With South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya all hobbled by varying degrees of instability and infighting, experts fear Africa lacks leadership for continent-wide security and economic initiatives.

Controversies over too-big-to-fail financial institutions continue to mount. The Basel Accords represent the latest effort to ease risk and restore confidence, as this Backgrounder explains.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi security personnel have received U.S.-led counterinsurgency training. But big questions remain over their readiness to replace U.S. forces.