Political Science

Country Studies: Library of Congress (book-length studies)

• Prepared  by the the Federal Research Division  and made available via the Library of Congress Website, "The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world."--Website.
• Note: Many countries are not covered.
• Questions about the series
  

OECD Member Country Profiles

• OECD resources focusing on a particular country (OECD member or not) can be found  at the Country Portal. Click here for topics.
  

• OECD Factbook 2010: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics.  (Reference 330.9 Oe2 2010))
  The tables of the OECD are available online at www.sourceoecd.org/factbook

The Economist Country Briefings  (The Economist, an international affairs publication)

• "The website presents information and news on various countries, highlighting updated news, political and economic forecasts, providing a brief introduction to the country, its political and economic structure, laws, regulations and policies."  Useful link: Special reports categories.
  

Electronic Resources

• CIA World Fact Book
• African Union
• European Union
• IFES Election Guide
• Nation Master
• OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development > member countries
• Parties and Elections in Europe
• Political Parties, Interest Groups, and other movements around the world
• United Nations Development The UN divides the globe into economic regions. Reports from the various regions may be of interest to you.
• United Nations Statistics Division- wide number of databases with current data. Statistics can be a useful way to compare countries or get insight on a policy or political question.
•  University of Michigan Foreign Government Documents

Background Notes  (Produced by U.S. Department of State)

• "Background Notes are factual publications that contain information on all countries of the world with which the United States has relations.  They include facts on the country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and its relations with other countries and the United States."  Emphasis on political conditions.  Find Background notes for India, Egypt, Ghana, and Malaysia.
  

World Bank  (Countries & Regions--background information and reports on all countries of the world.

Browse by section: Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America & The Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa. Country data and statistics included.  For more, click here.

World Bank eAtlas of Global Development

The World Bank eAtlas of Global Development maps and graphs more than 175 thematically organized indicators for over 200 countries, letting you visualize and compare progress on the most important development challenges facing our world. Most indicators cover several decades, so you can see, for example, how “life expectancy at birth” has improved from 1960 up through the latest year. Watch our short video for a quick overview! --Website

This eAtlas, a new online companion to Atlas of Global Development, third edition, builds on the Atlas topics, allowing you to visualize and analyze a wider variety of data in greater depth, over a longer time period. You can

Map more than 175 World Bank indicators worldwide
Compare and view two maps simultaneously
Animate maps to show change over time
View all data in ranking tables and charts alongside maps
Export maps and data for use in presentations and more
Import your own data

World Data Analyst (Encyclopedia Britannica) 

Perform statistical comparisons between countries or explore changes over time.  Results can be placed in charts and graphs or be exported to a spreadsheet.  Users can also link to Compare Countries and World Atlas.

• Use it to view country snapshots
• Current comparison
• Chronological l comparison by choose one or more country, choose only one statistic, compare statistics over a period of years
  
• Ranked statistics
• Content includes political information, area and population, demography, vital statistics, national economy, education and health, military, etc.

Regional and Country Profiles 

• A gateway to global development information on international development issues. Provides free and easy access to materials on developing countries ...

LexisNexis Academic (Research Difference Countries )
The new landing page  includes an Easy Form Search Box.  The Research Countries category allows you to find political and economic information about a specific country.  You must select a country from the Country drop-down box and then select a specific source from the Source drop-down box.  Your can choose:

Sources are:

• Business Monitor International (for International Company Information)
• Country Briefings (economic briefings on politics, stock markets, etc. for 32 countries)
• PRS Risk Guides and Service (international business risk analysis)
• Walden Country Reports (basic country information , updated yearly)
• Recent News Stories (news about the country selected).

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)  News: Country Profile

• Profiles provide an "instant guide" to news, history, politics, event timelines, and economic background of world countries.  Presents country overviews, basic facts, Web links, and details on leaders and media.  Includes news stories and audio videos clips from BCC Archive.

Washington Post Country Information

• Enter a world country name for news, background and web links. Recent news stories for each country published from the Washington Post.
  

ipl2 (Regional and Country Information)

• "ipl2: Information You Can Trust features a searchable, subject-categorized directory of authoritative websites; links to online texts, newspapers, ..."  Five hundred fifteen (534) sources listed. Browse by section: Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, South America, South Pacific.
  

• Historical Guide to Countries is maintained by the United States Department of State, Office of the Librarian.
• Select an article from the left sidebar, or view a list of all countries.