December 2004
The Global Liberal Order: A Progress Report
by Alan Sorensen
"As 2005 nears, the state of the world is such that desperation shadows the lives of hundreds of millions of people, yet most of them yearn for the security, freedom, and goods that citizens of affluent democracies enjoy."

December 2004
Current History's Global Progress Report
How is the world doing? A report card on the past year's major trends.

December 2004
Democracy's Sobering State
by Thomas Carothers
"Democracy still occupies the high ground in the world. . . . Yet, just a few years into the new century, the grand hope that it will prove the age of democracy's global triumph appears far more tenuous than it seemed just 10 or 15 years ago."

December 2004
Out-of-Step Policies Threaten Global Growth
by Barry Eichengreen and Yung Chul Park
"Constructive adjustments in the monetary and fiscal policy mix in Asia, the United States, and Europe would be an important step toward a healthier world economy."

December 2004
Al Qaeda and the War on Terrorism: An Update
by Bruce Hoffman
"More than three years into the global war on terrorism, the United States has no clear policy. It lacks, in turn, a sharp and well-formed strategy . . . to direct its efforts through the coming phases of what will likely prove a long struggle."

December 2004
Geopolitics Reborn: The Global Struggle over Oil and Gas Pipelines
by Michael T. Klare
"With the global flow of energy assuming ever-growing economic and strategic prominence, oil and gas pipelines in the world today have become the major focus of international geopolitical competition.\"

December 2004
Gambling with the Future
by Dick Ahlstrom
"Paul Ehrlich held that voracious consumption would leave the West reeling when essential resources ran out. Julian Simon believed that people should be allowed to consume as they like because they can rely on technology or ingenuity to find a way forward. Both were too constricted in their perspective."