The purpose of this book is to provide a detailed statistical guide to the government and politics of the 24 OECD countries, together with social and economic background information. The aim is to present material of a factual nature in a form which meets the needs of professional politicians, administrators, journalists, teachers, political scientists and the interested citizen. The resulting compilation may be used for casual reference or for more systematic comparisons of 24 of the more advanced political systems of the Western world.