Algeria may be teetering on the brink of a crisis, with the three pillars of the regime’s stability—its powerful military, abundant revenues from hydrocarbons, and the façade of a democratic political system—beginning to crumble. Despite the lack of attention in Western media, Algeria is undergoing what could be viewed as a pre-revolt stage, as the state faces simultaneous security, social, and political challenges.

As preparations continue for an international conference aimed at jump-starting intra-Syrian negotiations to be held in Geneva in mid-June, the prospective value of the initiative is increasingly in doubt. Bashar al-Assad is making it clear to the news media that he intends to stay on and run for president in 2014, something that cannot happen if the June 2012 Geneva formula is implemented faithfully and accurately by Syrian negotiators.

It is likely that every American president since George Washington has joked with his advisers that he would love to have the absolute power wielded by some of his fellow world leaders. With such authority, he could deal decisively with pesky domestic critics, unruly media, or noisy civil society groups. Occasionally a president has imposed emergency laws (Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt), carried out "dirty tricks" against critics (Richard Nixon), or stretched the rules of domestic surveillance (George W. Bush).

Arguments that the West should avoid arming Syrian rebels in order to forestall wholesale slaughter or forced exile of Alawites, such as that advanced recently by Joshua Landis, deserve careful consideration and also need to be placed into proper context.

It is difficult to understand, at least from the outside, what is happening in Libya right now. The past several weeks have highlighted the danger and difficulties the country’s feeble political institutions face to manage day-to-day affairs, let alone resolve the most pressing political issues.

Hariri Middle East Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof speaks with the BBC’s Tim Franks about the cautious US position with respect to resolving the Syria crisis.

Tunisia’s constitution-drafting process has reached another milestone: the committee coordinating the drafting of the country’s post-authoritarian constitution presented its third and final draft to the National Constituent Assembly on April 22.

Council on Foreign Relations consulting editor interviews Hariri Middle East Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof about the conflict in Syria and prospects for a peaceful, negotiated political transition.

For the third time this year, Israel was able to carry out air strikes in Syria earlier this month without prompting an immediate military response. The reactions of all parties directly affected—Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah—indicated little appetite for a conflict with Israel. This should be of little comfort to US policymakers and the international community, however.

On May 13, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East held an event to release a new issue brief, Egypt’s Litigious Transition: Judicial Intervention and the Muddied Road to Democracy. Director of the Rafik Hariri Center Michele Dunne moderated a discussion with the author Mahmoud Hamad, who is assistant professor at Drake University and Cairo University, and Yussef Auf, a nonresident fellow with the Hariri Center, who joined via Skype.