The Arab Spring protests upended the order of the Middle East, but six years later much remains the same.

Turkey's June 12 elections are likely to usher in a new era and bring greater clarity to a number of issues, including whether a genuine alternative to the ruling party will emerge and whether Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pursue a presidential political system for Turkey.

Observers have criticized the United States strongly for its unwillingness to recognize the Hamas government in Palestine, as well as for appearing to back away from supporting reform in Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood's strong showing in 2005 elections.

While the heady days of the so-called Arab Spring of 2005 and the soaring rhetoric of President Bush’s “forward strategy of freedom” are long past, the question of whether and how the United States should promote democracy in the Middle East is still debated. Each of the prospective candidates for the 2008 U.S. presidential election has, in one way or another, established a position on the issue.