Coming Up on 'This Week': 2011 Year in Review

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23, 2011— -- Sunday on a special "This Week" broadcast, we take a look back at a year to remember.

Gridlock consumed Washington all year, from the down-to-the wire standoffs over a government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling to battles on passing competing jobs plans and extending the payroll tax cut. On the campaign trail, a roller coaster Republican race heads toward its unpredictable final stretch before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.

Who were the winners and losers from a dramatic political year? What lessons were learned and how will the past year's events shape the coming election season? Senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl takes a look back at "This Year in Politics."

The political roundtable with ABC's George Will, Cokie Roberts, Jonathan Karl, and former Republican National Committee Chairman and Bush White House counselor Ed Gillespie dissect the political events of 2011 and look forward to the 2012 election year.

Then, revolt, revolution, and change across the globe: from the momentous Arab Spring protests that transformed the Middle East and North Africa and European demonstrators protesting budget cuts to the death of the North Korean dictator and the killing of Osama bin Laden. "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour examines the key events in "This Year in the World."

As American troops begin to head home from Iraq and Afghanistan, what will this year's upheaval mean for the United States in 2012 and beyond? Our foreign policy roundtable discusses the ripple effects of the year's tumultuous international events, with Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass and U.S. Institute of Peace fellow Robin Wright, the author of "Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World."