Political handbook of the world: 1997: governments and intergovernmental organizations as of December 1, 1996

COVERAGE AND ARRANGEMENT:Very detailed essays on the politics, government, and political parties of the world and on selective intergovernmental organizations. Comprises 2 main sections: Governments and Intergovernmental organizations. The Government entries are arranged alphabetically under country name and detail, as applicable, political status, area, major urban centers, official languages, monetary unit, head of State, brief physical geographical features and social background, political history, Constitution and government, foreign relations, political parties and groups, legislature, Cabinet - with names of Ministers of State, news media and intergovernmental representation. The intergovernmental organizations entries include e.g. ASEAN, NATO and the United Nations and detail: date of establishment, purpose, headquarters, principal organs, name of chief executive, memebership, official language, origin and development, structure, and activities.Appendices include: a chronology of major international events, 1945-1996; a chronology of major international conferences sponsored by the UN, 1946-1996; membership of the United Nations and its specialized and related agencies; and International Party organizations. The index is divided into 2 parts: Part One indexes geographical and organizational names; Part Two indexes personal names.