U.S. presidential nominating conventions often touch on national security and foreign policy, but don’t always signal the direction of a winning candidate’s policy, explains this Backgrounder.

Party caucuses, which date to the 1800s, have declined in importance but they could be decisive in choosing the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate.

The U.S. government has several channels for promoting democracy, but a plethora of independent U.S. organizations with that same mandate also exist, with varying degrees of financial dependency on t…

This publication is now archived. IntroductionBeneath the Baltic Sea, a pipeline is being built between Russia and Germany. Slated for completion by 2010, the 744-mile Northern European Pipeline is a…