Although he owes his advancement to Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvedev may prove a surprisingly liberal president of Russia

Suharto's death means he will never be held to account for his crimes. But the Indonesian courts could still act to weaken his legacy of cronyism and corruption

Only when both Mbeki and Zuma are removed from the fray will the ANC be able to revitalise South Africa

Vladimir Putin is likely to try to shift powers from the presidency to the premiership next year. But Russian history suggests that such power-sharing is difficult

Brown should learn from the setbacks of Cameron and Obama, and abandon this nice-guy politics

If President Musharraf is ousted, it will be another example of Pakistan's underlying stability

The man once seen as the embodiment of Protestant supremacism has agreed to share power with Sinn Féin. But did Northern Ireland have to wait for his giant ego to rise to the top of the unionist pile before a…

Poland's president and prime minister, former freedom fighters, are reintroducing the habits of authoritarianism

The era of Robert Mugabe—the most intellectual of African presidents—is coming to an end. Who will follow him?

The "Blairism" strategy of the centre-left has brought ten years of power, thanks to a centralised leadership system attuned to the interests of middle Britain. Without Blair this system will no longer work. So will Labour now turn to electoral…

Is Nigeria a beacon of hope, or still mired in corruption and violence? As Africa's most populous country votes for a new president in April, what is the verdict on the two terms of my friend Olusegun Obasanjo?

Nicolas Sarkozy has star appeal. But to judge from his political testimony, he lacks a coherent political philosophy and has few ideas about how to arrest France's decline