Law

How Not to Declare a War

The Obama administration's legal rationale for bombing Libya suggests that while George W. Bush may be gone, the imperial presidency isn't.

BY SCOTT HORTON | APRIL 11, 2011

How Many Investigators Does It Take to Catch a Kleptocrat?

Since 2007, U.S. officials have been investigating the rampant corruption of Equatorial Guinea's dangerously debauched president-in-waiting. They haven't gotten far.

BY KEN SILVERSTEIN | APRIL 7, 2011

The Constitutional Clock Is Ticking on Obama's War

There's no question about it: The president must ask Congress to approve the Libya intervention. So why is Obama resisting?

BY BRUCE ACKERMAN, OONA HATHAWAY | APRIL 6, 2011

Think Again: The Afghan Drug Trade

Why cracking down on Afghanistan's opium business won't help stop the Taliban -- or the United States' own drug problems.

BY JONATHAN P. CAULKINS, JONATHAN D. KULICK, AND MARK A.R. KLEIMAN | APRIL 1, 2011

Democracy Inaction

Why representative government can't solve the world's other social problems.

BY CHARLES KENNY | MARCH 28, 2011

WikiLosers

Julian Assange said WikiLeaks would change the world. At the very least, it changed these people's lives forever.

BY CHARLES HOMANS | MARCH 25, 2011

The Drama in Delhi

India's government has been rocked by scandal after scandal. So why hasn't it fallen?

BY HENRY FOY | MARCH 18, 2011

Revolution's End

On the eve of a pivotal constitutional referendum, Egypt's young activists are struggling for direction.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER | MARCH 18, 2011

Making a Democracy

As they work to create a democratic constitution, Egypt's new leaders could learn from post-apartheid South Africa.

BY F.W. DE KLERK | MARCH 17, 2011

Caught in the Crossfire

Caught between prosecutors and the defense in the trial of famed anti-Castro militant, Luis Posada Carriles, a storied reporter -- now, the Justice Department's "star witness" -- feels the pinch.

BY ANN LOUISE BARDACH | MARCH 15, 2011

Spy Games

Why Pakistan let CIA contractor Raymond Davis go.

BY SCOTT HORTON | MARCH 11, 2011

Parliament to the Rescue

Egypt's constitutional reforms don't do enough to break from the presidential system that has enabled the country's authoritarian past.

BY BRUCE ACKERMAN | MARCH 1, 2011

The LWOT: FBI arrests Saudi in alleged terrorism plot; Chesser gets 25 years in prison

Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation bring you a twice weekly brief on the legal war on terror. You can read it on foreignpolicy.com or get it delivered directly to your inbox -- just sign up here.

BY ANDREW LEBOVICH | FEBRUARY 25, 2011

Islamists on Trial

On a monthlong trip through Russia's bloody southern republics, our correspondent visits a nearly deserted courtroom looking for hints as to why the violence here has taken on a new level of viciousness.

BY TOM PARFITT | FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Legal Limbo

How the International Criminal Court is freezing the conflict in Darfur.

BY JÉRÔME TUBIANA | FEBRUARY 23, 2011

Solitary Man

An FP slide show of Hamid Karzai's tumultuous nine years as president of Afghanistan.

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

A Warlord's Last Chance

Why Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor thinks there was an international conspiracy against him.

BY JOHNNY DWYER | FEBRUARY 21, 2011

Gimme Shelter

Why is Hosni Mubarak clinging to power? Maybe because the life of an exiled dictator isn't what it used to be.

BY SCOTT HORTON | FEBRUARY 2, 2011

The Least Worst Venue

The Obama administration's plan to resume military commission trials for Guantánamo detainees isn't as terrible as civil liberties advocates think.

BY ROBERT CHESNEY | JANUARY 21, 2011

Case Closed

Lebanon's Christian community has lost faith in the court established to prosecute the killers of the country's former premier. That's good news for Hezbollah, and bad news for the United States and its allies.

BY DAVID POLLOCK | JANUARY 20, 2011

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

The Forum for the Future was supposed to be an instrument of George W. Bush's Middle East freedom agenda. Seven years later, it embodies everything that was wrong with it -- and the Arab street is taking matters into its own hands.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 14, 2011

Africa's Hour

Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to give up power isn't just a crisis for the Ivory Coast -- it's a moment of truth for the whole continent.

BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 7, 2011

Dilma's Secrets

In digging for dirt on Brazil's new president, a group of journalists and scholars may have come uncomfortably close to a more serious truth about a whole country.

BY TAYLOR BARNES | DECEMBER 30, 2010

The Verdict Is In

The re-sentencing of Russia's No.1 dissident, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, wasn't unexpected, but the sheer brazenness of it is a striking and dangerous sign of bad things to come.

BY JULIA IOFFE | DECEMBER 30, 2010

The Things They Carried

Scenes from the illegal wildlife trade.

DECEMBER 28, 2010

The Serpent King

How a notorious Malaysian wildlife smuggler was brought to justice -- and what it tells us about stopping the world's most profitable black market.

BY BRYAN CHRISTY | DECEMBER 28, 2010

The Wheels of Injustice Grind Slowly

Why did the Kremlin once again postpone the verdict in the trial of Russia's No. 1 dissident?

BY JULIA IOFFE | DECEMBER 15, 2010

Strange Days, Indeed

Scenes from Julian Assange's WikiCircus in London.

BY COREY PEIN | DECEMBER 15, 2010

Bringing Back Rule of Law

Louise Arbour, CEO of the International Crisis Group and Global Thinker No. 71, spoke with Foreign Policy's Susan Glasser about WikiLeaks and the future of international human rights law. Excerpts:

INTERVIEW BY SUSAN GLASSER | DECEMBER 2010

THe LWOT: KSM to stay put, for now; Ghailani deliberations stalled

Foreign Policy and the New America Foundation bring you a twice weekly brief on the legal war on terror. You can read it on foreignpolicy.com or get it delivered directly to your inbox -- just sign up here.

BY ANDREW LEBOVICH | NOVEMBER 16, 2010