Failed states can no longer be forgotten states. Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the US and its allies have been increasingly conscious of the dangers of allowing countries to lapse into anarchy. In the year after 9/11, a revised US national security strategy summed up the new conventional wisdom: “The events of September 11th 2001 taught us that weak states, like Afghanistan, can pose as great a danger to our national interests as strong states.”
Somalia and the Congo are among the nations that are often labelled as “failed”. But – alas – there is no shortage of candidates. An annual ranking of “weak and failing” states, published by Foreign Policy magazine and the Carnegie Endowment think tank in 2007, ranked 60 vulnerable countries using an index of social, economic, political and military criteria.
