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Country Information
The following sites provide access to
information on specific countries or geographic regions. You can find historical
information, descriptions of governments, economic and social statistics, and current news
stories and events.
Africa 2000
http://www.africa2000.com/
"Africa 2000 is a comprehensive
resource for information on population and demographic issues; race, class, and
competitive fertility; international 'aid' & economic development; reproductive
freedom v. control; covert activities & military strategy; propaganda or 'psy-war'
operations; and the political history of north-south relations. Our combined pages present
research and analysis by journalists from all over the world, as well as information from
hundreds of formerly-classified documents that are available from no other source."
Africa Online
[RealPlayer]
www.africaonline.com/
Current news items and radio broadcasts. You
can review the general headlines or choose a particular country and see what is happening.
Africa
Recovery Online
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/
Africa
Recovery is a publication of the United Nations devoted to African economic
issues. The site will take you to the most recent issue of the journal, and provide
access to past issues and brief descriptions of the contents of each issue. An
excellent source for material on economic development and social issues in Africa.
Age
of Asia: Resources for Research
www.lib.duke.edu/ias/eac/ILE4/
Based at Duke University, you can find data
on Asian countries, get access to Asian newspapers, journals and magazines. You can search
by country or by topic.
Asia in the World Economy
http://www.ap.harvard.edu/awe/main/index.html
"Asia in the World Economy (AWE) is a "comprehensive web
resource on Asia" from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University. The site features maps, "best sites," and country profiles of China,
Japan, India, and beyond, in addition to a webliography of regional resources with
economic, political, and news media information." (Scout Report for Business and Economics, 4/8/99)
AsiaSource
http://www.asiasource.org/
This site has been developed by the Asia Society (last discussed in the March 5, 1999
Scout Report) as a comprehensive source for news and resources on Asian culture, business,
politics, and history. Researchers, students, and general users will find a wealth of
useful information at this site, from breaking news stories to articles and speeches on a
wide variety of topics (most are off site) to maps and statistics to special Asia Society
features. Other resources include an event calendar, a glossary, related links, and a
database of Asian specialists. Each segment of the major sections of the site also include
a list of highlighted resources (event, book, view, and link) picked by Asia Society.
Users can also subscribe for free email updates. Already a respected provider of
authoritative information and analysis, the Asia Society establishes itself as one of the
leading online resources for Asian Studies with this fine site. (Scout Report, 9/3/99)
Asian Studies Virtual Library
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html
One of the best of the comprehensive Web
sites on regions. You can find hundreds of links to different Asian nations.
Asian Studies WWW VL Search Engine
http://www.ciolek.com/SearchEngines.html#asia
Asia Pacific Research Online
http://www.ciolek.com/
"Yet another resource from online Asian
Studies-guru T. Matthew Ciolek of the Australian National University, this dedicated
search engine accesses "major Asian Studies’ research resources recorded by the
HotBot database." The engine covers the Websites of ten established Asian Studies
organizations (asianart.com; coombs.anu.edu.au; iias.leidenuniv.nl; menic.utexas.edu;
sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de; www.aasianst.org; www.asian.gu.edu.au; www.asiasociety.org; www.ciolek.com; and www.ias.berkeley.edu), and search returns include
brief annotations. The page also provides links to sixteen Asian Pacific country-specific
search engines. Asia Pacific Research Online, Ciolek’s main page, offers links to his
array of online information resources and special projects." (The Scout Report,
4/2/1999)
Central Africa Project
http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/cafrica/Default.htm
Begun in
1996, the International Crisis Group’s (ICG) Central Africa Project analyzes
political and ethnic conflict within and between the nations that straddle mid-Africa,
including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Angola, Uganda, and Rwanda. As
part of that effort ICG has released over twelve full text reports in the last year (a few
in French only). The two most recent in-depth reports are: "Africa’s
Seven-Nation War," which examines how the armies of seven African nations have been
drawn into the rebellion against DRC President Laurent Dsir Kabila; and "How Kabila
Lost His Way," which traces the foundation of the Kabila regime and seeks to discover
why it has engendered both internal and external opposition. Well-researched and fully
footnoted, yet written with a non-specialist audience in mind, these reports are a good
resource for both students and general readers with an interest in the current situation
in Central Africa. [MD (Scout Report 6/11/99)]
Central Eurasia Research Site
http://www.soros.org/cen_eurasia/tcentral.html
The Central Eurasia Resource Project, an initiative
of the Open Society Institute (OSI), distributes comprehensive information on eight
Eurasian nations: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Centre for Pacific Studies Literature Database
Search
http://www.kun.nl/cps/dbsearch.html
The Centre for Pacific Studies (CPS) at the
University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, constructed this searchable bibliographic
database of publications related to Oceania. The comprehensive database includes books
from academic publishers as well as articles from 113 academic journals. The database is
compiled from citations that have appeared in the last six years of the _Oceania
Newsletter_, a CPS serial that covers the areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia,
and Australia. Users may query the database by keyword, author, title, and year. (Scout
Report for Social Sciences, 11/3/98)
CIA World Factbook 1998
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
"The US Central Intelligence Agency has recently released the
1998 version of its well-known annual country information reference book (last described
in the April 3, 1998 Scout Report). Data is available for over 250 countries. For each
country, map and flag, geographic, population, government, economic, communication,
transportation, military, and transnational issue information is provided for the latest
year available. There are also sixteen individual reference maps and eight appendices.
Linked to from hundreds of sites, the World Factbook is widely recognized as one of the
finest online resources for quick country information." (Scout Report, 2/5/99)
World
Fact Book: Countries
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/country.html
World Fact Book: Reference Maps
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ref.html
Chiefs
of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments
www.odci.gov/cia/publications/chiefs/index.html
CIA World
Factbook 1999 [.pdf]
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
The US Central Intelligence Agency has recently
released the 1999 version of its well-known annual country information reference book
(last described in the February 5, 1999 Scout Report). Data is available for more than 260
countries. For each country, map and flag, geographic, population, government, economic,
communication, transportation, military, and transnational issue information is provided
for the latest date available (January 1, 1999 in most cases). "Included among the
266 geographic listings is one for the ‘World,’ which includes data and other
information summarized where possible from the other 265 listings." There are also
eighteen reference maps in .pdf or .jpg format and eight appendices. Linked to from
hundreds of sites, the World Factbook is widely recognized as one of the finest online
resources for quick country information.
Commonwealth
Yearbook 1998_
www.tcol.co.uk/cyb.htm
Information on the 50 member countries of the
British commonwealth. You can find out information on the Commonwealth itself, or access
basic statistics on individual members.
Country Commercial
Guides
www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/1998/
"Country Commercial Guides (CCG's) are
prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government
agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial
environments, using economic, political and market analysis." This is a good site for
getting information on the affects of the global economic crisis of 1997/98 on individual
countries.
Country Profiles
http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/newcountry.htm
This new briefing service from eldis (Electronic Development and Environment
Information System) offers access to a large amount of informative material on individual
countries. The heart of this material will be multiple documents providing sectoral
profiles of Agriculture, Environment, Economics, Gender, Politics, Education, and Health.
Please note, however, that the site is still very much under development, and only
profiles of the agricultural sector are currently available. Other resources include links
to current news, maps, statistics, CIA and IMF country profiles, industrial and trade
profiles, and human rights records. At present, the Country Profiles section only contains
the nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Until the new profiles are completed,
users may still access older eldis resource collections for North America, Europe, and the
Middle East and North Africa from this site. When completed, this site will be a powerful
one-stop tool for researchers and professionals in development studies and political
science. (Scout Report, 10/22/1999)
Country
Studies/Area Handbook
lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
The Library of Congress country studies site
with each handbook dealing with "a particular foreign country, describing and
analyzing its political, economic, social, institutions, and examining the
interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural
factors." Excellent source for basic information.
E-Conflict,
World Encyclopedia and Simulation: Nations of the World
www.emulateme.com/
Maintained by EmulateMe, a Web-design company, this online
Encyclopedia provides maps, history, weather, geography, and governmental and economic
information for any country that users wish to select. (For younger users, the reference
also offers audio versions of the national anthems and images of the flags for each
country.) There is a wealth of information on-site, particularly in terms of economic,
geographic, and demographic data, but users should observe their URL window as some links
are external. Rounding out the encyclopedia is a moderated discussion forum allowing users
to "speak out" about current world affairs. (Scout Report for the Social Sciences, 10/5/1999)
East and
Southeast Asia: An Annotated Directory of Internet Resources http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/index.html
Maintained by the
Asian Studies program at the University of Redlands, this easy-to-navigate directory
allows users to access annotated links by country and by political, historical, and
cultural topics. The site specifies seventeen East and Southeast Asian countries and
hundreds of specific subjects, including sections on academic and library research sites.
The homepage also offers direct links to current "hot topics," such as the
crackdown on Falun Gong, the Asian financial crisis, the famine in North Korea, and East
Timor’s "Road to Independence." Frequently link-checked and updated, this
is an excellent place to begin preliminary research on the region. (Scout Report for Social
Sciences, 12/14/99)
Electronic
Journal of Africana Bibliography (EJAB)
www.lib.uiowa.edu/proj/ejab/
Eldis Country Profiles and News
http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/newsp/news.htm
Choose a country and get the latest sources
of news. Excellent resources for up-to-date material.
Focus on Southeast Asia
www.aseanfocus.com/history/index.htm
Handbook of Latin American
Studies Online
lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/
Handbook of International
Economic Statistics: 1998 -- CIA [.pdf, 80p., .xls] http://www.odci.gov/cia/di/products/hies/index.html
The 1998 edition of this useful research aid has been
released by the CIA. With figures and tables the Handbook "provides basic worldwide
statistics for comparing the economic performance of major countries and regions." A
number of economic topics are covered, including economic profiles and trends, energy,
agriculture, foreign trade and aid, and real gross domestic product. Users may also
download a collection of maps and charts (.pdf format), and tables (Excel format)
separately.
International Affairs Virtual
Library
http://www.etown.edu/vl/
Wayne A.Selcher's site has over 1400 links to
information on international affairs. The sites are categorized by region and by
topic. An excellent place to begin research.
ISLAW
www.uni-leipzig.de/~orient/islaw.htm
International
Government Meta-pages--Northwestern University
www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/resource/internat/
IMF Staff
Country Reports in Full Text [.pdf]
www.imf.org/external/pubs/CAT/scr.cfm
LANIC (
Latin American Network Information Center)
http://lanic.utexas.edu/
Excellent site on Latin America from the
University of Texas. You can find information by country or by topic.
Latin
American Bureau
http://www.lab.org.uk/
"The Latin America Bureau (LAB) works to educate on
issues of social justice, human rights and economic and political development in Latin
America and the Caribbean. In particular we work to further popular initiatives from the
region and include an integrated gender perspective." You'll find access to
newspapers as well as megasites on Latin American issues.
- Library
of Congress: Alphabetical Index of Countries
- www.nsrc.org/home_html_docs/countries.html
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- Maps
- www.plattsburgh.edu/legacy/map_file.html
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- Middle East
- WWW.MiddleEast.Org
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- News by
Country from One World
- www.oneworld.org/news/by_country/index.html
South China Sea
WWW Virtual Library
http://www.middlebury.edu/SouthChinaSea/
"The South China Sea WWW Virtual Library is a
new subsection of the Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library edited by David Rosenberg,
professor of political science at Middlebury College (Vermont). This site will serve as a
centralized resource for students, researchers, and policymakers interested in South China
Sea regional development, environment, and security issues. The South China Sea WWW VL
links to online publications, databases, maps, images, related institutions, and a print
bibliography." (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 5/18/99)
South of the Sahara: Selected Internet Resources
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/
This site offers annotated directories of Internet resources
related to Sub-saharan Africa. Searchable by topic, title, keyword, country, or region,
South of the Sahara provides extensive links to sites relating to both academic and
nonacademic aspects of Sub-saharan culture, including sports, politics, news, weather,
religion, academic journals, dissertations, literature, and art. The Countries/Regions and
Topics sections offer well-annotated links to subject-specific sites. Search the Africa
Pages allows users to search by keywords but uses a broad-based search strategy, providing
many links of various quality and relevance. The Breaking News page offers links to a
variety of credible media sources focussing on the region. Prepared and maintained by
Karen Fung of the African Studies Association, South of the Sahara is part of Stanford
University Libraries and links to their online catalog. (The Scout Report for Social
Sciences, 7/13/99)
ShopPittsburgh
International Page
http://www.shoppittsburgh.net/bluepages/international/foreign1.htm
Not necessarily the place you would expect to find links to
government offices of countries all over the world; but, then again, the Internet is a
surprising place.
UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies: Resources
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/resource.htm
This Resources page is part of the UCLA Center for East
Asian Studies’s Website and offers substantial materials and annotated links in East
Asian studies. Specifically, the site features an "extensive collection of annotated
links to reference works, on-line periodicals, research and teaching institutions,
government resources, and general interest sites"; an annotated guide to
documentaries and films on the region; detailed lists of Asia-focused materials suitable
for use in K-12 classrooms; substantial links to statistical information on East Asian
demographics, politics, and economics; and, perhaps most useful of all, full-text copies
of significant historical and contemporary documents. Unfortunately, we were unable to
locate a search engine on the site. (Scout Report for Social Sciences, 9/21/99)
United Nations InfoNation
[Frames]
www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/
U.S. Department of State
Home Page
www.state.gov/index.html
University of
Kansas: History Index
kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/history/index.html
World
Bank Development Data
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/countrydata.html
The World Bank provides a wide range of economic and
development indicators for 190 countries. You need Adobe Acrobat to access the country information.
World Competitiveness
On-line
www.imd.ch/wcy_over.html
If you want to know how a particular country ranks in terms
of their trade standing, this is the place to do it. Rankings are periodically
updated, and you can get information on the trade status of many countries.
- Yahoo:
Regional: Countries
- www.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries
Your
Nation [Flash]
http://www.your-nation.com/
Your Nation is an interactive online tool allowing users to compare
various statistics for any two countries worldwide, rank countries by specific statistics,
or display statistical summaries of individual countries. Users may customize statistical
analyses through three settings: the world zone, the data category, and the current
modifier. The world zone and data category settings allow users to choose the countries
and data items displayed after a query. The current modifier setting permits users to
‘normalize’ the data they choose to compare or rank. Explicit instructions for
customizing queries are available at the site. Most of the data presented are derived from
the CIA World Factbook (1998). Your Nation uses Macromedia Flash by default, hence users
without newer browsers will need to obtain the free browser plug-in. (Scout Report for
Social Sciences, 6/15/99)
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