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.

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.

Ed Husain leads a wide-ranging discussion with AbdulMawgoud Dardery of the political challenges facing Egypt and the Freedom and Justice Party's vision for the country's future.

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.

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.