In The News

Facing Facebook

Magda El-Ghitany May 7, 2008
Facebook, an online social networking site, encourages young users to share photos, hobbies and cultural opinions. But in Egypt, the social site has emerged with a strong political edge. In April, a 27-year-old Egyptian woman was detained for 16 days after organizing a Facebook protest on rising food prices – and Egyptians expect the government to pursue online monitoring and regulation. But some...

Talking to Ourselves

Susan Jacoby April 23, 2008
The best ideas emerge when people hear out all opposing points of view. Unfortunately, Americans are less willing to attend lectures, read books or listen to radio that might offer new points of view. Instead, many increasingly read or listen to commentary that reinforces their beliefs. “Indeed, virtually everywhere I speak, 95% of the audience shares my political and cultural views – and...

Clock Running Out on Irreversible Climate Change – Part II

Bo Ekman April 18, 2008
The coming negotiations over the successor to the Kyoto Protocol appear doomed as states express more concern about their narrow rights than the planet’s health. Bo Ekman, founder of Tällberg Forum, argues for developing fallback policies that global citizens must consider in the event of failure of the Copenhagen Process. Ekman fears that the “world will descend into eco-protectionism, where...

After Bush

March 27, 2008
The Bush administration has been bedeviled by foreign-policy problems – and the Economist predicts that Bush’s successor will struggle likewise. To be sure, Democrats and Republicans have foreign-policy differences: Democrats oppose the war in Iraq, favoring multilateralism and diplomacy, while Republicans remain committed hawks. Inheriting an overburdened national-security establishment, the...

Democracy in Decline

Ayman El-Amir March 26, 2008
Most countries of the world are democracies, but recent elections demonstrate the challenges of the political system. The US promoted democracy in its battle against terrorism, and yet entrenched “regimes have borrowed America's fight against terrorism slogan as a way to stifle domestic dissent, arrest the dynamics of change, hamper the progress of basic freedoms and human rights and rig...

Democracy in Pakistan Might Bring Tension with Washington

Husain Haqqani February 22, 2008
Voting in Pakistan’s Feb 18 parliamentary elections was an act of courage. The people who turned out rejected extremist politics as well as the allies of President Pervez Musharraf. Instead, Pakistanis selected representatives from the center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Asif Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, and the center-right Pakistan Muslim League, led by Nawaz Sharif. The two...

Will Ballots Win Over Bullets in Pakistan?

Paula R. Newberg February 15, 2008
The world holds low expectations for fair elections in Pakistan. Tightening military rule and removing civil liberties in recent years have not restored stability in the terrorism-plagued country that is also a nuclear power. After a turbulent 2007 – including bitter conflict between courts and the current president and assassination of a leading candidate, Benazir Bhutto – uncertainty prevails...