| Economist : Country Briefings |
| Country Briefings are prepared by the publisher The Economist. While the web site has detailed country reports to sell, it also provides free access to information for individual countries in these 6 areas: Recent News, Forecast, Factsheet, Economic Data with 7 indicators, Political Structure with names of current officials; and discussion of Political forces. |
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| Background Notes |
| Background Notes are prepared by the Dept of State for all the countries of the world with which the United States has relations. Each report includes facts about the country's geography, people, history, government, political conditions, economy and relations with other countries. The reports are updated periodically. |
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| CIA World Factbook |
| Extensive data about countries of the world with general sections on geography, people, govenment, economy, communications, transportation and military and a special section on the country's involvement in transnational issues. The web version of the CIA World Factbook is updated weekly. |
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| Country Studies |
| The Library of Congress' Country Studies handbooks have extensive background information, as well as information on criminal justice in countries around the world. |
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| Foreign Governments |
| The official Web sites of the governments of other countries. Direct links are included for major governmental departments including statistical departments for some countries. The web links are maintained at Northwestern University. |
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| Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World |
| The Law Library of Congress offers an alphabetical listing of nations and associated jurisdictions. Sections include constitution; executive, judicial and legislative branches of government; legal guides and general sources of information.
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| HEUNI |
| This web site for the European Institue for Crime Prevention and Control (an affiliate of the United Nations)provides studies of the criminal justice systems in specific European countries. Each study follows a specific structure so that comparisons between countries can be made easily. Statistics are included, but the statistics are only as current as the date of the report. |
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| Historical Country Names |
| Provides a chart of former names and current names for countries in the world. |
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| International Data Base (IDB) |
| The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized databank containing statistical tables of demographic and socioeconomic data for all countries of the world. Create your own tables. |
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| Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) |
| LANIC is the web site for the University of Texas's Institute for Latin American Studies. Click on "Government" for topics such as Human Rights, Law and Justice, and Corruption. |
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| Middle East Media Research Institute |
| The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is a not-for-profit group that provides "translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East" (MEMRI web site - about us). MEMRI's translations are often used by journalists and other researchers. |
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| Nation Master |
| Specializes in ranking countries of the world on the basis of a specific statistic within broad statistical categories. For example within the category of crime there is a ranking of countries by number of jails per capita. The statistics are gathered from sources published by the UN, the CIA World Factbook, the World Bank and other authorative sources. Use the Encyclopedia link on the top right to see the statistics available by category. Caution: Since we are not a sponsor of the site, you will not be able to use the option for making your own graphs based on selected countries and categories.
If you click on the name of a country in a ranking list, you will be given a statistical profile of that country. However, statistical profiles in the CIA World Factbook are more current. |
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| New York Times Topics |
| The NYT Topics page provides an in depth look at a wide variety of topics. Each Topic page is comprised of news, photos, graphics, audio and video files published in the NYT since 1981. Some Topics of interest include Crime and Criminals, Criminal Sentences, Capital Punishment and many many many more. |
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| Official Documents of the United Nations |
| ODS covers all types of official United Nations documentation, beginning in 1993, but including some that are older; also provides access to the resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946 onwards. It does NOT contain press releases, UN sales publications, the United Nations Treaty Series or information brochures issued by the Department of Public Information. |
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| Pew Global Attitudes Project |
| The Project is a series of worldwide public opinion surveys that encompasses a broad array of subjects ranging from people's assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world. Subjects include globalization, immigration, and the environment. |
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| Political Database of the Americas |
| The Political Database of the Americas provides documentary and statistical political information on Latin America, including constitutions, electoral laws, legislative and executive branch information and election data. |
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| Portals to theWorld |
| The Library of Congress' Portals to the World contains selective links that provide information on the various nations and other areas of the world, with links in areas such as General Resources, Government and Law, Literature and Culture, and News and Current Events. |
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| UNESCO Institute for Statistics |
| This site maintains global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, technology, culture and communication. Particularly useful are the the Statistical Tables on education, culture, and science. |
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| United Nations - Statistics |
| Web pages from the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs provide Statistics and economic indicators concerning men and women in countries around the world. Statistics focus on general topics of population, families, education, health,work, and political participation. The latest data is provided, but it may be a few years old. |
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