BY J.J. MESSNER, NATE HAKEN, KRISTA HENDRY, PATRICIA TAFT, KENDALL LAWRENCE, LAURA BRISARD, FELIPE UMANA The Fragile States Index, produced by The Fund for Peace, is a critical tool in highlighting not only the normal pressures that all states experience, but also in identifying when those pressures are pushing a state towards the brink of […]
Author Archives: FFP Interns
From Failed to Fragile: Renaming the Index
- 24 June 2014
BY KRISTA HENDRY Fragile States Index 2014 When the Failed States Index (FSI) was first published in 2005, the use of the term ‘”failed state” was designed to highlight and draw attention to the very real risk that people faced if their state failed to address the factors and conditions that we were measuring. While […]
It Takes a Generation: West African Success Stories
- 24 June 2014
BY NATE HAKEN Many truisms about peace-building incline towards pessimism. There is a “vicious cycle,” a “conflict trap,” “unintended consequences,” the problem of “political will,” and a slew of transnational “exogenous pressures” beyond the sphere of anyone’s control. Certainly, the Fragile States Index (FSI) is often perceived as a buffet of bad news stories and […]
Conflict Bulletin: Borno State – May 2014
- 07 May 2014
BY PATRICIA TAFT AND NATE HAKEN Borno State, the location of the April 2014 abduction of nearly 300 school girls, is at the heart of what has been called the “Boko Haram” insurgency. The insurgency, perpetrated by a militant group called Jamāʻat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-daʻwa wal-Jihād (JAS), began in 2009 as a mass uprising against […]
CAST Conflict Assessment Framework Manual (2014 Reprint)
- 10 March 2014
FFP focuses on developing practical strategies and constructive tools for meeting security challenges stemming from weak and failing states. One of those tools is CAST (Conflict Assessment System Tool), a methodology developed by FFP for assessing the vulnerability of states to collapse. It measures this vulnerability in pre-conflict, active conflict and post-conflict situations. The methodology […]