Member Country Information

Gaining a basic understanding of the social, economic, and political environment in UN member countries will help you decide how a country might debate and vote on a particular topic. The materials below can help you find this basic background information.

Since it is not always possible to gather sufficient information on a specific country solely from UN sources, the other library materials described in this guide should be consulted. Sources such as newspapers, periodicals, and the translation services of the United States government will provide valuable information about countries around the world.

If you have difficulty locating sufficient information on a particular country in the sources described here, it may be helpful to identify countries with similar domestic and foreign policies and to search for information on these countries. It is then possible to use this information to decide how a country might debate and vote on a particular topic.

Basic Background Information Sources

• The World Factbook
  Produced by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Factbook provides basic facts and statistics about countries. The current issue is available online from the CIA.
• Country Profiles from LexisNexis Academic
  To find the profiles, click on Reference, then click on Country Profiles.
• The Europa World Year Book provides background information on individual countries including demography, politics, economy, culture, and history. It also has a fairly extensive set of statistics on each country.
• The Area Handbook Series or "country studies" are Library of Congress publications on individual countries that provide historical, social, political, and economic background information. The Chapter on government and politics covers foreign relations. Also available on the internet at the Library of Congress Country Studies Web site.

Newspapers/Periodicals/Translations

• ProQuest
  contains full-text articles from many major periodicals and U.S. newspapers
• LexisNexis Academic
  contains full-text articles from many newspapers from the U.S. and other countries. Available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.
• NewsLink
  A good list of newspapers on the Internet. These are useful for current topics. Most internet newspapers have very little in the way news archives.
• World News Connection
  translations of foreign newspapers and broadcasts. Available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

Use the Internet to locate information on your country

Internet sites from your country's government -- particularly sites such as a Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a country's embassy, or a UN permanent mission -- can provide background information on both your country and your topic. The sites below will help you locate these sites.

• The Permanent Missions to the United Nations
• Many Washington Embassies maintain Web sites that will outline your country's position on topics of interest. Try locating them using the Electronic Embassy homepage.
• Or try the Regional Studies pages listed in the WWW Virtual Library. These pages, often maintained at universities with strong programs in a specific region, can provide good background information and links to your country's internet resources.