Successive U.S. administrations have sought to justify controversial domestic surveillance programs amid criticism from Congress and rights activists, explains this Backgrounder.

The U.S. patent system has generated growing debate over whether it helps foster innovation or stifles it through unnecessary protections, as this Backgrounder explains.

The eurozone crisis has consequences far beyond the continent’s economic performance, such as the EU’s ability to forge coherent defense and foreign policy.

An increase in terror incidents involving Islamic radicals who are U.S. citizens is vexing law enforcement officials and posing new questions about the roots of their radicalization.

Peru has avoided the development problems seen in other extraction-dependent economies, but experts say the country faces governance hurdles, especially on the environment.