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International-UN-NGOs
The Failed States Index
2005-07-29
This is the report referenced by the Belmont Club, an index developed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (yeah, them), the Fund for Peace (yeah, them too) and Foreign Policy magazine. Useful as a starting point for debate; one can argue the relative merits of each item in the index, but the overall composition makes some sense, at least to me.

The map can be viewed here. The rankings and the scoring can be viewed here. I don't agree with the status of some of the states, but again, it's a useful starting point.
Posted by:Steve White

#8  Nitpicking about Iraq and Afghanistan aside, this map looks pretty accurate to be honest. Let's look at it froma business prespective. North Korea, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, and so forth are "critical," as in having going-out-of-business-sales.

Check.

Bosnia, Cuba, Burma, Venesuela, and so forth are "in danger," as in running-at-a-loss.

Check.

Russia, Iran, Angola, and so forth are "borderline," as in projections-aren't-good.

Once again, check.

USA, Canada, Mexico, Western Europe, China, Australia, Brazil, and so forth are looking basically good. Can't find any economic fault with that even if I don't like the way that, say, China is run socially.
Posted by: Secret Master   2005-07-29 16:37  

#7  Ironically, years ago the National Lampoon magazine did a very detailed chart of abusive nations, and why. They did a surprisingly good job of it, and did nit pick. Granted, the problem in such charts is always one of scale, a country with 20,000 political prisoners just as guilty as a country with 20. For the times, they did cover the gamut of what we could call human rights abuses; government sanctioned intolerance, bigotry, and persecution; and self-inflicted crises like corruption and starvation.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-07-29 14:20  

#6  The chart shows Pakistan as being more stable than Afghanistan.

The main reason Afghanistan is unstable, however, is because of Pakistan's ISI.

It lists Sudan as a failed state. But it's not any more than Nazi Germany was. It's not going anywhere anytime soon no matter how much we gripe about their various genocides.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-07-29 09:06  

#5  Meh, I think "Subjective assesments in questionable categories but hey it looks good and has enough in it to satisfy everyones biases" pretty much covers it. There are countries that appear that wouldn't on my map and ones that I would include that they leave off. The chart is hard to read here so, Meh as I said.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom   2005-07-29 04:25  

#4  Subjective assesments in questionable categories but hey it looks good and has enough in it to satisfy everyones biases. So I predict it will get a lot of attention.

Otherwise I would argue that lots of states should fail and its a good thing they do and I wish it would happen faster. I cite Yugoslavia as an example.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-07-29 03:25  

#3  Identifying the Islamic "states" on the map / chart, and all the fun that will entail, lol, I'll leave to others. I'm so selfish -- all I could think about was the US. There should be a column on the chart for those who don't subscribe to Jan Egeland's 7% solution. My bad. *sniff*

Just imagine how this data would go down at Kos and DU... w00t!
Posted by: .com   2005-07-29 03:12  

#2  I'm pretty sure I'm with you, 2b. The map's got this big pretentious and pointless title block on top of North America - and you can't really see much. So are the US and Canada failed states or not? And Hans Island - Greenland is covered up, too - so how about Hans? He okay?

And the US isn't on the chart, either -- Sheesh! Heaven knows with those categories, surely we're doomed... our nation is divided along lines of, um, uh, well, er, aw heck, I might as well say it, we're divided by the will to live, to survive. About half have it, about half don't. Kinda like being able to wiggle your ears or roll your tongue. These categories make it clear we should be on that chart:

Demographic Pressures (With Abortion and Same Sex we're fadin' fast)
Refugees and Displaced Persons (Big Blue City steam grates)
Group Grievance (Whoa! 'Nuff said, eh?)
Human Flight (Lotsa big talk but, hey, they're Donks)
Uneven Development (Red suburbs vs those Blue steam vents)
Economic Decline (See Uneven Development)
Delegitimization of State (Go ahead, take a UN vote and see)
Public Services (Hmmm - lots of ways to play this one)
Human Rights (Depends on the SCOTUS makeup, doesn't it?)
Security Apparatus (Izzat in-country - or on overseas "assignment"?)
Factionalized Elites (Definitely a Blue thingy. It's a quagmire!)
External Intervention (UN, al Guardian election emails, etc)

Yep. Failed. And Doomed.

Fat Lady graphic, ya think? Or do we just wire up the ones who don't have that "will" thingy?
Posted by: .com   2005-07-29 03:02  

#1  They forgot Mass and all of the other blue states.
Posted by: 2b   2005-07-29 00:54  

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