Experts discuss the impact of technology and banking on the economic and political development of women.

Listen to CFR experts Steven Cook and Jared Cohen discuss the recent events in Tunisia, the implications for the region, and the role of social media in the protests.

International actors are redoubling efforts to restore Afghanistan's agriculture sector and weaken the massive opium trade that helps fund the Taliban. But competing strategies and corruption could stall reforms.

China has a range of options for its citizens to access justice, but experts say none of them are particularly effective.

India’s Muslim population, by most measures the world’s second largest after that of Indonesia, has suffered physically and economically at the hands of extremists in the country’s majority.

The arrests of four Iranian-Americans have created a chill among those in Iran working to open up civil society and led to disagreements over U.S. support for those efforts.

Japan's most powerful earthquake and the accompanying tsunami will sorely test its weak government and have a devastating impact on its struggling economy, says CFR's Sheila Smith.

Stephen Biddle, CFR’s top defense analyst, cites positive developments in Iraq on Sunni security cooperation and reconciliation efforts from the Shiite-led government.

Nathan J. Brown, an expert on Arab and Palestinian politics, says despite the major split in Palestinian ranks between Fatah and Hamas, it is “unlikely in the extreme” that some kind of peace arrangement can be worked out between Israel and the Fatah faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Philip Seib writes that public diplomacy may serve as a great counterterrorism tool.

Mohammed Hanif writes that "Pakistan's reaction to the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden muted by concerns over jobs and security."

A railroad through the southern Caucasus will soon connect Europe and Asia, fueling dreams and discord in the region.

In a NYT op-ed, co-chairman of the International Crisis Group Chris Patten discusses the choices facing Sri Lankan voters during the 2010 presidential elections, in the wake of violent ethnic conflict.

Cuba's repressive regime has shown remarkable resilience in the past, defying predictions of its inevitable collapse.  Have its political fortunes changed?  This Journal of Democracy article explores the current ferment in civil society and the stability of Raúl Castro's government.

The following article is a summary of views expressed by George Devendorf, the director of Public Affairs for Mercy Corps; and Tilly Reed, the chief of party in Afghanistan for Counterpart International at a panel convened by United States Institute of Peace to discuss the status and prospects of the development of civil society in Afghanistan.

This report from the Washington Institute argues that there remains considerable potential for a ‘velvet revolution’ from within Iran. It argues that religious leaders in Iran worry that the Islamic revolution's enemies could recruit people through nongovernmental organizations dedicated to humanitarian, child welfare, trade union, environmental, and antidrug issues. Accordingly, any social or cultural activity outside the regime's supervision remains subject to suspicion, especially in the wake of the "color" revolutions that led to the replacement of leaders inGeorgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan--countries close to Iran's borders.

In the Far Eastern Economic Review, Carsten A. Holz asks whether China analysts are compromised by their dealings with the Chinese government.

This report from the Government Accountability Office on U.S. government efforts to organize, equip, and train Iraqi security forces says that significant challenges remain to be overcome before the ISF achieves full capability.

This report from Human Rights Watch released in January concludes that President Hamid Karzai’s government and its international backers have largely failed to meet the compact’s benchmarks on improving human rights and basic security. It says that the government and its international backers have made little progress in providing basic needs like security, food, electricity, water and health care, and says that the United States and the European Union should provide greater economic, political and military assistance, while President Karzai’s government should improve the rule of law and hold militias and warlords accountable for abuses.