In The News

A US Alliance With One Man

Paula R. Newberg July 31, 2007
Pakistan, a nuclear power, is in a state of turbulence, confronting instability along its border with Afghanistan and violent militancy in the streets of the capital. A failing government system overshadows and compounds the problems: The Supreme Court reversed a decision by President Pervez Musharraf to dismiss the chief justice; the military has infiltrated the executive branch, society and...

Continued Decline Is Not Inevitable

Marina Ottaway July 31, 2007
Multi-party elections throughout the Middle East may be manipulated, but voters do get a voice. Voters increasingly turn to Islamist parties in seeking reform and satisfying public needs. “Secular parties – that is parties that do not explicitly derive their ideology from Islam, but are not necessarily anti-Islamic or anti-religion – played a central role in Arab politics in the past, writes...

Deconstructing Islamist Participation

Amr Hamzawy July 31, 2007
The participation of Islamic parties in political processes throughout the Arab world has raised concerns about their ability to rule. Amr Hamzawy, a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, analyzes three forms of Islamist political parties of the Middle East: Some Islamic regimes possess the means to exercise violence, some support cooperation, while others have fragile...

Does the UN Still Matter?

Joseph S. Nye July 27, 2007
The United Nations, with 192 member nations, has global authority to take action on problems ranging from climate change and famine to security matters. However, when corruption or problems emerge, such as former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein removing funds from the UN oil-for-food program, designed to protect ordinary Iraqis against international economic sanctions, many nations quickly blame the...

Election Results in Turkey a Snub to the Old Guard

Sabrina Tavernise July 23, 2007
Analysts can parse election results in many ways – old guard versus new approach, military versus non-military, secular versus religious values. In the end, voters overlook symbolism and look for efficiency, solutions to problems and a better way of life. The Justice and Development Party of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did better than expected in the nation’s parliamentary...

Britain and Russia to Minimize Economic Fallout

Mark Tran July 18, 2007
Great Britain expelled four Russian diplomats, after Russia refused to hand over a suspect, a former KGB agent, in the radioactive poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko. Both countries claim that they do not want to harm overall relations. British investors and firms value the Russian market, and Russia contributes to international diplomatic efforts, for example, preventing nuclear ambitions...

China Shutters Nonprofit Newsletter

Nicholas Zamiska July 17, 2007
Chinese government officials recently ordered a stop to publication of “The China Development Brief.” This newsletter, read by many NGO representatives around the country, covers a range of human-rights topics, from AIDS to environmental issues. Founding editor, Nicholas Young, reports that his organization was under scrutiny in recent ears and suspects the closure is part of a broader political...