Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The tragic repercussions of events in Iraq, Lebanon, Hamas's electoral victory and Iran's growing regional influence, have combined to pit two distinct camps of opinion against each other. One champions resistance to what it describes as the American-Israeli project for hegemony over the Middle East, the other prefers seeking negotiated solutions to crises that could jettison regional stability.
In the second half of the 1990s, a counterreaction emerged to the heady enthusiasm about democracy promotion that flourished during the peak years of democracy’s “third wave” in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Believing that the global democratic wave had been oversold, several policy experts and scholars produced a series of influential articles articulating a pessimistic, cautionary view.
Michele Dunne outlines the major implications of Egypt’s current political climate and presents four key issues on which the U.S. should focus its attention: presidential term limits, greater freedom for political parties and movements, independent election oversight, and limiting executive branch powers under a new counter-terrorism law.
The Bush administration has finally admitted that the situation in Iraq can no longer be addressed by “staying the course.” But the options are limited.
At an event to launch Confronting the Weakest Link, Thomas Carothers was joined by discussants Ivan Doherty, Gerald Hyman, and Judy Van Rest. The session was moderated by Jennifer Windsor. 
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The assassination of Lebanese industry minister Pierre Gemayel necessitates a balanced policy of moving ahead with the United Nations special tribunal on assassinations in Lebanon while also reducing conflict and instability through constructive and multilateral dialogue.