existing countries and territories.
• World Factbook
  Summary data (including maps) on foreign countries and governments provided by the CIA; regional maps in PDF format.
• World Law (JURIST: The Legal Education Network)
  Concise descriptions of foreign governments and links to official sites.
  
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Area Studies 
Africa | The Americas | Asia | European Union | Middle East | Russia and Eastern Europe

Africa


• Africa Action
  Multiple country-specific data sources as well as topical and regional information gathered by Africa Action, a national political advocacy organization.
• African Studies Center
  (University of Pennsylvania)
• African Studies Internet Resources
  (African Studies Department, Columbia University Libraries)
  
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The Americas


• The Canadian Encyclopedia
  The most comprehensive source of information on Canada, made available online by the Historica Foundation as a public service.
• Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC): Online Resources for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies
  (University of Miami)
• HLAS Online: Handbook of Latin American Studies
  The Handbook is a selective annotated bibliography of scholarly works on Latin America covering the social sciences and the humanities (Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress).
• LANIC: Latin American Network Information Center
  Resources in the field of Latin American studies arranged by country and by subject.
• Organization of American States
  Useful information on all Latin American countries except Cuba.
• Political Database of the Americas
  Reference materials, primary documents, comparative studies, and statistical data for countries in the Western Hemisphere.
  
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Asia


• AsiaSource
  Resources covering the cultural, economic, social, historical, and political dimensions of Asia (The Asia Society).
• Asian Historical Architecture
  A repository of photographic images of Asia's architectural heritage.
• Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library
  (The Australian National University)
• National Bureau of Asian Research
  A nonprofit, nonpartisan institution that conducts advanced research on policy-relevant issues in Asia.
• Portal to Asian Internet Resources
  "A Title VI-funded project, the Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR) offers scholars, students and the interested public more than six thousand professionally selected, cataloged and annotated online resources." (Ohio State University Libraries, University of Minnesota Libraries, University of Wisconsin Libraries).
• UCLA Center for East Asian Studies
  
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European Union


• EPIN: European Policy Institutes Network
  A network of think tanks and policy institutes focusing on current EU and European political and policy debates. Working papers, commentaries, and policy evaluations are freely available on the site.
• Europa: Gateway to the European Union
  Official portal site of the European Union. Provides up-to-date coverage of EU affairs and  information on European integration, all legislation currently in force or under discussion, and links to websites of each of the EU institutions.
• European Integration Online Documentation
  A user-friendly guide to researching EU topics with annotated links to treaties, databases, and documents (European Commmunity Studies Association).
• The European Union
  Information pertaining to the EU and its member States (Delegation of the European Commission to the United States).
  
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Middle East


• ArabNet
  Profiles of countries in the Arab world (ArabNet Technology, part of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group).
• MEMRI: Middle East Media Research Institute
  A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides analysis of developments in the Middle East and translations of primary source material from the original Arabic and Hebrew.
• MENALIB: Middle East Virtual Library
  This site includes ALMISBAH, a database providing access to selected Internet resources on the Middle East and on Islam. Resources on Israel are included only if they are related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• MERIP: Middle East Research and Information Project
  MERIP is a non-profit, non-governmental, independent organization that provides a broad range of perspectives on Middle East politics, culture, and society.
• The Middle East 1916 - Present: A Documentary Record
  Primary documents (Avalon Project at Yale Law School).
• The Middle East Network Information Center (MENIC)
  (University of Texas at Austin)
• Middle East Photograph Archive
  Online archive of early photographs (primarily the second half of the nineteenth century) of the Middle East (Univ. of Chicago).
• Middle East Studies Internet Resources
  Middle East and Jewish Studies (Columbia University).
  
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Russia and Eastern Europe


• REENIC: Russian and East European Network Information Center
  (University of Texas at Austin)
• REESWeb: Russian & East European Studies Virtual Library
  (University of Pittsburgh)

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Maps and Gazetteers

• The Columbia Gazetteer of North America
  
Comprehensive encyclopedia of geographical places and features (Columbia University Press, 2000).
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
  
Contains to date over 6,400 maps online and focuses on rare 18th and 19th century North and South America cartographic history materials. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented.
• Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 (for Illinois)
  
Large-scale plans of a city or town created to assist fire insurance companies in risk assessment; the maps list street blocks and building numbers in use at the time the maps were made.
• Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
  The TGN includes names and other information about places on all continents and nations of the modern political world, as well as historical places. The emphasis in TGN is on places important for art and architecture.
• Infoplease Atlas
  
Regional and country maps (includes printer-friendly feature).
• Maps in the News
  (University of Minnesota)
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
  An extensive collection of electronic maps (University of Texas at Austin).
• United Nations Cartographic Section
  Maps (PDF format for quality printing) and geographic information resources.
• World Factbook
  
Country maps provided by the CIA; Regional maps available in PDF format.
• World Maps
  This title now includes over 775 maps, with locator, physical and political maps for each country, over 120 island maps, state maps for North America, Canada, and Mexico, and more than 100 city maps (Oxford Reference Online collection).
• Xpeditions Atlas
  World atlas with printable maps from National Geographic. See Also Map Machine for satellite, street maps and more.
  
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This page was last updated 11/08/2007 LW MW