BY PATRICIA TAFT AND IGNATIUS ONYEKWERE The tiny West African nation of The Gambia, a tropical country famed for its beautiful beaches, stunning vistas, and warm hospitality, has had a turbulent few years. Ruled for over two decades by President Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia experienced a progressive slide into authoritarianism from 1994 until late 2016, […]
Category Archives: Fragile States Index
Resilience Drives a Remarkable Bounce Back for Mexico
- 23 April 2018
BY MCKENZIE HORWITZ In the previous edition of the Fragile States Index (FSI), Mexico was the most worsened country — a decline in Mexico’s economy, the deteriorating status of refugees, and prevalent political corruption had pushed the country to the 88th position on the FSI in 2017, its worst ranking in over a decade. Indeed, […]
The Authoritarian’s Playbook: Central Europe’s Slide Toward Illiberalism
- 23 April 2018
BY CHARLES FIERTZ At the beginning of the 21st century, Hungary and Poland were frequently lauded as two of the most successful examples of democratic transitions, emerging from the shadow of communist dictatorships and joining the Euro-Atlantic community through membership in organizations such as NATO and the European Union.[1] Today the two countries are again […]
Fragile States Index 2018: Issues of Fragility Touch the World’s Richest and Most Developed Countries in 2018
- 19 April 2018
BY J.J. MESSNER It certainly felt like a tumultuous year in 2017. As the wars in Syria and Yemen ratcheted up in intensity, Qatar was suddenly politically, economically and physically isolated from its neighbors, Catalonia moved forward on its attempts to separate from Spain, Venezuela fell further into chaos, the United Kingdom continued to struggle […]
Isolated Qatar Worsens Amid Pressure from Regional Adversaries
- 19 April 2018
BY PATRICIA TAFT In a year of rapidly shifting priorities, alliances and politics across the greater Middle East, the small oil and gas-rich nation of Qatar took the greatest fall in the 2018 Fragile States Index (FSI). With a native population of barely 300,000 and a gross annual GDP of nearly US$181 billion, Qatar has […]
Catalan Divorce Proceedings Fuel Spanish Division and Instability
- 19 April 2018
BY AMANDA QUINN October 1, 2017 marked the beginning of an intense social, political and constitutional crisis in Spain as Catalonia, a semi-autonomous region in the northeast of Spain, attempted to secede from the rest of the country through a controversial referendum. The situation spiraled into chaos as the Spanish government first declared the referendum […]
Golden Era of Growth Fails to Mask Deeper Grievances in Ethiopia
- 14 May 2017
BY HANNAH BLYTH Since the end of an almost two-decades long civil war that began in 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has provided relative political stability and enabled strong economic development. Though an inter-state conflict with Eritrea over disputed territory flared in 1998-2000, since the ceasefire was declared between the two countries […]
From Attempted Coup to Attempted Autocracy: A Year of Instability in Turkey
- 14 May 2017
BY AMANDA QUINN Bordered by eight countries and situated between Europe and Asia, Turkey has been affected by geopolitical forces on multiple fronts. In recent years, a combination of internal and external pressures has pushed the country into challenging times, especially throughout 2016. Turkey’s overall score on the 2017 Fragile States Index worsened by 3.5 […]
Falling Behind the Pack: Brazil Endures A Difficult Year of Self-Inflicted Troubles
- 14 May 2017
BY GEORGE LEHNER Brazil showed a significant decline in the 2017 FSI, becoming the fourth most worsened country since 2016, largely as a result of a devastating recession, continued fallout from widespread political corruption probes, and the impeachment of its President. Overall, Brazil worsened by 2.9 points on its total score compared to the prior […]
Problems of the Rainbow Nation Viewed Across the Full Spectrum
- 14 May 2017
BY J.J. MESSNER Over the past decade, the Rainbow Nation has also traversed much of the color spectrum on the Fragile States Index (FSI) map. Though our color palette is simply representative of a country’s score – green to blue for the most stable, yellow to deep red for the most fragile – the changing […]