How are recent events in Iran to be interpreted? History has a lot to teach us, argues David Madden
The stateless in Kuwait have been trapped in poor conditions for two decades. The Arab Spring has provided hope that at long last their voices might be heard.
The three parties in the new coalition government of Tunisia have months, not years, to deliver on unemployment, political reform and economic growth.
The tensions between Washington and Tehran are being further fuelled by naval exercises and discussion of strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. This makes the absence of a direct communications channel all the more worrying.
As the US completed its official withdrawal from Iraq, a series of events stoked a political crisis that will push Iraq toward a precipice.
The dramatic citizens' uprisings and protests across the world this year are signals of an emerging era that demands a renewal of democracy itself, says Vidar Helgesen.
A topsy-turvy year full of dramatic reversals left sub-Saharan Africa still in search of of the balance that would harness good governance to economic progress, says Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie.
Will the rights of the women, who participated in the struggles leading to fall of Gaddafi, be put under pressure in the new Libya? Kathryn Spellman-Poots assesses women’s status under Gadaffi and points to the perils ahead.
The hopes of liberation from dictatorship and penury shine less brightly at the end of this year of movement, says Patrice de Beer.
The Arab uprisings expose the self-delusion of the powerful - from the region itself to Turkey, Germany and the rest of Europe. This is a moment to register and build on, says Kerem Oktem.
Writing has come to mean place and presence, and presence gives us power to force those who don't acknowledge our existence to admit that they can hear the sound of our breath, says the young Egyptian writer Zainab Magdy
A series of developments - in Iraq, the United States and Iran itself - nudges the balance of calculation towards an attack on Tehran. The additional danger is that this could happen by inadvertence.
