The growth of the Boko Haram armed movement in Nigeria illustrates the capacity of modern Islamist groups to diversify and make an effective impact - aided by the local state's response.
The United States remains embroiled in conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. The outcome of the current presidential-election campaign will determine whether it can escape another decade of war.
An explosion of unrest and looting by young people that began in London and spread to other cities is a particular case of a global pattern with shared roots.
Both regional weather disasters and global climate trends present compelling arguments for political and economic action on a systemic scale. But the obstacles to this remain formidable.
Israel seeks to ensure its invulnerability via a strong focus on missile defence. But the search for an “iron dome” to protect the country is an evasion of its true interest.
The severe drought across much of east Africa is a human emergency that requires urgent attention. It also signals a global crisis: the convergence of inequality, food insecurity and climate change.
The United States’s military strategy in Afghanistan is fracturing, but what matters most now in Washington is the domestic electoral timetable.
The architects of a decade's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya devote great efforts to assessing the military aspects of their operations - yet are silent on the human damage. A new report highlights the international pressure for a shift of focus.
Where is al-Qaida going after the Arab uprisings and the death of Osama bin Laden? The movement again commissions its chosen SWISH consultancy to offer it advice, and openDemocracy once more has exclusive access to the report.
The repositioning of the United States’s military strategy includes a great expansion in the use of armed-drones to attack targets in Pakistan and Yemen. But this development raises profound legal and ethical questions that are now entering the public arena.
The United States's narrative of progress against the Taliban faces uncomfortable realities on the ground - and unexpected resistance in Washington.
The United States’s post-9/11 strategy sought to establish a new order in the middle east. A proposed regional-security constellation involving Baghdad and Tehran is a measure of its failure.
