The 2010 Failed States Index

Quetta, Pakistan--in the aftermath of a bomb that killed six people. SFCG has recently helped launch a Radio for Peacebuilding project in the country.

Foreign Policy Magazine and The Fund for Peace have released their 2010 Failed States Index. The index is produced annually and is 60 countries long. It bases its findings on 12 indicators of state decay including fictionalized elites, brain drain and group grievances. 

In the five years that the study has been published the top 10 spots have rotated amongst only 15 countries. Somalia (to no one’s surprise) once again tops the list for the third year in a row. The top 5 are all in Africa. Speaking to this lack of improvement–what FP calls a “chronic condition”, James Traub writes, “The remarkable fixity of the Failed States Index stands as a reproach to America’s nonchalant faith in progress and its own capacity to solve the world’s woes.” 

Search for Common Ground works in 16 of the top 60 countries, four of those (Zimbabwe, DRC, Guinea and Pakistan) being in the top 10. 

The photojournalism series Postcards from Hell (from which the above picture is taken)offers a haunting glimpse into the 60 troubled states. See them and more from this issue that is a must-read for those interested in conflict transformation: FP Failed States Index.