World

Somalia wins the fifth failed state title

June 19, 2012   ·   3052211 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2Fsomalia-wins-the-fifth-failed-state-title-30522Somalia+wins+the+fifth+failed+state+title2012-06-19+08%3A21%3A58Qalinle+Husseinhttp%3A%2F%2Fsomalilandpress.com%2F%3Fp%3D30522

NEW YORK — Somalia has been rated the world’s most troubled state for the fifth consecutive time, edging ahead of DR Congo, according to the latest annual Failed States Index (FSI) list.

The list which was released on Monday by Foreign Policy magazine has been commissioned by Washington-based think-tank Fund for Peace and is their eighth annual edition.

The group said the top 10 included six African nations — Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe and African Central Republic.

Some 177 countries are scored on twelve social, economic, and political indicators such as Uneven Development, State Legitimacy, Group Grievance, Human Rights and Security Apparatus. Furthermore over 100 sub-indicators are used to rate on a scale of 1-10 based on known and available data, where 0 means most stable and 10 being the least stable.

Fund for Peace said Somalia topped the list on all these counts. It cited that Somalia struggled with “widespread lawlessness, ineffective government, terrorism, insurgency, crime, and well-publicized pirate attacks against foreign vessels,” on its website.

Somalia scored perfect 10s in Refugees/IDPs and Security Apparatus, two factors indicating pressure associated with population displacement and the lack of legitimate force. Other unfortunate countries to also score 10 on their measures included Sudan (Group Grievance) and Afghanistan (External Intervention), who was ranked 6th place overall.

According to the list’s compiler, nations ranking high on the list do not necessarily indicate a state collapse. Some states with stable governments saw the index needle not budging. Other factors such as uneven development, economic decline and human-rights issues were deemed more important.

For example Greece saw its index increase by 3 percent on the list of top ten most worsened countries in the last year due to its economic crisis.

Overall the worst performer this year was Libya, which went from well outside the top 60 to top 50–16.2 percent increase. The Fund for Peace said battles between Gadhafi regime, NATO and the rebels led to the north African country’s decline.

Six Arab countries–– Libya, Syria, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt and Bahrain were among the ten most significant “worsenings” in 2012 the table revealed. The group said the Arab Spring revolution is the main reason why they have been pushed up on the list.

Other notable jumps were Japan due to the Tsunami and nuclear accident and Syria, where a devastating battle continues between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition.

Kyrgyzstan was the most improved nation in 2012–registering its best score since 2006 the American think-tank group said.

The top 10 nations on the 2012 Failed States Index are:

1) Somalia

2) Democratic Republic of Congo

3) Sudan

4) Chad

5) Zimbabwe

6) Afghanistan

7) Haiti

8) Yemen

9) Iraq

10) Central African Republic

Africa registered 17 countries in the top 25 most failed states while Asia only had two on its list — Afghanistan and North Korea. Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Norway top the list as the countries regarded as the most stable.

See Foreign Policy’s interactive Failed States Index map

Somalilandpress

June 19, 2012

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By Qalinle Hussein

Tags: Africa, failed state index, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Somalia