Category Archives: People

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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Widespread Violence and Insecurity Strikes the Central African Republic

BY NAKE HAKEN AND HANNAH BLYTH The Central African Republic (CAR) is a vast, beautiful land about the size of Texas, but with a fraction of its population. It is home to sprawling herds of forest elephants roaming the Dzanga-Ndoki national park along the Sangha River. Logging towns have sprung up where Muslim merchants sell […]

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Springtime for Castro and Cuba; Winter for Ukraine and Libya

BY J.J. MESSNER AND HANNAH BLYTH South Sudan has topped the Fragile States Index for the second year in succession, as the country continues to be wracked by internal conflict, fractious politics, and poverty. South Sudan is joined at the most fragile end of the Index by countries that have long struggled, such as Somalia, […]

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Fragile States Index 2015: The Book

BY J. J. MESSNER, NATE HAKEN, PATRICIA TAFT, HANNAH BLYTH, KENDALL LAWRENCE, SEBASTIAN PAVLOU, FELIPE UMAÑA 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 […]

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Violence Affecting Women and Girls Monthly Memo – April 2015

This memo covers the month of April 2015 (data coding and uploading lags by a month) for Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta.

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How Renewable Energy Can Learn from the Carbon-Based Energy Sector

BY HANNAH BLYTH and J.J. MESSNER On Monday, the leaders of the G7 made clear that our future will strongly be based on clean energy. In their meeting in the Bavarian Alps, the world’s largest industrialized economies pledged to dramatically reduce or altogether eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the century, a commitment […]

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Violence Affecting Women and Girls Monthly Memo – March 2015

This memo covers the month of March 2015 (data coding and uploading lags by a month) for the eight NSRP States: Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Delta.

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Conflict Bulletin: Rivers State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2014

BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Among the largest of the oil-producing Nigerian states, Rivers had been at the heart of the Niger Delta militancy until 2009. Now the state remains beset with a different array of political, communal, and criminal issues, including cult and gang-related violence, protests, and kidnappings. Rivers was a pivotal state […]

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Conflict Bulletin: Imo State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2014

BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Imo state has a population of approximately 3.9 million people, according to the 2006 census. The population is predominantly Igbo (98%). The capital city of Owerri is the largest in the state. Imo is made up of 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs). Natural resources include palm oil, mahogany, crude […]

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