Failed States Index
Foreign Policy has just published its annual Failed States Index, ranking 146 countries from Sudan to Norway in order of vulnerability to state failure.
As with all of these things, it's good to have a basis for argument. I do take issue with some of the rankings. While I don't think many people would dispute that the top eight countries on the list probably are in pretty bad shape (Sudan, DR Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia and Haiti) I'm a bit surprised to see Pakistan listed next, as being in a worse situation than Afghanistan, Guinea or Liberia. Serbia and Montenegro is very likely to split apart later this month, but is only 55th on the table. (OK, so it's not exactly "state failure", in that there will be little disruption to existing structures.)
Anyhow, food for thought.
As with all of these things, it's good to have a basis for argument. I do take issue with some of the rankings. While I don't think many people would dispute that the top eight countries on the list probably are in pretty bad shape (Sudan, DR Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia and Haiti) I'm a bit surprised to see Pakistan listed next, as being in a worse situation than Afghanistan, Guinea or Liberia. Serbia and Montenegro is very likely to split apart later this month, but is only 55th on the table. (OK, so it's not exactly "state failure", in that there will be little disruption to existing structures.)
Anyhow, food for thought.