Yemen: Moving Up

Foreign Policy, in collaboration with the Fund for Peace, has published their annual “Failed States Index“, a highly scientific ranking of failed states. In what can only be interpreted as a continuation of Greg’s good news about water below, Yemen in the past year has moved up from 21st to 18th!

Wait- what’s that?

OK, I read that wrong and got excited.

At 18, Yemen is ranked as slightly more failed than the sub-sea level cyclone mating-ground Bangladesh, but happily more stable than the batshit-ocracy that is North Korea. Clearly, this is very subjective, despite the use of decimal points (and they admit it isn’t exactly foolproof, so I am not saying anything they don’t know). For instance, I am not sure how Yemen’s “Delegitimization of State” earns an 8.3. By comparison, the occasionally-genocidal government of Burundi only clocks in at 7.5. This all might be true- I am just unsure how to rank it.

I do think that this is an interesting list, and helps for those of us (me and Greg) who are entirely Yemen-focused. I think it discounts the perfect storm of disaster that is brewing in Yemen, but this is what this blog is for.

Any readers have any disputes with the list?