Recent events in Tunisia call for a redefinition of both what the West considers moderate regimes and the governance model these countries should choose. After 9/11, U.S foreign policy entered an era of confusion: the list of former anti-Soviet allies covered a large spectrum of regimes, political and religious-ideology groups. […]

Some scholars suggest that the Middle East’s oil wealth helps explain its failure to democratize. This article examines three aspects of this “oil impedes democracy” claim. First, is it true? Does oil have a consistently antidemocratic effect on states, once other factors are accounted for? Second, can this claim be […]