Author Archives: FFP Interns

Total Scores Are Not All That They Seem: The Cases of Iran, Lebanon, and Russia

BY HANNAH BLYTH In viewing the annual Fragile States Index scores for a particular country, it is important to look at the underlying indicators to properly understand a country’s challenges and performance. Even where a country may have an overall trend in one direction, its individual indicators may actually be heading in very different directions. […]

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A Tough Neighborhood: Kenya Weathers Regional Instability

BY PATRICIA TAFT AND KENDALL LAWRENCE Long considered an anchor of relative stability in East Africa, Kenya is considered to be one of the strongest emerging markets in Africa. Despite significant pressures, their economy continues impressive growth, with the World Bank projecting continued gains over the next few years. Kenya has also made significant gains […]

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Crumbling Roads and a Health Crisis: West Africa Confronts Ebola

BY PATRICIA TAFT In December 2013 in a tiny village in Guinea, a young child fell ill and died of a disease that would come to define much of the news in 2014. The Ebola virus, previously only known in Central and East Africa, laid ravage to large swaths of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, […]

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Beating the Odds: Nigeria Defies Predictions of Doom

BY NATE HAKEN The world is not deterministic. People have a say. If ever there was any doubt, Nigeria belied that notion with elections in March and April of this year in which the sky did not fall as just about everybody feared it might. Yes, there were reports of rigging and violence at various […]

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Arab Spring Turns to Winter for Much of Middle East, North Africa

BY FELIPE UMAÑA Only a few years ago, much of the Fragile States Index analysis was following the aftermath of the Arab Spring. At the time, there was significant hope for the future, as the despotic regime of Muammar Gaddafi fell in Libya, similarly undemocratic regimes collapsed in Egypt and Tunisia, and other countries hastily […]

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