The White House still avoids the label, but by any reasonable historical standard, the Iraqi civil war has begun. The record of past such wars suggests that Washington cannot stop this one -- and that Iraqis will be able to reach a power-sharing deal only after much more fighting, if then. The United States can help bring about a settlement eventually by balancing Iraqi factions from afar, but there is little it can do to avert bloodshed now.

Pervez Musharraf may have stepped down as army chief but the Pakistani military remains strong and democratic prospects are cloudy.

Sierra Leone’s elections were peaceful and participation was high but concerns remain that the conditions that sparked its long civil war are unchanged.

Under increasing pressure because of its nuclear program, Iran’s authorities have now targeted high-profile civil society activists to try to undermine Western influence.

Pakistan’s growing independent media finds itself under threat for its coverage of the crisis stemming from the president’s dismissal of the chief justice.

A clampdown against civil society in Iran, including the arrests of three Iranian-American scholars, further complicates U.S.-Iran relations.

Despite the ouster of the Islamist militia last month, stability in Somalia remains elusive. Its leaders must decide whether to reconcile or return to warlordism.

Under the security cooperation agreement called the Merida Initiative, the United States provides military and law enforcement assistance to the Mexican government in support of efforts to combat drug cartels and organized crime. The United States and Mexico jointly developed this agreement in response to a substantial increase in drug-related criminal activity and violence on both sides of the border.

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Isobel Coleman hosts Joshua Kurlantzick, Fellow for Southeast Asia, Council on Foreign Relations, for a discussion about the political and economic transition of Thailand and Indonesia as part of a Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative series on Realizing Democracy: Lessons from Transitioning Countries.

Isobel Coleman, CFR's senior fellow and director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy initiative, discusses transitions to democracy and market economies, as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call series.

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This meeting was cosponsored by the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initative.

Ed Husain hosts Bernard Haykel in a discussion of the convergences and divergences in Gulf governments' policies toward the Arab Spring, both domestically and regionally.

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This was a meeting of the roundtable series, Opportunity and Exclusion in the Global Economy.

CFR Senior Fellow Isobel Coleman speaks with Boris Weber, director of ICT4Gov at the World Bank Institute, on how technology is being leveraged to promote good governance and increased transparency in fragile states and emerging markets.

This was a meeting of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Roundtable series.

In his new book Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, Daron Acemoglu looks at why some nations prosper and why some fail. He concludes that it depends on whether institutions are pluralistic and inclusive or extractive and autocratic.

This roundtable meeting was part of the project, Entrepreneurs and Market Linkages in Conflict and Post-Conflict Environments, organized by the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.

This meeting was part of the Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series, which was organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program.

John Campbell, CFR's Ralph Bunche senior fellow for Africa policy studies, discusses the recent escalation of violence by Nigeria's radical Islamic movement, Boko Haram, and analyzes strategies to undermine the threat.

This session was part of the Democracy, Civil Society, and Countering Radicalism Roundtable, organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.