BY JOSHUA ZAKHAROV In August 2016, Juan Manuel Santos, then President of Colombia, and Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, then leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), shook hands in Havana to seal an agreement that would end a decades-long civil conflict that had caused hundreds of thousands of casualties while displacing millions. The agreement […]
Category Archives: Fragile States Index 2018
Breaking the Impasse in Togo
- 15 May 2018
BY MARCEL MAGLO Despite a limited democratic space in Togo, civil society and the political opposition have nevertheless managed to position themselves as a force to be reckoned with. In 2005, President Gnassingbé Eyadéma died after ruling the country for almost four decades. To succeed him, the military installed the late president’s son, Gnassingbé Faure, […]
Nepal Enjoys the Dividends of Two Decades of Difficult Decisions
- 10 May 2018
BY TRACE CARLSON Over the past 20 years, Nepal has experienced a decade-long civil war, extensive constitutional and political reforms, and horrendous natural disasters that have affected over 6 million people. Nevertheless, Nepal has demonstrated remarkable resiliency throughout these challenges to emerge as the third most improved country in the world in the 2018 Fragile […]
Yemeni Civilians Continue to Incur the Cost of Regional Power Sharing
- 09 May 2018
MCKENZIE HORWITZ As the civil war in Yemen entered its fourth year, the humanitarian crisis in the country only worsened in 2017 with soaring levels of hunger and malnutrition, an unprecedented spread of cholera, and a widespread campaign of airstrikes on civilian communities. This led to Yemen scoring as the third-most worsened country in the […]
No Confidence: Political In-Fighting Continues to Plague South Africa
- 08 May 2018
BY OLIVER CHANDLER South Africa grabbed the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2017 with political brawls, corruption allegations, cabinet reshuffles and political infighting. In August, South African President Jacob Zuma narrowly survived an eighth vote of no confidence in his leadership, only to be usurped as leader of the African National Congress (ANC) […]
Taken to the Cleaners: As Brazil Faces Significant Challenges, Hope May be in Sight
- 07 May 2018
BY CHARLES FIERTZ Brazil continued the four-year slide that began in 2014, the year that saw the beginning of Operação Lava Jato (“Operation Car Wash”) as well as the global crash of commodity prices that had driven the Brazilian boom in growth that had helped lift tens of millions out of poverty. In contrast, the […]
Stability in the Sahel Region Will Require More Than Just Counter-Terrorism
- 03 May 2018
BY CHRISTINA MURPHY The deaths of four U.S. soldiers in a remote region of Niger in October 2017 suddenly brought the Sahel region of West Africa to the attention of the American public and lawmakers, many of whom were previously unaware of there being any American military engagement in the region. The soldiers and their […]
It’s (Not) the Economy, Stupid
- 30 April 2018
BY NATE HAKEN It was a rough year for the United States in 2017. It was the country’s worst year for hurricanes – Irma, Harvey, and Maria caused hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of damage in the Gulf Coast. It was the worst year for wildfires – over a million acres burned in California […]
Scraping the Barrel: Oil-Dependent Venezuela in Free-Fall
- 27 April 2018
BY HANNAH BLYTH When the 14-year rule of the populist President Hugo Chávez came to an end upon his death in 2013, Venezuela was already well down the path to instability. Chávez’s death made way for his handpicked successor Nicolás Maduro who, in stark contrast to Chávez’s cult of personality, many Venezuelans have come to […]
Fragile States Index 2018 – Annual Report
- 24 April 2018
BY J.J. MESSNER, NATE HAKEN, PATRICIA TAFT, IGNATIUS ONYEKWERE, HANNAH BLYTH, CHARLES FIERTZ, CHRISTINA MURPHY, AMANDA QUINN, MCKENZIE HORWITZ 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 […]