PS 240: Introduction to Latin American Politics
Library Guide ~ Fall 2001
5 easy steps to becoming an expert on the political situation in a Latin American country:
1. Gather background information on your country
2. Find analyses of the current political situation in journals and magazines
3. Use books, if necessary, to deepen your understanding of the political situation
4. Find current news of political events in your country
5. For further information…
1. Background Information
There are several encyclopedias and online sources that might help you gather background information on the political situation in your country:
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Ref. F1406 .E53 1996 (5 vols.)
In this encyclopedia, entries on individual countries focus on their political history.
The Cambridge encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean. Ref. F1406 .C36 1992
Includes sections on the history, politics and society of Latin American countries.
The Cambridge history of Latin America. Ref. F1410 .C1834 1984 (11 vols.)
A synthesis of existing knowledge about the history of Latin America, from colonial times forward. The last 3 volumes cover 1870 to the present.
Background Notes (U.S. Department of State) – available at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/bgn
Brief profiles giving basic information about countries.
CIA World Factbook – available at http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Another good source for finding basic information about countries.
Country and Regional Profiles (U.S. Agency for International Development) – available at http://www.usaid.gov/regions/lac/#countries
Information about US AID programs in Latin American countries plus links to country info
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (U.S. Department of State) – available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/index.cfm?id=1470
Official State Department reports on the human rights situation in various countries.
Country Studies (Library of Congress) – available at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html (some also available in the BSC Library at GovDoc D 101.22:550- )
Excellent book-length studies of countries’ history, culture and politics.
Political Database of the Americas (Georgetown U. and Organization of American States) – available at http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba
Information on countries’ constitutions, elections, civil society, political parties, and governmental institution. Can be searched by name of country.
Amnesty International Annual Reports – available at http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aireport/index.html (1993 to present)
Documents human rights violations in countries for the year in question.
2. Journal and magazine articles
The BSC
Library subscribes to a number of journals related to Latin America, and
offers full-text electronic access to many more. You can locate recent
articles on the political situation in your country by using the following
online
indexes and databases available on the library home page.
These databases contain a mixture of popular and scholarly articles from a range of magazines and journals, many of them full text. They are continuously updated.
Academic Search Elite (1990 – present)
Expanded Academic ASAP (1980 – present)
PA Research II Periodicals (1980s – present)
The following databases specifically cover social science journals and documents.
Social Sciences Full Text (1983 – present)
Indexes around 400 journals in the social sciences; about ¼ are available full text
PAIS International (1972 – present)
Indexes and abstracts articles from over 2100 periodicals, books & book chapters, conference proceedings, and government documents dealing with politics and public affairs.
Handbook of Latin American Studies (1936 – present)
An annotated bibliography listing books, articles, and essays published on Latin American topics, in the humanities and social sciences.
ABC Pol Sci on CD-ROM (1984 – present)
Indexes political science and government journals.
Congressional Universe (full text from mid-1980s – present)
Use this database to find the full text of Congressional hearings and reports on your country.
Once you have identified some articles that sound good, you will probably notice that not all of them are available full text in the database you are searching. To see if an article is available full-text in another database, or if it's available in print or microfilm format in the Library, please consult Periodicals @ BSC on the Library home page. If you need an article that is not available locally, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.
3. Books
Books may provide you with valuable background information on your topic. To locate books in our library, search the library catalog by subject or keyword ("search everything"). For this assignment, it might be useful to do a subject search for the name of your country plus subheadings such as: Foreign relations – United States; Guerrillas; History; Human Rights; Politics and Government; and Social Conditions (for example: Colombia foreign relations United States or Colombia politics and government). Be sure to check the bibliographies of useful books for additional sources.
If the BSC library does not have many books on your research topic, you can try searching WorldCat to see what is available worldwide. Use Interlibrary Loan forms if you need a book (or article) that is not available locally.
4. Current news of political events
Academic Universe (1970s – present)
The “General News” section of this searchable database provides access to the full text of over 50 English language newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, London Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post. Articles are generally available in the database within 24 hours of their publication. A “Non-English Language News” section of this database also includes the searchable full-text of many Spanish language newspapers (with an emphasis on titles from Mexico and Spain).
LANIC News – available at http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/news
Newspapers and magazines from your country are an excellent source of information. The “News” section of LANIC provides links to major newspapers by country. There are English language newspapers available for many countries. The “Journals and Magazines” section of LANIC (available at http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/epub ) also offers links to news magazines; however, very few of these are in English.
Prensa Latina – available at http://www.prensalatina.com
This is another gateway to news sources emanating from Latin American countries.
Latin American Newsletters – available at http://www.latinnews.com
Free daily newsletters from a London-based organization devoted to providing authoritative information on the region.
Latin American Database – available at http://ladb.unm.edu (on campus access through Oct.17)
A weekly news service produced by journalists, based at the U. of New Mexico.
ISLA – Information Services Latin America – http://www.igc.org/isla/Links/links.html
Links to alternative media and alternative perspectives on Latin American issues.
5. For further information…
Several sources serve as gateways to more information on Latin America and its politics.
Websites:
Internet Resources for Latin America - http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/bord/laguia
The University of New Mexico’s guide to numerous information resources for Latin American studies.
LANIC - http://lanic.utexas.edu
The University of Texas at Austin's gateway to "Internet-based information to, from, or on Latin America," in existence since 1992.
Organization of American States - http://www.oas.org
Provides news and papers on issues of interest to the entire region.
Washington Office on Latin America – http://www.wola.org
Offers publications free for downloading and a wealth of other links and resources.
Latin America and the Caribbean: A critical guide to research sources.
Ref. F1408 .L3225 1992
Ref. F1408 .L324 1990