The Fund for Peace, an independent research organization, and Foreign Policy magazine presented the fourth annual Failed States Index. Using 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, they ranked 177 states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration. They examined more than 30,000 publicly available sources, collected from May to December 2007, to form the basis of the index’s scores.

For each indicator, countries are given a numerical score of between one (for best performance) and 10 (for worst performance). A "failing state" was described as one in which the government does not have effective control of its territory, is not perceived as legitimate by a significant portion of its population, does not provide domestic security or basic public services to its citizens and lacks a monopoly on the use of force.

The most vulnerable states were divided into two equal categories – "critical" and "in danger." The largest single group, covering much of the Third World was assessed as "borderline," while the rest was divided into "stable" and "most stable."

Somalia took the top spot in this year's Failed States Index, replacing Sudan, which had held the dubious distinction for the past two years. Somalia scored higher than Zimbabwe, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in terms of its vulnerability to violent internal conflict and the deterioration of its civil society. Five other countries in sub-Saharan Africa - Zimbabwe, Chad, Congo-Kinshasa, Ivory Coast, and the Central African Republic - were among the top 10 most unstable in the Failed States Index.

Among the former Soviet republics, Uzbekistan ranked 26th, Tajikistan the 38th, Kyrgyzstan the 39th and Turkmenistan the 46th. Moldova took the 50th position, becoming the most unstable country in Europe. Belarus was placed the 53rd, Georgia the 56th, Azerbaijan the 64th, Kazakhstan the 101st, Ukraine the 108th, Armenia the 109th.

There are 34 stable countries that rank between the 128th and 162nd. Romania ranks the 128th, while Portugal closes this group, taking the 162nd position.

Fifteen countries are considered the most stable. These include Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Norway, which again became the safest country of those included in the ranking.// REPORTER.MD


Publication date: 28 July 2008   

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