The Egyptian people, who at times since January have seemed apathetic about the future of the revolution, have shown their determination to reclaim it. The people dying on Egypt's streets are fighting for the true conditions of a just society. Elections, which in Egypt always can be manipulated, cannot be trusted to deliver that goal.

With much of the country's media under the control of the state, bloggers have filled in the void -- often beating the traditional outlets to important stories on issues ranging from parking to high-level corruption. As online media's influence rises, it is also increasingly attracting the attention of the authorities.

Not only are developing countries now providing two-thirds of global growth...but it is becoming clearer that effective development needs the participation not just of governments but of beneficiaries, local communities and citizens more broadly. And with 21st-century technology, we now have the means to make it happen.

If the State Department proves unable to maintain America’s leadership—either in physical or now increasingly in virtual environments—other institutions, individuals, networks, or governments surely will fill the vacuum, and not always in ways that serve America’s interests.

CPD Director Philip Seib was keynote speaker at the Royal Irish Academy Conference for International Affairs 2011 on November 25 in Dublin.

Egypt's Kefaya ("Enough" in Arabic) movement was in many ways the forefather of the Arab uprising. It pioneered the use of social media, mastered the art of symbolic demonstrations, and pried open a space in the Egyptian media. This opening of closed regimes to raw information and opinion, a faith in the power of public ideas, was itself one of the key ideas underpinning the Arab uprisings.

Voice of America’s Burmese Service is reporting a sharp increase in direct visits to its popular webpage since Burma’s government lifted firewall restrictions in September. Burmese Service Chief Than Lwin Htun says visits to VOA Burmese language social media sites, including Youtube and Twitter, have also increased.

The US Embassy in Jakarta has generated a fan base of 430,000 Indonesians with its two-year-old Facebook page. Embassy staffers have been operating the Facebook site as a base for public engagement, conversation, news, culture and tourism promotion.