Latin American Politics

Background Information | Scholarly Material on Latin American Elections | Web Site | Statistics and Data | News

Country Background Information

• Political Handbook of the World
• Political Parties of the World
• World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties
• Europa World Year Book
• Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations

Scholarly Materials on Latin American Elections

• The CAT for books
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  The most important political science database. Worldwide Political Science Abstracts supplies up-to-date bibliographic information and research within the political science discipline and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/public policy from 1975 to the present.
  
  
• Project Muse -- useful for journal articles in the humanities and social sciences. It has the full text of key journals such as the "Latin American Research Review", "Journal of Democracy", "World Politics" and several human rights journals.
• CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)
  A comprehensive source for rresearch in international affairs. Particularly good for working papers from "think tanks", CIAO includes the full text of selected books on international affairs, working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from non-governmental organizations, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences. It also contains abstracts and some full-text journal articles.

 

• OxResearch
  A "first draft of history" as it occurs. Provides succinct analytical articles covering world and regional economic and political developments of major significance. Evaluates issues and events within a coherent political, social, and economic framework. Contains objective, multi-disciplinary articles compiled by an extensive international network of over 1,000 faculty members at Oxford and other leading universities around the world, as well as think-tanks and institutes of international standing.

• Political Risk Year Book
  Even though this is designed specifically with business investors in mind, the information on political problems may give you some insight into the political climate in the country.
• Other subject-based databases
  Depending on your topic, explore the other subject databases. For example, Econlit is good for background on the economics of the country.

Web Site for Latin America

• LANIC (Latin American Network Information Sources)
  A wide range of resources and links to Latin American resources on the web. Particularly useful are the resources:
  • Countries in Latin America & the Caribbean
  • Government in Latin America
  • Libraries & Reference - good particularly for statistics

Statistics & Data

• LatinoBarometro -- An annual public opinion survey that involves interviews in 18 Latin American countries, representing more than 400 million inhabitants. Topics covered include: Economy and International Trade; Integration and Trade Agreements; Political Democracy and Social and Political Institutions; Distribution of Wealth; Civic Culture; Social Capital and Participation; Environment; Gender and Discrimination; Current Topics. Online analysis at the country level is permitted. More detailed analysis can be done offline using SPSS, SAS or other statistical package down to the municipal level.
  
  
• Statistical Abstract of Latin America
  Almost everything you could want in the way of statistical data on Latin America including election data at the provincial level for most of Latin America. Som municipal-level data. This has been around for 38 years so long-time series are also available.
• Political Database of the Americas
  "The Political Database of the Americas (PDBA) is a non-governmental project of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at Georgetown University in collaboration with the Secretariat for Political Affairs of the Organization of American States, and with the support of other institutions in the region. Through its website, the PDBA offers centralized and systematized information about institutions and political processes, national constitutions, branches of government, elections, political constitutional studies and other subjects related to the strengthening of democracy in the region."
• OAS Electoral Observation Missions
  The observer missions sometimes compile data. Check both the current missions and the archive.
• Interparliamentary Union (IPU)
  Use the Parline Database which has information on the structure of the national parliament and the resulta of the most recent election (at the national level).
• Election World
  The data in Election World is similar to the Interparliamentary Union (above) but also includes links to many of the national political parties on the Web.
• Worldwide Governments on the WWW
  Look for statistical agencies or electoral agencies by country here if you haven't located them above. Information will be in Spanish. Translation services on the Web can be helpful.
• OFFStats - Official Statistics on the Web
  Go directly to the government's official Web sites for statistics
• CIS National Statistical Compendiums
  The Libraries' have many statistical abstracts from latin American countries in print and in the CIS microfiche collection. Coverage of election data varies from country to country. Stop at the Social Sciences Library Reference Desk (2nd Floor Paterno Library) for assistance. These titles will also be useful for understanding the demographic characteristics of your cities.
• Roper Center Latin American Databank
  Particularly good for public opinion data. These are raw datasets that must be ordered through the Penn State Libraries. Please plan ahead since the library must contact Roper to mount the data for downloading. You will need to be familiar with SPSS, SAS, dBase, or other statistical programs to manipulate the data yourself.

News

These two sources are available from the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z List). use with information you have on dates of elections to search news sources. Often the best way to find municipal-level data.

• World News Connection
  This source is fairly selective in coverage and not all countries are represented, but it has the advantage of being translated articles from foreign newspapers and broadcasts. Check the source listing to see if your country is covered
• Lexis/Nexis Academic
  LexisNexis allows you to search news stories by geographic areas. Choose World News > North-South America and use the source list to try to narrow your search. Again, using dates of elections also will help you to narrow your search.