The second year of the Arab uprisings opens a complex period in which the potential of the Arab world to move towards democracy and human security will be acutely tested. This makes careful assessment and policymaking by leading actors more essential than ever, says Mariano Aguirre.

On a journey to the West Bank, the author encounters one small instance of the broader machinery that Israel uses to sustain its occupation of Palestine. The days of battle are over. Now the Palestinians suffer the indignity of daily humiliations, and the slow and quiet effort to snuff out any dream of statehood

The tragedy of 11 September 2001 was used by authoritarian forces in the United States as a political opportunity. The ensuing damage to liberty, legality and democracy has been deep, says Mariano Aguirre

The United States's prolonged counterinsurgency wars in Afghanistan and Iraq raise strong echoes of Vietnam. But new studies suggest that the lessons of this half-century military arc need to be carefully drawn, says Mariano Aguirre.

The influence of rising states amid the infirmity of the United States and other established powers will make 2011 a transition year towards a new global order, says Mariano Aguirre.

The tripartite nuclear-fuel agreement signed in Tehran is a watershed in the emerging configuration of a multipolar world, says Mariano Aguirre of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre.

It is a time of danger in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as crisis in Israel-United States relations. What are the prospects for movement in the blocked peace process; how do Palestinians in the occupied territories view the current stasis; and what role should the international community play? Mariano Aguirre of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre reports on a visit to the region.

The daunting task of post-earthquake reconstruction in Haiti amounts to a long-term challenge in state-building, say Mariano Aguirre & Tone Faret of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre.