“It is a sign of the times that a journalist in Burma is writing about a freedom of expression clampdown in a neighboring country, writes Simon Roughneen:

With around 80 political prisoners freed in another amnesty on September 17 …

There’s a compelling reason why Tunisia is the Arab state most likely to become a democracy, why Egypt and Libya have “a fighting chance” of transition, why prospects for Yemen and Syria are far less promising and why “there’s no …

“It’s been startling to witness mass demonstrations in countries across the Middle East for freedom from autocracy, while, in the Tibetan community, a die-hard champion of ‘people power’ tries to dethrone himself and his people keep asking him to stay …

Prospects for democratization in Egypt and Tunisia are “surprisingly good,” writes Alfred Stepan, a leading authority on democratic transitions. But the Egyptian military’s autocratic tendencies and refusal to engage civil society in the transition process give cause for concern, he …

It has been described as “the largest small country on the map, microscopic in size but cosmic in influence,” encompassing “the history of the civilized world in a miniature form.”

And that’s why the protests in Syria are considerably …

The US administration supports the democratic ambition evident in the wave of unrest spreading across the Arab world, President Barack Obama said today, but change must be driven by local actors and circumstances.

“Your aspirations for greater opportunity, for …

The political upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia have yet to generate a demonstrably democratic transition and there is a serious prospect of authoritarian resilience or restoration in both cases. But if a democratic breakthrough occurs, the experience of earlier transitions …

We should not let the dramatic and exhilarating events in Tunisia cloud a realistic analysis of the prospects for democratization, writes Kamran Bokhari (right), Middle East and South Asia director at STRATFOR. While experts conflate what is happening with …

The Tunisian army today fired warning shots over protesters marching on the headquarters of the longtime ruling party founded by ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Several ministers in the new unity government resigned their membership of the former …

The Arab world is not about to experience a 1989-style democratic contagion. Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution is a one-off event, writes Arun Kapil, (left) a political science professor at the Catholic University of Paris (Institut Catholique de Paris-FASSE). …