The international community must ensure that people seeking saftey are protected; soverignty is not a shield behind which authoritarian governments may terrorize their own people.

Because borders are becoming ever more porous and contingent, everyone has an interest in humanitarian intervention.

Past attempts to fix failed states in Africa have gone nowhere for similar reasons: they have tried to restore good governance to places that have never enjoyed it in the first place. A radical rethinking is needed; in the hardest cases, international trusteeships offer the best chance for success.

The intervention in Somalia was not an abject failure; an estimated 100,000 lives were saved. But its mismanagement should be an object lesson for peacekeepers in Bosnia and on other such missions. No large intervention, military or humanitarian, can remain neutral or assuredly brief in a strife-torn failed state. Nation-building, the rebuilding of a state's basic civil institutions, is required in fashioning a self-sustaining body politic out of anarchy. In the future, the United States, the United Nations, and other intervenors should be able to declare a state "bankrupt" and go in to restore civic order and foster reconciliation.

Why should the United States care about rogue regimes or failed states? Simply put, unstable regimes are a threat to U.S. interests. Terror groups and criminal networks find haven in weak or failed states. They exploit porous borders to move people, money, weapons, and drugs. Human security is affected when government institutions are unable to meet basic needs or provide essential services. Poverty, disease, and humanitarian emergencies have transnational implications. Not only are conflict prevention and nation-building investments in U.S. security, they are also consistent with American ideals.

This Council-sponsored Independent Task Force Report argues that Africa is becoming steadily more central to the United States and to the rest of the world in ways that transcend humanitarian interests. The module supports the report's comprehensive policy recomendations with multimedia resources that explore in greater detail the most pressing issues facing Africa today.

Even if a U.S. assessment of North Korea's food situation echoes a UN report earlier this year that warned of shortages, debate rages about whether new food aid should be provided to a recalcitrant Pyongyang.

As the United States hands over airstrike control to NATO, the Obama administration faces congressional debate over who the rebels are, whether they're capable of governing, and whether or not to arm them.

Experts warn of a humanitarian tragedy in Myanmar, but the country's government continues to block widespread access for aid workers.

Myanmar's disaster is compounded by its government, which appears to be restricting aid for political reasons.

An expanded role for the UN in Iraq could aid efforts to reach political consensus, but some UN officials and American policymakers remain skeptical.

President Bush ups pressure on the Sudanese government with new economic sanctions but it remains unclear how much leverage the United States has on its own.

International efforts have focused on getting UN peacekeepers into Darfur. But what about a peace agreement?

Ban Ki-moon travels to the African Union summit in the hopes of convincing Sudan to accept an AU-UN force in Darfur.

An impotent UN Security Council and an ineffective African Union peacekeeping force have failed to alleviate the misery in Sudan's western Darfur region, where over a hundred thousand have been killed and millions of refugees are threatening security across the region.

Marathon negotiations driven by British and American diplomats have produced a tentative agreement between the Sudanese government and the leading rebel faction, though leaders signed the document "with reservations."

The three-year conflict in Darfur continues as the United Nations prepares to send a peacekeeping mission to replace the ineffectual African Union (AU) presence in Sudan. Human rights advocates say the Darfur situation highlights the international community's inability to protect civilians when their governments are unable or unwilling to help.

The United Nations announced it will send a peacekeeping force to Darfur to quell the ongoing violence. But can the UN succeed where the African Union has not?

Leslie H. Gelb says foreign policy experts should be made to answer questions about the consequences and risks of their recommendations to engage the United States in wars with Syria and Iran.

Colonel Gregory K. James, USA; Colonel Larry Holcomb, USMC; and Colonel Chad T. Manske, USAF argue that the success of Operation ODYSSEY DAWN, despite its complexity, validates joint planning processes, joint education foundations, joint training opportunities, and joint exercises.