African Governments

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, containing about 10 percent of the world's population. The people of Africa are divided into over 50 countries, which are further fragmented into various ethnic and tribal divisions. Africa's presence in the Net is severely hampered by the lack of a large-scale dependable telephone system. However, there are some African countries with Internet access. These Web sites have links to such African governmental resources as exist on the Net.


Web:

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/africa.html
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/forafr.html
http://www.nla.gov.au/gov/africa.html
http://www.politicalresources.net/africa.htm


Asia Pacific Governments

The Asia Pacific region of the world consists of those Asian countries that border the Pacific Ocean (that is, most of what used to be referred to as the Orient). Today, the Asia Pacific region is also considered to contain Australia and New Zealand. The significance of this group of countries lies in their economic and political interdependence, and not only in their geographic proximity.


Web:

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/forasia.html
http://www.nla.gov.au/gov/asiagov.html


Australian Government

Okay, you don't always need instant access to a huge amount of information regarding all the different organizations and departments that comprise the government of Australia. But when you do, you'll be glad you have the Net. Imagine how embarrassing it might be to, say, lose the respect of your friends and co-workers just because you don't know how to order a Zone Rebate Map from the Australian Taxation Office.


Web:

http://www.algin.net.au/
http://www.fed.gov.au/KSP/
http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/gov/


British Intelligence Organizations

If you have read any James Bond books or seen any of the movies, you would probably guess that the real British intelligence agencies are not exactly like the Secret Service for which Bond works. However, they are no less interesting. See for yourself by reading about MI5 (Military Intelligence 5: internal security and intelligence); MI6 (Military Intelligence 6: national security both internal and external); GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters: intercepting and monitoring communications), SAS (Special Air Service: covert operations, especially counter-terrorism), and SBS (Special Boat Service: naval-based covert operations).


Web:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/uk/
http://www.gchq.gov.uk/
http://www.mi5.gov.uk/


Embassies and Consulates Around the World

An embassy is the principal site of official representation of one country within another. Traditionally, embassies are located near the capital of the host country. For example, in the United States, most of the foreign embassies are in or near Washington, D.C. The head of the diplomatic mission is called an ambassador. In large countries, there may be other official diplomatic offices called consulates. For example, in the United States, there is a Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C., as well as consulates in various major cities around the country. Embassies and consulates provide a lot of useful information, and many of these offices around the world have their own Web sites.


Web:

http://www.embassyworld.com/
http://www.embpage.org/


Embassies in Washington, D.C.

When it's late at night and you are in the mood for a little political intrigue, take a look at these embassy-related links. You'll get the goods on the staff and resources of the Washington, D.C., embassy community, embassy Web sites, press releases, commerce and trade information, as well as travel and tourism reports. Remember, when you're in Washington, D.C., you can't be too careful. Today's attaché to the assistant secretary for international trade regulations could be tomorrow's industrial spy.


Web:

http://www.codia.org/dcembdirectory.html
http://www.embassy.org/


European Governments

There are many governments in Europe, and sometimes it can be difficult to find the information you want. To help you, here are Web sites that contain links to many different European governments and organizations. When I am looking for European information -- especially from an official organization -- I often start here.


Web:

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/europa.html
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreur.html
http://www.politicalresources.net/europe.htm


European Parliament

The European Parliament is the only democratically elected international governing body in the world. The elected representatives exercise control over the member bodies at a European level. As such, the European Parliament is an important part of the European Union. Here is their official Web site, which contains information about the organization, including its powers, responsibilities, organization and operation.


Web:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/home/default_en.htm


European Union

Interesting facts about the European Union: On May 9, 1950, the French Foreign Minister formally read a declaration in which he proposed the creation of an international European organization to manage the coal and steel industry. (At the time, coal and steel were crucial to the balance of European military power.) From this proposal, a series of institutions were formed that, many years later, resulted in the European Union. For this reason, May 9th is now celebrated as Europe Day. Here is something even more interesting. The European flag consists of a circle of twelve gold stars in a blue background. Why twelve stars? The flag was originally designed for the Council of Europe (a completely different organization, sort of like a United Nations for Europe). At the time the Council of Europe was formed, there was some controversy over how many sovereign countries there would be. So, instead of creating a flag with one star for every country, they decided on a flag with twelve stars, because the number "12" was thought to be a symbol of completeness and unity. Why? There are twelve months in the year; twelve constellations in the zodiac; and -- in order to win the support of the Christian population of Europe -- it was observed that Jesus had twelve apostles. (I am not making this up.) In 1986, the flag was adopted by the European Communities, which later passed it on to the European Union. (Actually, I have a reason which is even better. The number "12" has a large number of factors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. This symbolizes that -- although there is only one union -- there are many divisions.) Finally, here is one last item of European Union trivia. The European anthem (official song) is the prelude to the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, often called the "Ode to Joy". (Note to Americans: Beethoven was a European musician who, in some parts of the world, has enjoyed a popularity rivaling that of Elvis Presley.)


Web:

http://www.eiop.or.at/euroint/
http://www.europa.eu.int/index-en.htm

Usenet:

Google Newsreader talk.politics.european-union


Governments of the World

There are well over 200 countries in the world, and each one insists on having its own government, resources, organization, culture, and even its own flag. These sites have a lot of this type of information, organized by country, including links to other Web sites. There is also a nice collection of links to various world organizations. (Hint: This is the place I go when an emergency arises and I need to find the Web sites of the major political parties of Finland.)


Web:

http://www.adminet.com/world/gov/
http://www.hg.org/govt.html
http://www.worldworld.com/


Intelligence Organizations

An intelligence organization is one devoted to gathering secret information, usually, but not always, about an enemy. Such organizations employ many different methods, the most basic of which is spying. However, modern intelligence organizations go well beyond this traditional pastime, devoting much of their efforts to gathering massive amounts of data, monitoring of communications, industrial espionage and covert operations. Of course, these guys do not want you to know anything about their operations or how deeply entrenched they are within the various branches of government. However, as one of my readers, you deserve to know everything. Enjoy.


Web:

http://www.fas.org/irp/intelwww.html
http://www.intelbrief.com/Intelorgs.htm
http://www.loyola.edu/dept/politics/intel.html


International Government Talk and General Discussion

The world of international government involves a lot more than facts, figures and meetings. There are also opinions, power struggles, influence peddling and intrigue. If you would like to immerse yourself in a discussion of international affairs, join this mailing list. Every day, there is some new turn of events to discuss, and there is no reason why everyone shouldn't know your interpretation of what's happening.


Listproc Mailing List:

List Name: iro
Subscribe To: listproc@listproc.bgsu.edu


International Organizations in Geneva

There are a lot of international organizations in Geneva, including a large portion of the United Nations. Many of these organizations are related to various governments. This Web page provides a well-organized reference which allows you to find and access information about many, many international organizations both public and private.


Web:

http://geneva.intl.ch/gi/egimain/edir.htm


International Relations and Security Network

The International Relations and Security Network is a large collection of information in several related areas: security and defense, peace and war, and international relations. These are excellent sites if you are looking for research material, or if you are interested in following current world issues and how they are developing. Hint: If you are a political science student and you need to come up with an essay fast, these are great places to look for raw material.


Web:

http://first.sipri.org/
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/


Israeli Government

The State of Israel, a democracy, was founded on May 14, 1948. Israel is governed by the Knesset (a house of representatives), the members of which are elected by the entire country. Unlike other governments, the Prime Minister is directly elected by the people (as opposed to being the leader of the majority party). The Prime Minister appoints the members of the Cabinet. The head of state is the President, a largely ceremonial position, who is elected by the Knesset.


Web:

http://www.info.gov.il/eng/
http://www.maven.co.il/subjects.asp?S=184
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?mfah00kj0


Japanese Government

Japan consists of a chain of islands off the coast of east Asia, between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. Most of Japan's land mass consists of four main islands: Honshu (the main island where Tokyo is), Hokkaido, Shikoku and Kyushu. Together, all of Japan is only 143,000 square miles (370,000 sq km), smaller than the state of Montana. Japan's population of about 127 million people is about 45 percent of the entire United States, making Japan the tenth most populated country in the world. (The top ten are China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Russia, Bangladesh and Japan.) There are twelve Japanese cities with a population of over a million. The largest city, Tokyo, has more than 8 million people, and is the center of the largest metropolitan area in the world (with over 31 million people). Japan's government is a mixture of modern post-World War II democracy and traditional institutions. The main components of national government are its legislative body called the Diet (consisting of the House of Councilors and the House of Representatives), the Prime Minister (elected by the Diet) and the Cabinet (appointed by the Prime Minister). Although the Prime Minister is the chief executive, the head of state is the Emperor. (Technically, Japan is a constitutional monarchy.) On a regional level, Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, each of which elects its own governor and legislature. Even though Japan's government may look similar to that of other countries, its system is uniquely Japanese, built on a pronounced work ethic and a large degree of government-industry cooperation.


Web:

http://jin.jcic.or.jp/navi/category_2.html
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/index-e.html


Latin American Governments

Latin America consists of the countries of America south of the United States, in which Romance languages are generally spoken (Portuguese in Brazil, French in Haiti, and Spanish just about everywhere else). The breadth of Latin America is huge, ranging from the border of the U.S. to the tip of South America not far from Antarctica.


Web:

http://www.democ.uci.edu/democ/gov.htm#lamer
http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/english.html


Middle East Governments

The Middle East refers to an area that includes most of southwest Asia and parts of northeast Africa. The countries in the Middle East are (in Asia) Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus and part of Turkey; (on the Arabian peninsula) Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait; and (in Africa) Egypt. In addition, there are several Palestinian areas: partially autonomous settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (both adjacent to Israel), as well as tens of refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. The Middle East was the site of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as the birthplace of three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In modern times, the Middle East has suffered from a great deal of turmoil and political unrest, much of it due to the tension between Israel and the Arab states, intra-Arab conflicts, and the fact that, although the region is sitting on a significant portion of the world's oil reserves, the wealth and power is distributed extremely unevenly.


Web:

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/forme.html
http://www.politicalresources.net/m_east.htm


National Parliaments

Want to see a magic trick? Pick a parliament, any parliament. Now look it up on one of these Web pages and click with your mouse. Wait a few minutes. All of a sudden, you will see the Web page for that organization. (Actually, it's not really magic -- it's the Net.)


Web:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/natparl/linkspem_en.htm?redi...
http://www.ipu.org/english/parlweb.htm


NATO

NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was formed on April 4, 1949, with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty by twelve countries. Since then, other countries have joined and, today, NATO is a large, complex organization devoted to a voluntary security system in which the member countries share responsibilities. NATO is a defensive alliance based on political and military cooperation. There are nineteen members: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.


Web:

http://www.nato.int/

Listserv Mailing List:

List Name: natodata
Subscribe To: listserv@listserv.cc.kuleuven.ac.be


North American Free Trade Agreement

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an economic agreement signed by the U.S., Canada and Mexico in order to promote economic growth among the three countries. Here you can find the full text of the agreement, as well as resources to help you understand and work with the rules and regulations.


Web:

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/nafta-alena/agree-e.asp
http://www.sice.oas.org/trade/nafta/naftatce.asp


Organization of American States (OAS)

The Organization of American States (OAS) is the oldest regional organization in the world, having been established on April 30, 1948, by the United States and twenty Latin American republics. The purpose of the OAS is to promote cooperation among the countries of North and South America; to work toward peace and security; and to support economic, cultural and social development. Today, all 35 countries in North and South America belong to the OAS.


Web:

http://www.oas.org/


Swiss Government

The official name for Switzerland is Confoederatio Helvetica (which roughly translates as "the Swiss Federation"). Switzerland has a long history of remaining neutral and, in fact, they are not even a member of the European Union. Switzerland itself is actually a union. It consists of a confederation of 23 different cantons. The country has four official languages: German (the first language of 63.7% of the people), French (19.2%), Italian (7.6%) and Romansh (0.6%). The remainder of the people, 8.9%, speak another language. The country is an interesting one, and they have a lot of information on the Web. In fact, the ancestor of the Web (called the World Wide Web) was invented in Switzerland.


Web:

http://www.admin.ch/ch/index.en.html
http://www.zurichmednet.com/swissgovernment.html


United Kingdom Government

The United Kingdom -- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- is a constitutional monarchy. The hereditary monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II) acts as the head of state, carrying out largely ceremonial duties. The parliament consists of an elected House of Commons and a non-elected House of Lords. The Prime Minister is the leader of whichever party holds a majority in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister appoints the Cabinet, the members of which are chosen from among the members of the House. These Web sites contain links to various British government organizations. I have also included the official Web site of 10 Downing Street, the residence and office of the Prime Minister. (However, what I am waiting for is an online version of Prince William's diary.)


Web:

http://www.nds.coi.gov.uk/coi/coipress.nsf
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/
http://www.ukonline.gov.uk/


United Nations

On January 1, 1942, during World War II, representatives of 26 countries signed the Declaration by United Nations, in which they promised to continue fighting together against the Axis (the bad guys). The name "United Nations" was coined by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. On June 26, 1945, the United Nations as we know it was established with the signing of the United Nations Charter. In 1945, the U.N. had 51 member countries. Today, there are 189. The United Nations oversees a great many international organizations such as the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and so on. Overall, the U.N. has 64,700 employees, roughly the same as Disney World + Disneyland.


Web:

http://www.un.org/english/
http://www.unsystem.org/

Usenet:

Google Newsreader alt.politics.org.un


United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is the body of the United Nations with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security. Unlike the General Assembly -- which has a representative from every country and is not always in session -- the Security Council has a limited number of members and functions continuously. The Security Council has fifteen members: five permanent members (the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom) who have veto power over all decisions, and ten elected members who change from time to time. Here are some resources with information about the Security Council, as well as the various documents they create.


Web:

http://www.un.org/docs/scinfo.htm


U.S. International Aid

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) is an independent government agency that provides foreign assistance and humanitarian aid to "advance the political and economic interests of the United States". Read about their goals and studies: regional information, population and health information, economic growth studies, and global environmental issues. I'm trying to get a government grant to send me on an all-expense paid trip to the south of France. The only problem is showing how such a trip would be in the economic interests of the United States.


Web:

http://www.usaid.gov/


World Government

Do you think that we would be better off with one large world government, rather than a whole bunch of countries continually arguing with one another (not to mention clogging up the Olympics and the United Nations)? Here are some resources that you can use to explore and learn about the idea of world government. In the old Superman comics, Superman came from the planet Krypton, which was much more advanced than the Earth. In particular, the Kryptonians had one large world government. (And look where they are today.)


Web:

http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/wgp.htm
http://www.cgg.ch/millenium.htm
http://www.w-g.jp/wgi/