The State Deparment Foreign Affairs Manual lays out departmental functions, practices, and organizatonal responsibilities. In this chapter, the State Department states that it considers forced marriage of minors to violate human rights and be a form of child abuse.

Whoever wins Mexico's presidential election will need to jumpstart economic growth, work toward energy reform, and deal with a violent drug war, says CFR's Shannon K. O'Neil.

Shannon K. O'Neil examines pledges by Mexico's presidential candidates to shift drug war priorities from arresting traffickers to reducing horrific violence.

As the United States prepares to exit Afghanistan, it is focusing too much on security, overlooking the political elements of the transition, write two former senior U.S. officials.

Steven A. Cook says Mohamed Morsi's victory in Egypt's presidential election puts Islamists in control an office that was once the exclusive province of the military, but asks whether Sunday's Tahrir Square celebration was premature.

Joshua Kurlantzick says that after five decades of brutal military rule, Myanmar has been slowly shifting in the direction of legitimate democratic governance, but many serious obstacles still have to be overcome.

Muammar Qaddafi's was overthrown more than eight months ago, but now violence in the south of the country is even worse than it was during the struggle to oust him, writes Nicolas Pelham. Although last October Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the National Transitional Council chariman, declared an end to the civil war, Libyans are still being killed and injured every day, and tens of thousands are being displaced in ethnic feuding.

Peter Orszag makes the case that increasing electoral participation would improve American democracy.

With Vladimir Putin back in power in Russia, understanding him is more important than ever. Two recent books attempt to unravel the mystery, adding new insight into the Russian leader's life and rule.

Iraq is hardly the failed state that Ned Parker portrayed in these pages, argues Antony Blinken, the U.S. vice president's national security adviser. Norman Ricklefs sees Iraq's politics becoming more moderate and less sectarian. Parker replies that despite these improvements, Baghdad still violates human rights and ignores the rule of law.

A comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center provides an overview of the economic and social status of Asian-Americans in the United States.

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential runoff elections, the Egyptian military is seeking to assert control to protect its privileges, says CFR's Steven A. Cook.

The Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court's decision to dissolve parliament has "thrown Egypt into turmoil once again," threatening the upcoming presidential election runoff and the hopes of the country's sixteen-month-old revolution, says CFR's Steven A. Cook.

Isobel Coleman argues that the dissolution of parliament and the upholding of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq's candidacy for presidency have immediately strengthened the hand of the "old guard" at the expense of the Islamists in Egypt.

He was an unpromising youth who gained power by accident. Today he's the Arab world's most notorious dictator. But who really is this man? The Financial Times' Roula Khalaf profiles Bashar al-Assad.

A Greek exit from the euro following the country's upcoming elections will be have negative consequences for Greece, European banks, as well as the eurozone, cautions CFR's Sabastian Mallaby.

Listen to CFR senior fellows Isobel Coleman and Steven A. Cook as they discuss Egypt's future.

Listen to CFR senior fellows Isobel Coleman and Steven A. Cook as they Egypt's future.