Democracy & Reform

To be more effective, U.S. policy intended to encourage reform in Bahrain should be part of a common approach with allies, especially Britain.

Without external intercession, the violence in Syria is likely to escalate, with destabilizing consequences for its neighbors, particularly Lebanon and Iraq.

Washington and Baghdad should begin laying the groundwork for a real strategic relationship that assuages Maliki's insecurities while emphasizing U.S. red lines on Iran, human rights, and other issues.

The Barbara Walters interview with Bashar al-Assad underscores how completely he has lost his grip on the reality of the violence in his country.

Two heroes of the campaign for freedom and human rights in the Middle East -- Natan Sharansky of Israel and Saad Eddin Ibrahim of Egypt -- jointly received the Washington Institute's Scholar-Statesman Award at a benefit dinner in Manhattan on December 5, 2011.

Watch a senior Treasury Department official's discussion of his department's response to the Middle East revolutions of 2011.

The growing armed opposition movement against the Asad regime is becoming an increasingly important element in the Syrian equation.

Judging from the first day of voting, the Muslim Brotherhood's theocratic political vision, empowered through elections, seems to be in Egypt's immediate future.

As a new round of violence erupts in Egypt, Washington must prepare for the possibility that chaos and uncertainty will dominate the political scene for months to come.