BY JACOB GRUNBERGER The advent of chemical weapons, originally in the forms of chlorine and mustard gasses, is often attributed to being a direct byproduct of the industrialized nature of World War I. The first major use of this technology occurred on April 22, 1915 by the German military at Leper, Belgium. After witnessing the […]
Category Archives: People
Greater Site and Community Security through Partnerships
- 01 September 2013
BY KRISTA HENDRY The Fund for Peace Commentary This paper examines issues related to ensuring greater site and community security through collaborative efforts, focusing on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs). It provides background on the VPs for those less aware of the initiative. It then discusses company and non-governmental organizations developing […]
Security Sector Reform and the Private Sector: Bringing New Voices and Skills into the VPs
- 23 August 2013
BY KRISTA HENDRY The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs) were developed to address the issue of oil, gas and mining companies’ association with human rights abuses in relation to the provision of security. This was – and continues to be – particularly true when these companies are operating in remote, less governed […]
Conflict Bulletin: Rivers State – August 2013
- 21 August 2013
BY NATE HAKEN* Rivers, among the largest of the oil-producing Nigerian states, had been at the heart of the Niger Delta militancy until 2009. Now it is beset with a different array of issues as former combatants have turned to criminality, and uneven economic development continues to pose a challenge to sustainable peace and human […]
The Year of Red-Line Diplomacy
- 24 June 2013
BY PATRICIA TAFT The top several tiers of the annual Failed States Index (FSI) are often occupied not only by weak and fractured states at risk for conflict, but also states that have, over the years, been the proverbial thorns in the side of the international community. Each year these chart toppers, often impervious by […]
Failed States Index 2013: The Book
- 24 June 2013
BY J.J. MESSNER, NATE HAKEN, KRISTA HENDRY, PATRICIA TAFT, KENDALL LAWRENCE, SEBASTIAN PAVLOU, FELIPE UMANA The Failed 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 of […]
Failed States Index 2013: The Troubled Ten
- 24 June 2013
BY J.J. MESSNER AND KENDALL LAWRENCE Though it is called the Failed States Index, that is not to say that every country on the FSI is a failed state — after all, Finland is ranked on the FSI. That is also not to say that any country on the FSI is necessarily failed — though […]
Most Worsened Country for 2013: Mali
- 24 June 2013
BY SEBASTIAN PAVLOU 2012 saw Mali’s embroilment in a series of compounding political, security and humanitarian crises. An armed conflict has broken out in northern Mali since January 16, 2012 involving several insurgent groups rebelling against the Malian government for the independence of the northern region of Azawad. Further complications arose when Malian soldiers, dissatisfied […]
Multidimensional Solutions: The Four D’s of Human Security
- 24 June 2013
BY KRISTA HENDRY Tackling state fragility — once it has been identified by tools such as the Failed States Index (FSI) — is by no means a simple or straightforward task. Nor is it a one-dimensional task that can be undertaken alone. Building a state and society that protects human security requires a multifaceted strategy […]
No State is an Island: The Importance of a Multisectoral Approach
- 24 June 2013
BY KRISTA HENDRY In the 2013 Failed States Index (FSI), we call attention to the linkages between the underlying causes of state fragility. Essentially, no state is an island, and pressures in one state, no matter how seemingly isolated, often lead to wider destabilization. The pressures that can underlay and lead to conflict are normally […]