Freedom

No Joke

Burma's famous comedian-cum-activist explains why he can forgive but refuses to forget.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Immunizing the Body Politic

Want to promote democracy in Burma? Start by making sure people are well enough to vote.

BY JACK C. CHOW | FEBRUARY 7, 2012

The Little Economy That Could

If you're looking for an unlikely economic success story, you can hardly do better than Mauritius.

BY JEFFREY FRANKEL | FEBRUARY 2, 2012

A Forward Strategy of Freedom

It's neither perfect nor pretty, but the Arab Spring proves that neoconservatives were right all along.

BY ELLIOTT ABRAMS | JANUARY 23, 2012

The Top 10 Trends in Global Freedom

One might expect, given last year's headlines across the Middle East -- as well as promising political developments in authoritarian countries from Myanmar to Cuba -- that 2011 was a banner year for freedom. The reality is more complicated.

BY ARCH PUDDINGTON | JANUARY 18, 2012

The Slow Death of 'Asian Values'

Why the latest news from Malaysia helps to undermine authoritarianism throughout the region.

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | JANUARY 18, 2012

Occupy Everywhere

In this year of protests, is it really fair to compare the grievances of the Occupy movement to the courage of the Arab Spring?

BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 30, 2011

Turkey's War on Journalists

As Prime Minister Erdogan's government grows increasingly intolerant of dissent, the media is bearing the brunt of its effort to silence its critics.

BY ALIA MALEK | DECEMBER 22, 2011

The Anti-Putin Brigade

Portraits of Russia's would-be revolutionaries -- and their intimate thoughts on Vladimir Putin and the country's dark political future.

PHOTOS BY KIRILL NIKITENKO | DECEMBER 5, 2011

Realpolitik and the Myanmar Spring

Wondering why Hillary Clinton is in Myanmar right now? Hint: it's all about China.

BY BERTIL LINTNER | NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Libya’s Sexual Revolution

How the uprising turned young Libyan men from hopeless layabouts into marriageable heroes.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | OCTOBER 26, 2011

An Islamist, a Liberal, and a Former Regime Loyalist Walk into a Cafe...

Three Libyans try to make sense of their country after Qaddafi.

BY RYAN CALDER | OCTOBER 21, 2011

Divine Election

As Tunisians prepare for the Arab Spring's first free election, they are discovering that democracy, too, can be messy.

BY DON DUNCAN | OCTOBER 21, 2011

Victory Lap

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron tour free Tripoli.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

The Lost Lessons of Freedom

The march toward openness and democracy in the Soviet Union began under my great-grandfather, Nikita Khrushchev, flowered under Mikhail Gorbachev, and has nearly been erased in Vladimir Putin's Russia.

BY NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA | AUGUST 19, 2011

A Revolution, with Qualifications

What the naysayers got right about the Arab Spring.

BY JAMES TRAUB | AUGUST 19, 2011

Egypt's Protest Art

Art from the graffitists, cineastes, cartoonists, and photographers who are making Egypt's post-revolution phase a bit more colorful.

AUGUST 4, 2011

Guilty Until Proven Guilty

In the cage of justice, sometimes a courtroom's verdict is long foretold.

BY PHILIP WALKER | AUGUST 3, 2011

Dark Rumblings

Could sub-Saharan Africa have its own Arab Spring?

BY TY MCCORMICK | JULY 28, 2011

The African Summer

The fires of democratic revolution won't spread south after the Arab Spring. And that's a good thing.

BY CALESTOUS JUMA | JULY 28, 2011

Five Months of Waiting

What happens when a revolution stalls out?

BY SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS | JULY 15, 2011

Palestine Lost

A new generation of Palestinian activists are less interested in forging a state than in winning their rights.

BY RACHEL SHABI | JULY 13, 2011

Redrawing the Map

South Sudan may be independent, but new countries are becoming increasingly rare.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JULY 13, 2011

First, They Came for the Lawyers

China's newest campaign of repression.

BY JEROME A. COHEN | JULY 12, 2011

Bad Times in Belarus

Could protests and a lousy economy topple dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko? Or are his thugs just too efficient?

BY SHAUN WALKER | JULY 8, 2011

Bashir's Choice

The brutal means that the Sudanese president has used to keep his country together have instead blown it apart in the most chaotic way possible.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JULY 8, 2011

The Most Notable Revolutionaries of 2011

Right, wrong, or otherwise -- these freedom fighters haven't let the powers-that-be block them, and we're (mostly) better off for it.

BY DAVID J. ROTHKOPF | JULY 1, 2011

The Least Free Places on Earth, 2011

20 places with nothing to celebrate this weekend.

TEXT BY FREEDOM HOUSE | JULY 1, 2011

In Saudi Arabia, an Undercover Revolution

The freedom to buy lingerie from other women may not sound like much. But activists say it's a start.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | JUNE 27, 2011

After the Fall

The 15 countries of the former Soviet Union have taken radically different political paths over the last two decades.

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JUNE 24, 2011