"Political Parties of the World" was first published in 1980 as a Keesing's reference publication and has since then maintained its reputation as the most complete guide to the world's politcal parties. It is written in a factual and objective style and includes extensive data unavailable in other printed or internet sources. All countries of the world are included, in A-Z sequence. Each country entry provides an overview of the political system and significant recent elections or other political developments. Extended accounts of the history, policies, leadership and electoral success of each party are then given, with the length of entries approximately proportional to the historical and current significance of each party. For convenience, and to help the reader understand the relative significance of the various parties, the more prominent current parties are covered first, with minor parties following, in their case with less detail. Other features of the book include coverage of international and European party groupings and an index of 12,000 personal and party names.