In our international surveys at the Pew Research Center, we explore how people in countries around the world differ on a wide range of political, economic, and social topics. But very few issues generate the kind of differences we see when we ask about homosexuality.

The fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago this month signaled the unmatched strength of U.S. economic and military power, but it also reflected the seductive charisma of American democracy and its open, pluralistic, prosperous society — or so Americans thought at the time.

The nation now most prone to such diplomatic pirouettes is the United States, still the world’s greatest power. Its strength has ever been defined, in important part, as idealism, “soft” power: belief in pluralism in politics, in free speech and a free press. These institutions are held to self-evidently good for a society: and the United States, with the European allies, has long preferred and rewarded those states which promise to follow that path.
 

According to counterinsurgency strategist David Galula, the clearest way to take support away from an insurgent is to hold successful elections. Elections are the most visible way a population demonstrates their choice for the government rather than the insurgent. 

 The highest ranking military officer in the nation paid a visit to Syracuse University October 31 where he talked about everything from the military’s role in the Middle East to cyber attacks.

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and PBS LearningMedia will host a series of blended online and in-person conversations about ancient civilizations with high school students, the first of which will take place on Wednesday, October 22.