When Saudi Arabia’s king suddenly issued a decree allowing women to drive, rights campaigners around the world took heart that things are changing in one of the world’s most repressive states. But are they? Haifaa Jawad unpacks the real motives of a government under intense pressure at home and abroad – and badly in need of some good PR.

Common caricatures about North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un, are common currency. Benjamin Habib explains why it’s important to get beyond these if the world wants to interpret the threat posed by the country from an informed perspective based on strategic logic rather than misrepresentations.