Failed States
List of Failed States articles

Are All States Failing States?
Every unstable country is unstable in its own way.

The Watch List
Predicting state failure isn't as hard as you think.

Was the Arab Spring Worth It?
The people of the Middle East have paid a steep price to overthrow their dictators.
10 Reasons Countries Fall Apart
States don't fail overnight. The seeds of of their destruction are sown deep within their political institutions.

How Bad Is Bad?
Although the 10 worst failed states don’t necessarily suffer from the same problems, they do share one thing in common: a miserable quality of life for most of their people. And when they’re stacked up against the United States, the meaning of “failure” is devastatingly clear.

The Worst of the Worst
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, see which countries fared worst across 12 indicators.

States of Change
Which countries gained and declined the most in this year's Failed States Index?

The Undeveloping World
The Eurozone's weakest have taken a hit in the latest Failed States Index.

Dark Crystal
Why didn't anyone predict the Arab revolutions?

The Brutal Truth
Failed states are mainly a threat to their own inhabitants. We should help them anyway.

12 Degrees of Failure
How does a weak state become a failed state?

Reality Check: How Bad Are They?
Worlds apart in language, culture, and daily routine, the top failed states still share a quality of life that is at best difficult and at worst fatal for the majority of the population.

Money Can Buy Love
China isn't just investing in minerals, oil, and other raw goods -- it's buying diplomatic favors and loyalty, too. Chinese investment by region, 2005-2009, in billions of dollars:

Actually, It’s Mountains
Sometimes the toughest obstacles are the naturally occurring ones.

Who Else Is to Blame?
From security short falls to lack of government accountibility, Mo Ibrahim, Paul Wolfowitz, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Bruce Babbitt, and Raymond C. Offenheiser explain those contributing factors that cripple societies and inevitably keep failed states failing.