Human Rights

The City with a Short Fuse

How a shrewd politician defused ethnic tension and improved public services in one of Indonesia’s most dysfunctional cities.

BY RUSHDA MAJEED | SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight

The Syrian National Council has failed to galvanize international support for the rebellion -- and it has only itself to blame.

BY MALIK AL-ABDEH | SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

Bucking the Odds in North Korea

Why Kim Jong Un might just dare to be different.

BY JAY ULFELDER | SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Renewing America’s Fighting Faith

Barack Obama's correction to the excesses of the George W. Bush years was necessary. But cold-blooded realism is not enough to safeguard America's interests and promote its values.

BY WILL MARSHALL | SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Bullish on the Bear

It’s hard to find people who are optimistic about the future of Russian democracy. Leon Aron explains why he’s one of them.

BY PAUL STAROBIN | SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

The Extraordinary League of Accidental Revolutionaries

You might think the Egyptian revolution is dead, but the Tahrir faithful are still chipping away at the Old Guard -- one YouTube video at a time.

BY TY MCCORMICK | AUGUST 30, 2012

All the Pentagon's Lawyers

One man's targeted strike is another man's state-sanctioned murder.

BY ROSA BROOKS | AUGUST 29, 2012

Regulating the Resource Curse

How a small change by the SEC could prevent war, decrease corruption, and help developing countries fight Big Oil.

BY JEFF COLGAN | AUGUST 27, 2012

Lonely Planet Responds to 'Leftist Planet'

The quotes in Michael Moynihan's article are taken out of context and mischaracterize Lonely Planet's mission.

BY STEPHEN PALMER | AUGUST 22, 2012

Everybody Loves Pussy Riot

(Except Vladimir Putin.)

AUGUST 17, 2012

Con Air

What in-flight magazines don't want you to know about the world.

BY SARAH WILDMAN | SEPT/OCT 2012

Leftist Planet

Why do so many travel guides make excuses for dictators?

BY MICHAEL MOYNIHAN | SEPT/OCT 2012

Targeted Killings: A Short History

How America came to embrace assassination.

BY URI FRIEDMAN | SEPT/OCT 2012

Epiphanies from Salman Rushdie

The Midnight's Children author reflects on life under fatwa, the Arab Spring, and his one-night stand with Twitter.

INTERVIEW BY BENJAMIN PAUKER | SEPT/OCT 2012

You Say You Want a Revolution

Before there was Pussy Riot, there were the Plastic People of the Universe. An FP List of musicians who took on their governments -- and became historical icons.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | AUGUST 3, 2012

Our Man in Kigali

For years, Rwanda's budding dictator, Paul Kagame, has gotten away with murder, while winning praise (and billions of dollars) from the West. But is the blind support for this strongman finally drying up?

BY ANJAN SUNDARAM | AUGUST 3, 2012

Smokeless Stoves, Girl-Friendly Schools, and the Bloc That Wasn’t

Academic economists usually air their new ideas first in working papers. Here, before the work gets dusty, a quick look at transition policy research in progress.

BY PETER PASSELL | AUGUST 3, 2012

The Teddy Bear Bombers

Foreign Policy speaks with the Swedish activists who dropped a planeload of stuffed animals into Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship.

INTERVIEW BY ELIAS GROLL | AUGUST 2, 2012

When Your Whole Country Is a Closet

Powerful images of gay Uganda.

BY TADEJ ZNIDARCIC | AUGUST 2, 2012

Burma's Lost Boys

The government in Burma is promising to clean up its act. But the army is still recruiting child soldiers.

BY PATRICK BODENHAM | AUGUST 2, 2012

Local Bloodshed, Global Headache

Sectarian conflict in Burma is once again spurring talk of a “global war against Islam.”

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | AUGUST 1, 2012

Money Pit on the Potomac

Why is the Pentagon spending billions on breast cancer research?

BY JOHN NORRIS | JULY 31, 2012

Children of War

Why we need a code of conduct for images of kids in conflict zones.

BY JAMES THOMAS SNYDER | JULY 27, 2012

Beijing's Real Olympic Hero

Meet Ji Sizun, imprisoned for three years for daring to take China's promises of greater openness at the 2008 Games at face value.

BY PHELIM KINE | JULY 27, 2012

Kangaroo Court

The Obama administration has done much to clean up the legal mess in Guantánamo. But as the ongoing trial of a top al Qaeda suspects makes clear, it has not done nearly enough.

BY MARIA MCFARLAND SANCHEZ-MORENO | JULY 27, 2012

North Korea's Extreme Makeover

Pyongyang's new leading man, Kim Jong Un, is all about the lulz. But there's nothing funny about life in the world's most repressive state.

BY BLAINE HARDEN | JULY 26, 2012

A Country with Fourteen Psychiatrists

Libya is trying to build a new democracy. But that's a tall order for a society plagued by bad memories.

BY PORTIA WALKER | JULY 26, 2012

The Full Measure of Freedom

Can democracy be benchmarked?

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL | JULY 25, 2012

Alan Boswell's White Whale

Enough Project responds to criticism of its South Sudan advocacy.

BY JONATHAN HUTSON | JULY 25, 2012

The Bully from Brazil

South America's superpower is shoving its weight around across the continent -- and the natives aren't exactly thrilled.

BY JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY | JULY 20, 2012