We now have quite a few kinds of world political atlases:
Student Atlas of World Politics (2002, $2.50)
State of the World Atlas (1995, $1.75)
Atlas of International Politics (2003, $1.50)
Longman Atlas of World Issues (2005, $0.75)
State of War and Peace (1997, $2)
As well as the good old standard Goode's World Atlas (2005, $3.50)
(Did you catch the pun? Yes, I know it was bad, but then all my puns are bad.)
All are in the atlas section of reference. All are softcover.