Three Decembers ago, Mr. Liu, a university professor, was tried and sentenced to 11 years in a Chinese prison. His crime: he authored and promoted Charter 08, a manifesto that appeals for freedom of expression, democratic elections, and human rights in China.

U.S. interests are best served by pushing for reform and building ties with the political opposition and civil society, including possible future leaders. These ties can lay the groundwork for continued influence and facilitate smooth transitions to democracy.

While the observation William Dobson makes in The Dictator's Learning Curvemay be true, it is incorrect to frame it as modern phenomena.

Francisco Macias Nguema may not be as notorious as Joseph Stalin, but the people of Equatorial Guinea know him to be just as devastating. After 33 years and a litany of human rights violations, Obiang has grown more conscious of his international reputation.

We request that your government reconsider its travel ban on Dr. Chee and, in the spirit of human rights, allow him to leave Singapore for four days to participate in the Oslo Freedom Forum.

At a time when most nations are trying to figure out how to stop Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from killing his own people in a year-long struggle to stay in power, the Venezuelan government is helping to prop him up.

The very ideology that the United States assumed would defeat all comers has in fact been turned against the United States. Liberal democracy contains within it the very seeds of the American empire's destruction. Call it blowback, TINA-style.

For "Responsibility to Protect" to work, civil society must play the leading role in pressuring governments. They won't act unless we force them to do so -- consistently and with integrity.

One of the least understood aspects of network interaction concerns negative social capital and links between dictators -- what I would call "dirty networks."

Hear from two of the world's most prominent North Korean dissidents and one of the world's most prominent North Korea experts.

Looking back at my encounters with Havel, I'm struck by three dominant character traits: his moral courage, his ability to recognize and live with the contradictions of human behavior, and his sense of the absurd.

Now that Syria has been declared by the United Nations to be in a state of civil war, President Assad must be reflecting on the fate of leaders in the Middle East who have been overthrown recently.

It may seem crass to make a dictators' dead pool. But given the murderous history of some of strongmen who might be on the list, it is not unreasonable to think through the means and implications of their departure.