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.

Global monitors say Iran’s human rights situation is poor and unlikely to improve amid a climate of political uncertainty and growing external pressures. But activists urge continued international sc…

A decade after the World Bank mounted its first anticorruption campaign, the impact appears to have been minimal. Paul Wolfowitz, the bank’s new president, is seeking to reinvigorate the effort. But …

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

In the face of persistently high unemployment, policymakers and workers look to innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs. This Backgrounder discusses how entrepreneurs create and finance th…