The 25 Most Failed States On Earth{photos}

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-25-most-failed-states-on-earth-2013-6?op=1

#25 ERITREA: A small country in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea has been under dictatorial rule since 1993, when it gained independence from Ethiopia. Eritreans have suffered from military clashes with the Ethiopians and years of failed governance. Eritrea scores worst on human rights, demographic pressures, and legitimacy of state.


#23 LIBERIA (tie): Among the poorest countries in the world, Liberia suffers from a near total lack of infrastructure like clean water, public telephones, or sewage. The West African country also has a huge problem with refugees and internally displaced persons.


#23 NORTH KOREA (tie): Called the Hermit Kingdom for its seclusion from the outside world, North Korea got a terrible score for legitimacy of state. Human rights violations are rampant, and aid organizations estimate more then 2 million have died since the mid 1990s over food shortages alone.


#22 UGANDA: Uganda's worst tally is from mounting demographic pressures. 6.5% of the adult population has HIV or AIDS.

[dickthegrouch]

1. There's a gun in almost every picture

Greed and indifference by the 1% is the problem.

Guns are NOT the solution.

[Igel]

5. Important observation if the pictures were random.

They were chosen. There could have been a gun in every picture. Or a starving child and no gun in every picture. Or a rich fat guy in every picture.

The pictures are there to support the text, or so the text can be commentary to a visual.

[treestar]

2. Mostly in Africa

It seems in cases where they peel off a new country, it isn't helping much: Eritrea and South Sudan.

[Igel]

6. Countries that "peel off" are usually outlier territories.

They think they've been oppressed and that without their oppressors they'd immediately be wealthy. Doesn't work that way. Also works in Europe--Slovakia wasn't an immediate success (hear about them recently? no?); Transdniestria is a recurring disaster.

You don't want to ponder some of the former Soviet republics. Just think what some of the regions that wanted to breakaway in the early '90s would be like today if they had succeeded.

Bosnia-Herzegovina isn't a shining light of wealth and civilization. Nor is Macedonia. Both thought themselves eagles bound in oppressors' chains. Both turned out to be kiwis.

Catalonia, were it independent, might be different. Might not be.

Same with Eritrea. S. Sudan. They have a larger issue, though--riven by tribal rivalries, they've never had a system that encouraged integration and assimilation to a single prestige norm. Instead, their governments focused on a single official culture or on keeping everybody in subjection. Instead, leaders see themselves as tribe members first and national leaders second; this leads them, as did leaders in some of the ethnically-riven countries in Europe, to funnel all good things to their own and bad things to their opponents. (Tito in Jugoslavija was rather the opposite--and had ethnic loyalty from his "tribe" and bribed loyalty from others.)

[MrScorpio]

11. Africa was intentionally destroyed by Europe and the West

Even a mere fifty years after independence, it's still under Europe's economic boot, not mention the inability of much of the continent to recover from the Cold War.

No real solutions, nations ruled by dictators supported by the Western Powers and First World military adventurism.

These things are not by accident.

[Delphinus]

24. I had wondered about that.

Thanks to you and Igel, I am learning a lot.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Where is the USA on this list?

Highest number of prisoners per capita; highest proportion of prisoners in solitary confinement (which is state-sanctioned torture); most guns per capita, most gun deaths per capita, greatest wealth disparity, third-world infrastructure, routine crises of governance (debt ceiling/government shutdown)...if not "failed" it's potentially failing.

[Dash87]

7. The US isn't a failed state. Not even close.

[Kurska]

9. Man what a first world way of thinking.

The united states has problems, but they pale in comparison to these nations. We're talking about states where society itself is collapsing. I know people really like to doom and gloom everything, but as long as your mail is being delivered, you can reliable get food/clean water and country isn't ruled by militias from ethnic groups that all want to murder each other, you're way better off than the third world.

Is American perfect? By no means we have massive problems, but people who claim the united states is third world or approaching third world just don't understand just how bad the third world is.

America's life expectancy is about two decades higher than even the best on that list and nearly 3 decades higher than the worst.

[geomon666]

4. Lot of African states listed here

Just so much corruption and bullshit going on, nobody has a chance to actually fix anything before the next coup or extremist group comes in to fuck everything up yet again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. I noticed that too

And geographically close to each other to boot.

Of course thé two we intervened at, and a third that is an "ally"."

[panader0]

8. Hey White people: How'd that imperialism thing work out for you?

Hey Big Pharma-Cut loose the medicine and patents on HIV/AIDS drugs.
All of these "failed" states were set up to fail by imperialists looking foe conquests.
I am white, and feel shame.

[Kurska]

12. "All of these "failed" states were set up to fail by imperialists" Not all of them.

North Korea has also, to my knowledge, never been a colony of any nation with a majority of white people.

Liberia was initially set up to be kind of an anti-colony where African Americans could return to Africa.

Many of these nations were also formed by revolts, not by western intevention.

But nearly all of them are former colonies, no one is disputing that.

A lot of these nations are so poor they don't even strike up the interests of "imperialists" in my opinion, they are just abandoned as dead spots for human development.

[panader0]

13. How about "most" then?

[Kurska]

14. There ya go n/t

[KentuckyWoman]

27. What a paternalistic thing to say.

Human habitation in Africa and the Middle East has successfully survived all sorts of crisis. White people can sit around slap labels on other people or attempt to meddle... but white invaders are the least of their worries.

[progressoid]

15. #11 IRAQ #7 AFGHANISTAN

Woohoo. Good thing we brung them some good ole 'Murican democracy!

#11 IRAQ: Though U.S. forces withdrew in 2011, terrorism and violence in Iraq continued, with hundreds killed so far this year. The Middle Eastern oil power gets the worst possible score for vengeance-seeking group grievance.

#7 AFGHANISTAN: After U.S.-led regime change and more than a decade of U.N.-led reconstruction, Afghanistan got the worst possible score for foreign intervention. The country has emerged with weak security apparatus and a frail government, among other problems.

[JI7]

21. i think Afghanistan would have been on the list even if we had never gone in, but Iraq probably

wouldn't.

[rug]

17. Where's Mississippi?

[RKP5637]

26. +1, n/t

[JI7]

18. it looks like Ethiopia and Eritrea would both be better off if they were one country

[JI7]

20. many of these were left behind after the end of the cold war

i think the world should have done some marshall plan type thing in many of these places.

it's too bad because many of them have such an incredible history like ethiopia and somalia.

[jessie04]

23. Darn...I guess I won't be vacationing in Somalia this year.

eos

[davidpdx]

25. African and the Middle Eastern countries

These countries are in need of some serious help.