Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes and Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for South Asia Doug Lute held this conference call on January 8, 2013, to preview President Karzai's visit to the White House.

A thought-provoking study of democratization proposing that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions.

In the next decade, China will continue to rise, not fade. Its leaders will consolidate the one-party model and, in the process, challenge the West's smug certainty about political development and the inevitable march toward electoral democracy.

Li is far too confident in the benefits of Chinese authoritarianism. So far, what has held China back is not any lack of demand for democracy, but a lack of supply.

The Arab uprisings of 2011, once a great source of hope for democracy enthusiasts, have given way to sectarian clashes and political instability.

It's easy to be pessimistic about the Arab Spring, given the post-revolutionary turmoil the Middle East is now experiencing.

A conservative and a progressive appear to offer South Koreans sharply different presidential options, but both are likely to pursue similar foreign policy tracks, says CFR's Scott Snyder.

This act grants permanent normal trade relations with Russia and was signed into law on December 14, 2012. See also the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. The U.S. Treasury Department releases sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which bans specific Russian citizens from entering the United States. The Russian Foreign Ministry recently released a list in response, banning specific U.S. citizens from entering Russia.

On the upcoming South Korean presidential election, Scott A. Snyder says the determining vote will be "South Korea's bulging forties cohort" that played a critical role in South Korea's transition from authoritiarianism to democracy and also has the greatest stake in its economic stability.

Meghan L. O'Sullivan says, "No single proposal is going to smooth over the acute political division in Egypt. Yet a deal over a constitutional review holds the prospect of at least breaking the impasse."

With the passing of International Human Rights Day, Jerome A. Cohen says China still has no effective means of enforcing the rights enshrined in its constitution. Yet, once again, new Communist Party leaders reignite hopes for bringing government and the party under the rule of law.

Joshua Kurlantzick suggests that the interethnic conflict in Rakhine State in western Myanmar is symptomatic of the larger challenges the country faces as it transitions from absolute military rule to democracy.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 on a populist platform. But three terms into his "socialist revolution," critics say the country increasingly resembles an authoritarian state. This interactive timeline offers a visual account of Chavez's rise to power and the impact of his presidency.

Steven A. Cook says, "This is a critical moment in Egypt's transition; Morsi and his colleagues would do well to recognize that, rescind the decrees, and commit themselves to the democratic process. At this point, it is the only way for the Brothers to burnish their revolutionary credentials."

The State Department released this statement following Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's decrees of November 22, 2012 that grant him broad powers.

President Obama gave these remarks at the University of Yangon in Rangoon, Myanmar on November 19, 2012.

President Obama and President Sein of Myanmar gave these remarks on November 19, 2012 in Rangoon, Myanmar.

President Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi gave these remarks in Myanmar on November 19, 2012.

As the United States and other Western countries continue to suspend sanctions against Myanmar, multinationals are lining up for the chance to invest in the one-time pariah. In this article for Bloomberg Businessweek, Joshua Kurlantzick argues that this gold rush is "wildly premature."

Joshua Kurlantzick reviews King Bhumibhol Adulyadej: A Life's Work and examines how, in Thailand and elsewhere, royal reverence has hampered democracy.