Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. The world remains “unipolar,” but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raises new threats of regional conflict. Communism is dead, but a new contest between western liberalism and the great eastern autocracies of Russia and China has reinjected ideology into geopolitics. Finally, radical Islamists are waging a violent struggle against the modern secular cultures and powers that, in their view, have dominated, penetrated, and polluted their Islamic world. In his new book, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

The Egyptian government’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in advance of the controversial April 8 local elections underscore the present backward slide and broad deterioration in Egyptian politics. In Egypt’s Local Elections Farce: Causes and Consequences, Carnegie experts Amr Hamzawy and Mohammed Herzallah argue that this government repression was motivated by its determination to exclude the Brotherhood from the 2011 presidential election and is likely to persist until the matter of presidential succession is settled. The activist's last minute decision to boycott the elections signals to the government that with "sufficient political persecution and repression, the authorities can count on the Brotherhood to take itself voluntarily out the political equation."

In his ground breaking new book, Superclass, David Rothkopf contends that an often unregulated global community of 6,000 individuals governs not only the world's business and finance, but also politics and culture. Rothkopf lifts the veil that has protected this little-known society to reveal the most powerful people on the planet whose daily decisions impact the lives of millions across borders and whose ideas shape the history of our times.

In a unique and timely new report, Carnegie's Karim Sadjadpour presents an in-depth political profile of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei based on a careful reading of three decades of his writings and speeches. Sadjadpour argues that "Iran's Islamic government is more powerful than it has been ever been vis-à-vis the United States, Khamenei is more powerful than he's ever been within Iran, and in order to devise a more effective U.S. policy toward Iran a better understanding of Khamenei is essential." Though Khamenei is sometimes dismissed as weak and indecisive, Sadjadpour writes, "his rhetoric depicts a resolute leader with a remarkably consistent and coherent—though highly cynical and conspiratorial—world view."

A major new report by a team led by the Carnegie Endowment reveals both the promise and perils that increased engagement with the global economy holds for India’s farmers, firms, and workers. Continued trade liberalization – including a multilateral deal in the WTO’s Doha Round and possible bilateral agreements with the EU, U.S., or China – could contribute modestly to India’s growth and development. However, if India binds agricultural tariffs at rates which prevent it from offsetting global price shocks, the country could lose more than it gains if prices of key commodities such as rice and wheat continue to swing sharply in the future as they have in the past.

Lilia Shevtsova examines the histories of the Yeltsin and Putin regimes, exploring within them conventional truths and myths about Russia, paradoxes of Russian political development, and Russia’s role in the world. Russia—Lost in Transition reveals a logic of government in Russia— a political regime and type of capitalism formulated over the course of the Yeltsin and Putin presidencies, that will continue to dominate Russia’s trajectory in the near-term.Looking forward, Shevtsova speculates about the upcoming elections, the self-perpetuating system in place and how it will dictate the immediate political future, and explores several scenarios for Russia’s development over the next decade.

Kuwait's parliamentary election on May 17 is more likely to continue political stalemate than move the country toward much needed political and economic reforms, argues Nathan J. Brown. Kuwait's looming tensions between the ruling family and parliament may have serious implications for democracy promotion in the broader Middle East as "other countries in the region are coming to see Kuwait as a negative model of what democracy can result in."

The Algerian government’s refusal to address the legacy of its violent civil war threatens its long-term stability, argues a new paper from the Carnegie Endowment. In Algeria Under Bouteflika: Civil Strife and National Reconciliation, Algerian expert Rachid Tlemçani examines President Bouteflika's decision not to seek public input or dialogue when developing his national reconciliation plan. Tlemçani argues that this "haste merely postpones a crisis that is likely to break out in the future" as grievances remain unresolved. 

For the first time, China is considering an emissions target while half of U.S. states have set their own targets. The time for a deal is now if the United States and China are to break their "suicide pact" of self-destructive, energy-using behavior. Though China and the United States together produce 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, both countries demand that the other take responsibility for climate change. William Chandler identifies practical, non treaty-based approaches both countries can take to cut their carbon dioxide emissions and cooperate on shared climate change prevention initiatives.

Confrontational U.S. policy has tried to create a “New Middle East,” but by ignoring the realities of the region, the United States has exacerbated existing conflicts and created additional problems, argues a new report from the Carnegie Endowment. By focusing on three critical clusters of countries—Iran-Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine-Israel—and on the three most pressing issues—nuclear proliferation, sectarianism, and the challenge of political reform—the authors provide a new direction for U.S. policy that engages all regional actors patiently and consistently on major conflicts to develop compromise solutions.

With the close of the Bali summit, a new report by leading climate expert and Carnegie Senior Associate William Chandler and Holly Gwin go beneath China's laudable energy-saving policies and gives a path-breaking, detailed, and on-the-ground description of the obstacles energy-efficiency businesses still face. The paper looks beyond complaints about red tape and illogical taxes, and suggests specific, feasible steps Chinese officials could take to reconcile their good energy intentions with their practices. Chandler and Gwin argue that restrictions on debt financing and foreign equity investment, unfavorable tax policies, and even the UN’s emissions trading system all discourage foreign investment in clean energy in China.

In a new book, Dmitri Trenin sheds new light on our understanding of contemporary Russia, providing Western audiences with an insider’s explanation of how the country has arrived at its current position and how the United States and Europe can deal with it more productively. Trenin looks beyond Russia’s famous leaders to the economic and cultural spaces outside the Kremlin where promising changes are taking place. Russia is probably not going to join the West, but it is on a path toward becoming Western; capitalist even if not democratic; European in terms of civilization, rather than as part of the EU; and gradually more Western than pro-United States.