A huge gathering in central Cairo on 29 July 2011 is a measure of the fluid state of Egypt’s political transformation, says Vidar Helgesen.
Hugo Chávez’s leadership of Venezuela has survived many challenges during his twelve years in power. Now, a cancer diagnosis poses grave doubts over his political future as well as his health. Julia Buxton assesses a delicate phase in the “Bolivarian revolution”.
Belarus is gripped by economic crisis, its people discontented, its government trapped by inertia. The depth of the problem requires no less in response - a degree of imagination and self-confidence sufficient to remodel the nation, says Natalia Leshchenko.
The historic decision by Germany’s government to end the country’s nuclear-energy programme is owed to the enduring vitality of the anti-nuclear movement. Paul Hockenos maps the implications for the rest of the world.
The ruling family’s brutal and misjudged response to Bahrain’s protest movement is undermining its own legitimacy, says Christopher M Davidson.
The forces of political Islam are everywhere in the kaleidoscope of post-revolution Egypt. But behind the confident exterior this is a movement divided and uncertain, says Tarek Osman.
The electoral victory of Pheu Thai, the party led by Thaksin Shinawatra's sister, opens a dramatic new phase in Thailand's politics. Tyrell Haberkorn maps the background, in an article first published on 14 April 2010 (archive)
After the student protests in December, many young people took part in their first British strike yesterday. A first time striker looks for wider connections in the past and elsewhere as he seeks to discover what it is he is joining.
The emergent reality of an interconnected world requires a new understanding of security which moves beyond the ideas of the “west vs the rest” and the "clash of civilisations", says Arshin Adib-Moghaddam.
A seething revolt across much of Syria is being met with ferocious repression by the Ba’athist government’s security forces. But so far, the two cities where close to half of Syria’s population lives - Damascus and Aleppo - are relatively calm. In this evolving situation, what are the prospects fo
A protest in another of China’s ethnically mixed regions highlights both Inner Mongolia’s singular history and the Beijing government’s political neglect, says Kerry Brown.
Italy’s opposition has wounded Silvio Berlusconi. But it is still far from removing the prime minister - and even further from healing Italian democracy. Here, the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn offers important lessons, says Geoff Andrews.
