Country + Regional Information

Compendium of Internet links and portal of Internet sources for various countries in the world.

The name "PARLINE" is derived from PARliaments onLINE.

The basic unit in PARLINE is the parliamentary chamber. Each parliamentary chamber has a separate entry in PARLINE. For each chamber, there are up to 8 information modules:

* General Information includes details of the official name of the parliament, senior parliamentary figures, the number of members and contact details for the parliament. It also shows if the parliament is, or has been, a member of the IPU.

* Electoral System describes the number of constituencies, the type of voting system and the requirements for candidates and voters.

* Last Elections provides a background report on the context of the most recent parliamentary elections, as well as detailed statistics and election results.

* Election Archives gives access to election summaries and statistics for all parliamentary elections since 1967.

* Presidency of the Parliament describes how the Speaker is elected, and gives details of their status and functions within parliament.

* Parliamentary Mandate is a source of detailed information on the mandate of individual members of parliament, including when the mandate begins and ends, members' salaries and allowances and codes of conduct. It also provides information on parliamentary immunity.

* Parliamentary Oversight provides a wide range of information on the ways in which parliament oversees the actions of the executive and government's accountability to parliament.

* Specialized Bodies gives details of the mandate, membership and working methods of parliamentary committees in specific areas such as gender, human rights and international trade.

From the United States' Central Intelligence Agency.

Bibliographic Database - no fulltext

African Training and Research Centre in Administration for
Development

Ceased January 25, 2011.

The Middle East Network Information Center (MENIC) at the University of Texas is the single best Web site for Middle Eastern studies. One of the resources on its home page is a set of links to more than two dozen other Middle East centers and institutes. Although some of these organizations offer individual services that MENIC does not, not one of them matches its comprehensive coverage of the region. The MENIC home page is a simple and extremely clear index of eight categories into which information sources are organized: ancient history and archaeology, arts and culture, business and economics, government and country profiles, maps and regional travel information, news media and newsgroups, religion, and oil and natural resources. There is an additional index for such resources as libraries, conferences, organizations and associations, reference works, and Internet search tools. The individual states of the region are featured along the left-hand side of the home page. Country names are emblazoned in red tags that bring up lists of databases and information sources for each of 23 Middle Eastern nations, from Afghanistan to Yemen. Each country page provides from a few to more than 40 links to in-country servers, as well as such online databases at the CIA World Factbook http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/nsolo/wfb-all.htm) , and Ethnologue http://www.sil.org/ethnologue), a very rich source of information about the world's languages. Because this Web site offers information about some of the most politically volatile countries in the world, it is inevitable that one occasionally encounters difficulties when trying to reach remote links in the region. The bottom of each screen in the system carries the same list of countries, allowing for immediate transfer from one country to another. A search engine for exploring MENIC's offerings adorns each page of the site. This regional microcosm is equally useful to undergraduates and area studies specialists.
-- L. M. Lewis, Eastern Kentucky University
(Reviewed in 2002sup CHOICE)