In The News

Pranab Bardhan January 30, 2007
Not only democracies but dictators and authoritarian governments pursue the benefits of economic freedom. The recent passing of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman provokes economist Pranab Bardhan to reflect on the connections that these two individuals represented: political control and economic freedom. Friedman and other economists have long...
Chris McGreal January 11, 2007
The International Criminal Court’s first indictment was against the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda, Joseph Kony and four other commanders. The Ugandan government requested that the ICC investigate the matter, expecting that neighboring governments would withdraw support of the LRA. But the Ugandan government has reversed itself, now asking the ICC to drop the indictments if...
Roberta Cohen January 11, 2007
Thousands of Iraqis, many moderates and professionals, flee the violence of their nation each month, leaving the armed militias and the poor behind, battling for territory that lacks energy, water and other essential supplies. Before the invasion, the Bush administration had assumed that Iraqis would welcome the removal of a dictator and pursue orderly government. But almost four years later, the...
Mark Perry January 2, 2007
Humans are fond of categories, and the Middle East has long been subject to such analysis: nations that align with one power or another, nations with wealth or without, nations that function and those that don’t. But boundaries designated by people are not so distinct, argues analyst Mark Perry. Arbitrary lines that created nations of the Middle East in 1919 did not put an end to sectarian...
December 26, 2006
Imomali Rahmonov has been reelected president of Tajikistan, but only after amending his nation’s constitution to allow his run for a third term. Though his margin of victory was low by the standards of the strongmen of the world – he received only 79.3 percent of the vote – the nod to democratic process cannot disguise the administration’s control over the outcome. Official observers from...
Robin Wright December 19, 2006
With violence and civil war escalating in Baghdad, the US Joint Chiefs of staff do not agree with a White House plan to send more troops into Iraq. Since the US invaded and overthrew tyrant Saddam Hussein in March 2003, Iraqi public services, political control and law enforcement have steadily deteriorated. Dedicated military troops can overthrow dictators, deliver bombs to pinpoint targets and...
George Perkovich December 12, 2006
Many states throughout the Middle East have authoritarian leaders, disgruntled citizens, troubled economies – and governments as tenuous as houses made of cards. The report from the Iraq Study Group warns that the war in Iraq could widen into a regional conflict and encourages US policymakers to change tactics by initiating direct engagement with Iran and Syria to gain their cooperation in...