Cultural Anthropology: Country Background

You'll want to understand the political, cultural, and economic background of the countries involved before analyzing situations.

• Background Notes (U.S. Dept. of State)
  Use for: Brief overviews of countries and international organizations

• CQ Press Electronic Library
  Browse by country or topic for analysis of world issues

• EIU (Economist) Reports
  Selected Country Reports and other EIU coverage may be found in Business Source Complete (6 month embargo), Political Science Complete and Proquest Central.

• Europa World Year Book
  Use for: Basic overviews of historical, economic, social, and political background.  Also gives media sources and links to their webpages.

• IMF Country Reports (International Monetary Fund)
  Use for:Reports on economic developments, with statistics
  Tip: Search by country name and select "IMF Country Reports" under Series.

• OxResearch (Oxford Analytica)
  Use for: political and economic analysis from the transition of the Cold War to the present

• Political Handbook of the World
  Available online through CQ Political Reference Suite
  Covers countries and intergovernmental organizations; including political background, economics, social movements, political parties, current issues.

• Political Risk Yearbooks
  PRS probability forecasts for political, social and economic trends for 100 countries.
  See the Business Source Complete database for the full text of the country reports beginning with 2003.
  Also, 8 volumes by region in Perkins Reference.