Income inequality is generating high-level attention and debate in the United States, but the causes are complex and the policy remedies so far are modest, explains this Backgrounder.

A surge in pirate attacks off the Somali coast in recent years has prompted the deployment of an international coalition of navies. But experts say that military force alone cannot address the underl…

With U.S. economic recovery still slow, trade policy looms as a factor in the congressional midterm races. This Backgrounder explores the consequences for trade based on the outcome of the Democratic…

This publication is now archived. What’s the significance of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections?They are the first democratic elections since 1976, when Syria began a 29-year occupation of its neighbo…

As Israeli air strikes decimate Lebanon, the elected government in Beirut is weak, divided, and seems powerless to control Hezbollah, whose attack on an Israeli convoy July 12 started the conflict.

Bashar al-Assad, whose regime looked shaky under international pressure last year, is consolidating his power and cracking down on dissent. Despite a UN probe linking Syrian officials to the assassin…

This publication is now archived. What’s the status of U.S.-Syrian relations?Very strained. Relations with Syria, a supporter of terrorism, have never been warm, but they briefly improved after 9/11…

This publication is now archived. Is al-Qaeda now targeting Saudi Arabia?Yes, many experts say. Al-Qaeda attacked U.S. troops stationed in the oil-rich kingdom several times during the 1990s. But the…

This publication is now archived. Will the departure of American forces improve U.S.-Saudi relations?It should. Both the United States and Saudi Arabia had indicated even before the war in Iraq ended…

This publication is now archived. Syria’s slow declineWhat a difference five years makes. At the beginning of the century, Syria was a proud Arab country, ruled with brutal consistency for thirty yea…