By Ozge Zihnioglu

Despite their critical rhetoric and diplomatic gestures in protest the West and other Arab countries have failed to put an end to the Syrian leadership’s brutality in the more than a year since the start of the insurgency.

By Dwight Bashir

The Arab Spring has reinvigorated debate about the relationship between religion and state across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Missing from the debate is the idea of a “third way” – the full embrace of freedom of religion as a universal right, with a robust competition among various religious perspectives in the marketplace of ideas.

By Jeffrey M. Bernstein

This article evaluates the logic of negotiations in Afghanistan’s counterinsurgency environment and argues that reaching “negative” peace through negotiated settlement is in the best interest of all relevant stakeholders. Rather than being seen as alternatives, negotiating and war fighting must be viewed along a continuum.

By Majid Rafizadeh

There are more reasons to believe that Assad’s regime will survive the current wave of sanctions and uprisings than to expect that it will be ousted. Among these are the lack of cohesion and the disorganization which characterize opposition groups marching in the streets.