-This useful new encyclopedia covers the Pacific Islands, Southeast, East and South Asia, and Australasia. There is a chapter for each country, with introductory overviews and alphabetically arranged entries for each political party. The signed essays are well written.... There is a comprehensive chronology for each country.... Political Parties is recommended for research-level collections. —Library Journal

-Eight years in preparation, this encyclopedia covers the political parties of 82 countries. Some 70 academic political specialists from throughout the world contributed to the work and are listed after their contributions. In many cases, more than one scholar wrote the chapter on a particular country. Overall, the style is clear and consistent. Each country's chapter begins with a concise overview, followed by a selective bibliography and detailed party histories, listed with cross-references. Although age and complexity of the political party history determined the size of the chapter, even the Pacific island countries lacking political parties have brief overviews. The definition of political party is sufficiently broad, and coverage is up to late 1983 in most cases. Three appendixes (a chronology of events, genealogy of parties, and typology of parties) are useful for quick reference. The index is superb, including people, organizations, ideologies, and events, with parenthetical country qualifiers for the last three. In depth and scope, this addition to the scholarly reference sources on the subject is the most comprehensive available. Highly recommended .... —Choice