Essays

Xi Jinping received a strong mandate to govern during the 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China in November. Accelerating economic reform is clearly on his agenda. But how far will he move the country from authoritarianism to democracy?

Live, from Beijing!

By Ying Zhu

Gone are the days when China Central Television broadcast nothing but party propaganda. It is a modern media empire, operationally autonomous and fending off competition from a rising number of rival domestic channels. Now, like Qatar’s Al Jazeera, it is taking on the world. CCTV is a channel to watch.

A Long March into Space

By Joan Johnson-Freese

When Liu Yang became China’s first female taikonaut with the launch of Shenzhou 9 in 2012, it was yet another sign that the country is catching up with the United States in the conquest of outer space. Concerning the military motives behind China’s ambitious program, however, it’s time to separate wild speculation from valid conclusions.

Unhappy Neighbors

By Ngo Vinh Long

China is aggressively enforcing a self-declared zone of sovereignty in wide areas of the South China Sea. Its takeover of disputed islands and arrests of fisherman have triggered growing diplomatic and legal challenges to Beijing. Without a Code of Conduct for the contested waters, the region may become a new global flashpoint.

Tibet’s Voice of Realism

By Pico Iyer

The 14th Dalai Lama may be a Buddhist spiritual figure, but pragmatism is all that truly matters for him. He is a doctor of the mind, determined to locate the source of suffering and come up with a practical cure. As the author observed while traveling with him in Japan, it is a message that resonates far beyond Tibet and China.

Toward a New American Policy

By Daniel C. Kurtzer

The United States should develop a new, comprehensive policy and a sustained strategy for advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Amid growing skepticism about and opposition to Washington’s policy in the Middle East, a serious effort can have a transformative effect on U.S. standing and credibility.

Dealing with Iran

By Reza Marashi

President Barack Obama entered office in 2009 calling for a new approach to diplomacy with Iran. Yet, as he begins his second term, the U.S. and Iran are on the brink of a conflict that could engulf the world. A Memo to the President on how America can avoid war.

Lost in the Middle East

By Amaney A. Jamal

Washington’s response to the Arab Spring is to bolster secularists as a bulwark against the rise of Islamists. But the policy undermines the struggle for democracy. For a sounder approach, America should develop policies that address the sentiments and grievances of the man on the street.

Islamophobes

By Moustafa Bayoumi

For much of the U.S., the September 11 attacks transformed Muslim Americans from an invisible minority to a shadowy people to be feared. During the Obama presidency, civil rights conditions for the community have gone from bad to worse. The popular climate has become uglier. Something has changed in America.

A Deep, Deep Sleep

By Tom Kutsch

In the film The Dark Knight Rises, Batman once again saves Gotham City from ruin but at the ostensible cost of the superhero’s own life. It is a parable that explores fear and anxiety in the Age of Terror and forces Americans to confront truths about the violence in their land.

Outlook for Obamacare

By Katie Keith and Tanya Baytor

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 was a milestone in the long fight for health care reform in the U.S. But despite President Obama’s reelection, it is far from clear whether it will deliver on its promise. A close examination of the question of implementation.

Still Mightier Than the Sword

By Jonathan Guyer

The demise of the American newspaper seemed to be the death knell for an All-American tradition: the editorial cartoon. But a spirited new generation of cartoonists is taking its irreverence online. Rest assured: the Republic remains in safe hands!

New Orleans, Marching On

By Anne Gisleson

From Katrina to Isaac, hurricanes have brought death and destruction. Two years ago came another calamity: the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster. Adding insult to injury, citizens no longer have a daily newspaper to inform on their troubles. The story of how a great American city wrangles the void.

Understanding SCAF

By Zeinab Abul-Magd

The oath-taking of a popularly elected president did not complete the democratic transition in Egypt. The cycle of military autocrats has been broken, yet the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces remains a formidable power. Until such time when Egypt is demilitarized, SCAF will likely be part of a marriage of convenience with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Islamism Now

By Ibrahim El-Houdaiby

The cradle of modern political Islam, Egypt gave rise to the Muslim Brotherhood as well as a variety of other movements, including Salafis and Neoliberal Islamists. Now the revolution is shaking up not only the authoritarian state but also the autocratic structures of the country’s Islamist organizations and institutions. The result is likely to be a new wave of diverse, policy-based Islamist activism.

Cairo: A Memoir

By Éric Rouleau

Coming of age as a Jew in Egypt, the author protested against the British occupation and, as a young journalist, interviewed Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna. Amid the crackdown on suspected Zionists and communists, he emigrated to France. Years later he returned to Cairo, this time as a correspondent for Le Monde, to interview another important Egyptian—President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The Old Guard

By Abdel Monem Said Aly

To the surprise of many, Ahmed Shafik, a former military leader and Mubarak’s last prime minister, ran a respectable second in the race to become Egypt’s freely elected president. An analysis of why 48.3 percent of the voters preferred a face of the ousted regime to a candidate of the revolution.

Egypt, Israel, Palestine

By Khaled Elgindy

Egyptian political change is causing unease in Israel and among Palestinian leaders in Ramallah. Questions have arisen about the durability of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. In fact, a case can be made that despite the rise of Islamists in Egypt, this is an opportunity to rethink deeply flawed and outdated approaches to Arab-Israeli peacemaking.

Egypt in the World

By Nabil Fahmy