the failed states index

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THE FAILED STATES INDEXSource: Foreign Policy, No. 180 (July/August 2010), pp. 74-77Published by: Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLCStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20753963 .Accessed: 14/06/2014 09:43

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THE FAILED

STATES INDEX

2010

The io states that fill out the top ranks of this

year's Failed States Index?the world's most vulner able nations?are a sadly familiar bunch. Shattered Somalia has been the No. 1 failed state for three years running, and none of the current top 10 has shown much improvement, if any, since Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace began publishing

the index in 2005. Altogether, the top 10 slots have rotated among just 15 unhappy countries in the index's six years. State failure, it seems, is a chronic condition.

This year's index draws on 90,000 publicly avail able sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them

on 12 metrics of state decay?from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats. Taken

together, a country's performance on this battery of indicators tells us

how stable?or unstable?it is. And unfortunately for many of the 60 most troubled, the news from 2009 is grave.

At the top of the list, Somalia saw yet another year plagued by lawless ness and chaos, with pirates plying the coast while radical Islamist militias

tightened their grip on the streets of Mogadishu. Across the Gulf of Aden,

long-ignored Yemen leapt into the news when a would-be suicide bomber who had trained there tried to blow up a commercial flight bound for Detroit. Afghanistan and Iraq traded places on the index as both states

contemplated the exit of U.S. combat troops, while already isolated Sudan saw its dictator, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, defy an arrest warrant from the

International Criminal Court and the war-ravaged Democratic Republic

of the Congo once again proved itself a country in little more than name.

Even good news for these plagued states came tempered by hard facts. A co

alition government in Zimbabwe whipped history's second-worst bout of hy

perinflation, fostering the country's first year of positive growth in more than a

decade, and Sri Lanka crushed its Tamil Tiger insurgency. But Robert Mugabe's security goons still rule Harare unchecked, while the Sri Lankan government

stands accused of committing gross human rights violations.

Given time and the right circumstances, countries do recover. Sierra Leone

and Liberia, for instance, no longer rank among the top 20 failing states, and Colombia has become a stunning success story. Few remember today

that the Dominican Republic once vied with its neighbor Haiti for the title of "worst Caribbean basket case." But the overall story of the Failed States Index is one of wearying constancy, and 2010 is proving to be no different: Crises in Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, and Nigeria?among others?threat

en to push those unstable countries to the breaking point.

Sudan

Zimbabwe

Dem. Rep. of the Congo

Afghanistan

Iraq Cen. African Rep. Guinea

Ivory Coast

Kenya

Nigeria Yemen

Burma

Ethiopia East Timor^

Niger North Korea

Uganda Guinea-Bissau

Burundi

Bangladesh Sri Lanka

Cameroon

Nepal Malawi

Sierra Leone

Eritrea_

Rep. of the^ongo

Burkina Faso

Uzbekistan

Georgia

Tajikistan Mauritania

Cambodia

Laos

Rwanda_

Solomonjslands

Equatoria[Guinea

Kyrgysstan Colombia

Togo _

Syria _

Egypt_

Bhutan_

Philippines Comoros

Bolivia_

Israel/WesJJSank

Azerbaijan

Papua NewJSuinea Zambia

Angola

Bosnia-Herzegovina

76 Foreign Policy



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12 DEGREES OF FAILURE Each weak state is beset by a unique set of troubles. One country's chief woe might be stag gering economic decline while another's is the rapid brain drain of its best and brightest. Here are the worst performers in each of the index's 12 indicators?and how things got so bad.

ILLEGITIMATE GOVERNMENTS Afghanistan, Somalia 10

DEMOGRAPHICS Democratic Repub lic of the Congo (DRC) 9.9 of 10

If you live in Congo, there's about a

50-50 chance you are under age 14.

Population growth hovers at a fast

paced 3 percent annually, despite civil war, a sky-high infant mortality rate, and pervasive infec tious disease.

REFUGEES Somalia 10

Almost a quarter of Somalia's population, or about 2 million people, has been

uprooted by conflict in recent years.

Somalia's Western backed government controls just a few blocks in Mogadi shu. In Afghanistan, a thriving Taliban in

surgency, the pres ence of international

troops, and a flawed

presidential election have undermined the government's legitimacy.

BRAIN DRAIN Zimbabwe 9.7

One out of every five Zimbabweans has fled the country over the past decade?many of

them professors, doctors, engineers, lawyers, and

journalists.

PUBLIC SERVICES Niger 9.7

Niger may well be the poorest country in the world. The

government lacks

any ability to provide services such as education and health care;

rampant illiteracy

and high rates of infant mortality are the abysmal result.

INEQUALITY DRC, Sudan 9.5

The tiny elites in Congo and Sudan have profited enormously from resource wealth.

Overwhelming majorities in both countries, meanwhile, remain

desperately poor.

GROUP GRIEVANCES Sudan 9.9

Sudan's south, east, and west are all in some stage of

seeking autonomy from the capital in Khartoum, citing grievances that

range from govern ment neglect to active persecution.

HUMAN RIGHTS Somalia, Sudan 9.9

Having a president indicted for war crimes isn't a good sign, but the real measure of Sudan's woeful human rights record is its history of subduing restive regions through massive brutality.

ECONOMIC DECLINE North Korea, Somalia, Zimbabwe 9.6

Dictators in North Korea and Zimbab we have rigged their economies to funnel

profits into regime hands?even with their national markets in complete

SECURITY FORCES Somalia 10

In a few parts of Mogadishu, the

government or African Union

arem control. Elsewhere, it's Islamist militias, local warlords, or an

assortment of rival clan factions.

FACTIONALIZED ELITES Somalia 10

Islamist and clan

organizations vie for

control throughout the country, and internal shake-ups have made the gov ernment spectacu larly unstable.

EXTERNAL INTERVENTION Afghanistan 10

NATO forces are not alone in trying to direct Afghanistan's future: Pakistan, India, Iran, Russia, and China are also

pursuing divergent interests there.

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SCORES, SEE FOREIGNPOLICY.COM/FAILEDSTATES OR FUNDF0RPEACE.ORG. T July | August 2010 77



Article Contentsp. 74p. [75]p. 76p. 77

Issue Table of ContentsForeign Policy, No. 180 (July/August 2010), pp. 1-38, 1-34, 73-112Front MatterLETTER FROM THE EDITOR [pp. 1-1]LETTERSMan Without a Plan [pp. 12-13]Food Fight [pp. 13-15]Time Bomb [pp. 15-15]Wiring Democracy [pp. 15-15]

IN BOX [pp. 17-22, 24, 26]THINK AGAINRONALD REAGAN [pp. 28-33]

NIGHT OF THE LIVING WONKS [pp. 34-38]THE FAILED STATES INDEX [pp. 74-77]THE FAILED STATES INDEX: HOW BAD ARE THEY? [pp. 78-79]IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS SOMALIA [pp. 80-84]MOGADISHU WAS A BLAST [pp. 83-83]WATCH LIST [pp. 84-85]THE ORIGINAL FAILED STATE PRIME NUMBERS: THE PIRATE DEN [pp. 86-87]BAD GUYS MATTER [pp. 88-89]THE WORST OF THE WORST [pp. 90-91]THE BAD GUYS FRANCOIS BOZIZE: A LITERAL DISASTER [pp. 92-97]THE UNITED NATIONS [pp. 98-99]BEIJING'S COALITION OF THE WILLING [pp. 100-102]LA VIE EN %$! [pp. 102-103]WHO ELSE IS TO BLAME? [pp. 104-105]IN OTHER WORDSMISREADING TEHRAN [pp. 106, 108-109]WHAT WE GOT WRONG [pp. 109-110]IRAN'S HIDDEN CYBERJIHAD [pp. 110-111]

RAMADAN [pp. 112-112]Back Matter

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