Government Information on the Internet: A Primer
National Governments
The following is a list of general links for locating national government web sites. Also included are links to specialized sites for locating directories of officials, diplomatic missions, and parliaments. These sites generally will be in the countries official language, although there may be some information in a second language -- English, French, and German are the most common.
(See: Search Engine Watch page.)
Locator Sites
- Political Resources on the Net -- links to governments, parties, organizations, and media sorted by country
- Strategies for Locating National Government Information: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/socialsciences/international/strategies.htm
Since no list of web sites is ever completely up to date this page has strategies for how to locate new government sites.
Directories of Government Officials
In addition to the sites listed below, the main web site of the national government will often have a directory of officials.
- Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html -- from the US Central Intelligence Agency. Includes everyone except the US
- US Government Manual http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html -- a directory of US officials
Embassies & Diplomatic Missions
- The Electronic Embassy Web: http://www.embassy.org/
- Embassy World: http://www.embassyworld.com/
- Permanent Missions to the United Nations, New York: http://www.undp.org/missions/
- Geneva Diplomatic Community--Websites hosted by the ITU http://www.itu.int/OTHER/diplomatic/index.html
Permanent Missions, Embassies, and Consulates sponsored by the ITU
Parliaments
- Inter-Parliamentary Union: http://www.ipu.org
Please send comments and suggestions about these pages to
Government Information and Official Publications section.
