The Arab League summit in Baghdad is focused on Syria, but events on the ground appear to have already outpaced the regional group, says CFR's Mohamad Bazzi.

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

China faces growing internal and external calls for economic and political reforms. Expert Minxin Pei looks at the political transition under way and discusses prospects for change.

Steven A. Cook says that to avoid the traps of their history, Egyptians must be committed to a new constitution and an independent parliament.

Myanmar's sudden transition from repressive pariah to potential democracy should be viewed through the lens of a military alarmed by people power revolts and by the country's increasingly shaky economic condition, says CFR's Joshua Kurlantzick.

Julia E. Sweig analyzes the significance of the first-ever Communist Party Conference in Cuba.

Isobel Coleman discusses the role of women in the Arab Spring.

Ed Husain argues that the current trajectory of the United States in the Middle East—of dancing around developments, leading from behind and expressing defeatist thinking—needs to stop.

National Interest's Paul R. Pillar discusses three problems with the fear of Islamist threat to democratization in Arab countries.

Ed Husain examines Islamism and the meaning of an Islamic state.

Steven A. Cook describes the stakes of the debates raging within Egypt to define what the nation stands for and how it will be run after the Mubarak regime.

Ed Husain, CFR's senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, discusses the emergence of Islamist political parties in Tunisia.

CFR Senior Fellow Steven Cook assess the insecurity and unrest in Egypt as the country prepares for parliamentary elections in November. Cook, who was in Cairo when the revolt broke out, has recently authored The Struggle for Egypt—a new book providing one of the first historical analyses explaining the reasons behind the uprising.

Steven Radelet's accessible new book argues that much of the credit for Africa's recent economic boom goes to its increasingly open political systems.

Egypt's 2011 revolution marks the latest chapter in Egyptians' longtime struggle for greater democratic freedoms. In this video, Steven A. Cook, CFR's Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies and author of "The Struggle for Egypt", identifies the lessons that Egypt's emerging leadership must learn from the Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak regimes.

Joshua Kurlantzick explores Deng Xiaoping's legacy in his review of Ezra Vogel's Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China and Henry Kissinger's On China.

No state with serious oil wealth has ever transformed into a democracy.

The assassination of Afghan government negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani signals the challenges in any reconciliation talks with the Taliban and could exacerbate ethnic divisions, pushing the country into a civil war.

As rebels try to strengthen their hold on Tripoli, the odds of a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in Libya are long and the need for ongoing international intervention is very likely, says CFR's Robert Danin.

The recent flare up of hostilities along the Israel-Egypt border signals a hardening of Egypt's stance toward Israel and further difficulties for the sluggish Mideast peace process, says expert David Makovsky.