Author Archives: FFP Interns

Sparkling Finnish: Sustainable Scandinavia

BY HANNAH BLYTH AND J.J. MESSNER Every year, the most stable end of the Fragile States Index appears to tell a familiar story. Since the Fund for Peace began assessing all major countries in 2006, Scandinavia has held a near-monopoly on the least fragile end of the Index.

Read more ...

Looking Beneath the Total Score: United States

BY NATE HAKEN As the United States heads into a heated political campaign season, candidates are beginning to frame their take on the social, economic, and political track the country is on and what they would do to calibrate those trajectories. Certainly, to listen to pundits you might suppose that the U.S. is either going […]

Read more ...

Acropolis Wow: Greece Continues on a Slippery Slope

BY SEBASTIAN PAVLOU Frequently, attention tends to focus on countries at the most fragile end of the Fragile States Index, the inherent assumption being that perhaps those are the only countries we need worry about. But just as important as focusing upon – and actively addressing – the problems besetting countries at the worst end […]

Read more ...

A Reform Agenda: Cuba Comes in from the Cold

BY PATRICIA TAFT AND KENDALL LAWRENCE At the end of 2014, Cuba suddenly became news again when U.S. President Obama announced a plan to normalize relations with the country after nearly fifty years of political and economic isolation. But even before the announcement, Cuba was already on track to be one of the most improved […]

Read more ...

A Long Way from the Orange Revolution: Ukraine’s Fall from Grace

BY HANNAH BLYTH With the memories of optimism that came with the 2004 Orange Revolution fading, 2014 saw Ukraine once again become a regular fixture in the media headlines, but this time for far less hopeful reasons. The removal of a president, incursions by Russian-backed rebel forces and conflict throughout much of the country’s east, […]

Read more ...