Tag Archives: Fragile States Index

Fragile States Index 2019

BY FUND FOR PEACE 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 of failure. By highlighting pertinent issues in weak and failing states, The […]

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Breaking the Impasse in Togo

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, […]

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Nepal Enjoys the Dividends of Two Decades of Difficult Decisions

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 […]

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Yemeni Civilians Continue to Incur the Cost of Regional Power Sharing

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 […]

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No Confidence: Political In-Fighting Continues to Plague South Africa

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) […]

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Taken to the Cleaners: As Brazil Faces Significant Challenges, Hope May be in Sight

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 […]

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Stability in the Sahel Region Will Require More Than Just Counter-Terrorism

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 […]

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It’s (Not) the Economy, Stupid

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 […]

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Scraping the Barrel: Oil-Dependent Venezuela in Free-Fall

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 […]

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Fragile States Index 2018 – Annual Report

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 […]

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