The Failed States Index 2005: Peacekeepers on Parade
Foreign intervention is not a cure-all for states on the edge. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which hosts a 16,000 member U.N. peacekeeping force, ranks second in the index. Iraq is the fourth most vulnerable country, Haiti is 10th, Afghanistan is 11th, and Bosnia claims the 21st spot. Congo, Haiti, and Sudan are recipients ...
Foreign intervention is not a cure-all for states on the edge. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which hosts a 16,000 member U.N. peacekeeping force, ranks second in the index. Iraq is the fourth most vulnerable country, Haiti is 10th, Afghanistan is 11th, and Bosnia claims the 21st spot.
Foreign intervention is not a cure-all for states on the edge. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which hosts a 16,000 member U.N. peacekeeping force, ranks second in the index. Iraq is the fourth most vulnerable country, Haiti is 10th, Afghanistan is 11th, and Bosnia claims the 21st spot.
Congo, Haiti, and Sudan are recipients of what might be termed peacekeeping on the cheap. In none of these countries is the multinational force strong enough to assert control over the country. The small African Union force in Sudan, for example, has failed to prevent ongoing atrocities in the Darfur region. Instead, the international forces in these places have, in some ways, become additional factions in environments already chock-full of warring camps.
Overwhelming intervention, like that employed in Bosnia in 1995, is at the other end of the spectrum. There, foreign troops effectively installed an international protectorate for the ethnically divided country. Bosnia’s standing in the index is surely better than it would have been if peacekeepers had never arrived. But some observers suggest that an overweening foreign presence has stunted the country’s political development. Ten years after large-scale intervention, nobody thinks the peacekeepers can leave anytime soon.
Iraq and Afghanistan fall in between these two poles. In both countries, U.S.-led forces toppled existing governments, but they have steered away from establishing protectorates. Relatively quick elections put in place fragile new regimes that are now struggling to assert control. The fate of these experiments in nation building will shape the menu of options for future foreign interventions.
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