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As 2013 comes to a close, efforts to revive growth in the world’s most influential economies are exerting competing pressures on the global economy. Perhaps not surprisingly, while Europe and the US will continue to play an important global role, developments in Asia will determine the worldwide outlook in 2014 and beyond.

To the relief of the Saudi royals, the Arab Spring did not lead to the creation of functioning democracies in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, or Syria. Still, these countries' popular uprisings did fundamentally undermine the pillars of the old regional system with which the Kingdom was so comfortable.

This year marks the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, which is reason enough to reflect on what this seminal European catastrophe teaches us today. Indeed, the Great War’s consequences for international relations and the global system of states continue to be felt.

The Middle East's recent turbulence has made forecasting the course of events there even more treacherous than usual. But, as became increasingly clear in 2013, the source of the region's crises is not a “clash of civilizations,” but a clash within Islam, centered on the Sunni-Shia divide.

The Middle East's recent turbulence has made forecasting the course of events there even more treacherous than usual. But, as became increasingly clear in 2013, the source of the region's crises is not a “clash of civilizations,” but a clash within Islam, centered on the Sunni-Shia divide.

With the rising Iranian threat fostering tacit security cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors, one might expect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to aspire to resolving the Palestinian problem, thus removing the last obstacle to an overt strategic partnership. But Netanyahu’s school of thought is radically different.

With the rising Iranian threat fostering tacit security cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors, one might expect Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to aspire to resolving the Palestinian problem, thus removing the last obstacle to an overt strategic partnership. But Netanyahu’s school of thought is radically different.

The Ukraine crisis should not be allowed to obscure the full range of challenges that the world faces. In fact, the standoff is more likely to be resolved constructively within a framework that seeks consensus on a broader agenda.

China is on the brink of large, necessary, and dangerous transformations that promise to change the country for the better – or make everything, including regional stability, much worse. The entire world has a large stake in what happens next.