States of Failure 2012
June 20, 2012 9:17 AM Subscribe
The 2012 Foreign Policy/Fund for Peace list of Failed States has been published. Included in the report is the visually arresting Postcards from Hell. The complete issue on failed states is here. (Warning, slide shows and articles broken into far too many pages). (2010 Failed States Index on Mefi. 2009)
The concept of a Failed State is not without controversy. Some states dispute their failed status. (Although the Republic of South Sudan is not included in the FP list, Sudan, which by the description includes both countries, is.)
Besides the yearly issue from FP, a library of articles about failed states can be found here, including articles on "Responsibility to Protect", a resolution adopted by the UN in 2005 (updated in 2009), that specifies that when states fail, the international community as a whole has a responsibility to protect the citizens of the failed state.
The concept of a Failed State is not without controversy. Some states dispute their failed status. (Although the Republic of South Sudan is not included in the FP list, Sudan, which by the description includes both countries, is.)
Besides the yearly issue from FP, a library of articles about failed states can be found here, including articles on "Responsibility to Protect", a resolution adopted by the UN in 2005 (updated in 2009), that specifies that when states fail, the international community as a whole has a responsibility to protect the citizens of the failed state.
Initial nitpick on the map behind the second link: they seem to offer a fine nuance between "stable" (France) and "most stable" (Germany), but lump a whole bunch of disparate situations into one big lump of "critical". Philippines and Somalia in the same category? Really? And North Korea too? But the distinction between the Netherlands and Belgium was significant enough to call out?
Also, maybe it's just me, but I'm seeing dark green German/Dutch/Scandinavian countries surrounded by light green countries that are just "stable". Cultural bias creeping in?
(Controversy/dispute links are probably interesting, haven't looked that far yet.)
posted by gimonca at 9:27 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Also, maybe it's just me, but I'm seeing dark green German/Dutch/Scandinavian countries surrounded by light green countries that are just "stable". Cultural bias creeping in?
(Controversy/dispute links are probably interesting, haven't looked that far yet.)
posted by gimonca at 9:27 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Russia and China are on the borderline, but Greece is stable? Oh, FP, you are adorable.
posted by absalom at 9:35 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by absalom at 9:35 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]
Ha; I'm moving to a 'critical' country in a couple months! Hope my mom doesn't get wind of this.... I'll never hear the end of it. (Kenya's certainly no Sudan, though it does suffer from being next door...)
posted by kaibutsu at 9:47 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by kaibutsu at 9:47 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]
(Actually meant to say Somalia, there, but proximity to Sudan isn't great, either...)
posted by kaibutsu at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by kaibutsu at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2012
I've never been a fan of FP. Articles like "World's Top Ten Dictators" and "World's MOST FAILED States" are just kind of hard to take seriously.
posted by meows at 10:04 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by meows at 10:04 AM on June 20, 2012
I've never been a fan of FP. Articles like "World's Top Ten Dictators" and "World's MOST FAILED States" are just kind of hard to take seriously.
My all time fave:
"Ten Sexy Tips Guaranteed to Increase your Potentate's Potency When the Light Go Out"
posted by saulgoodman at 11:06 AM on June 20, 2012
My all time fave:
"Ten Sexy Tips Guaranteed to Increase your Potentate's Potency When the Light Go Out"
posted by saulgoodman at 11:06 AM on June 20, 2012
They need an extra category, to distinguish "critical" from "FUBAR". Philippines and Bolivia shouldn't be in the same cohort as Somalia, Yemen, or Haiti.
posted by ambrosia at 11:40 AM on June 20, 2012
posted by ambrosia at 11:40 AM on June 20, 2012
Executive summary: All the non-Balkan, non-Russian white people countries are stable, plus Japan and Argentina. Everyone else is in DANGER.
And people say FP is ethnocentric!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:54 PM on June 20, 2012
And people say FP is ethnocentric!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:54 PM on June 20, 2012
Man, that map is sloppy. I understand wanting to forgo evaluating Western Sahara, and Taiwan is a special case, but Greenland? French Guiana? LABRADOR?
posted by psoas at 3:54 PM on June 20, 2012
posted by psoas at 3:54 PM on June 20, 2012
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posted by ryanshepard at 9:27 AM on June 20, 2012 [2 favorites]