Alyse Nelson, Co-Founder and CEO of Vital Voices, discusses the organization's work to empower women around the world with Isobel Coleman, Director of CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.

Concern about Arab world pro-democracy movements has caused Iran's government to get tougher with opponents and is affecting political jockeying for parliamentary elections in 2012 and the presidential election in 2013, says Iran expert Farideh Farhi.

The story of a young woman's entrepreneurial success during the Taliban reign in Afghanistan is an argument for international investment in women, says CFR's Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

The uprisings of Yemen may not be able to have the same outcome of those in Egypt and Tunisia.

In this op-ed, Doyle McManus ponders whether the U.S. intervention in Libya, or rather the administration's plans for democracy in the region, are beginning to represent an "Obama Doctrine".

The brutality of the Qaddafi regime and the subsequent debate over a no-fly zone has again spotlighted the UN's "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine. Using it for military intervention remains highly contended, but even humanitarian intervention is resisted by countries who see it as a threat to sovereignty.

The Century Foundation recently released a report from an international task force sent to Afghanistan, in the hopes that it might help to identify possible ways in which to end the war in Afghanistan.

Opposition movements in Bahrain and Yemen are hobbled by societal and sectarian divisions that were finessed in Tunisia and Egypt, says Middle East expert Kristin Smith Diwan.

Senior Vice President of CFR, James M. Lindsay, responds to comments to his post on CNN's GPS Blog. Here's the blog post - http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/7-ugly-options-for-the-u-s...

As the Libyan conflict escalates, CFR's Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies, Robert Danin, warns that the U.S. must have a clear objective to for the country and the region.

In the face of possible civil war in Libya, possibilities for the Obama administration are discussed.

Bernhard Zand looks back to Arab history to speculate as to what the future for the region might look like.

Joseph Nye writes on the delicate balancing act the Obama administration must perform in negotiations with changing governments in the Middle East.

Jeffrey White outlines the different forms foreign military intervention in Libya might take.

Tahiyya Lulu explains how, "Bahrain's regime has driven a wedge between Sunnis and Shias with its denial of civil rights and promotion of economic disparity".

The Arab world's new revolutionary fervor marks a convergence of values the United States should welcome even if it means rethinking the balance of interests and ideals, says Middle East expert Richard Murphy.

Michael Young writes how America could use the momentum caused by the Middle East revolutions to revive its own democratic aesthetic.

Olivier Roy discusses why the youth of the Middle East can't be bought out.

Timothy Garton Ash discusses whether to intervene, or not, in Libya.

Reza Aslan, author of 'No God but God,' discusses how the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa influences the balance of power in the region, and whether it is benefiting Iran.