I live in the thirty-sixth most failed state in the world...
4 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Wednesday, August 22 at Wednesday, August 22, 2007.
Yikes. Tied with Rwanda...
Egypt is high on the list thanks to its high 9/10 score in the "Delegitimization of the State" criterion, among other things. The researchers define it as as:
7: Criminalization and/or Delegitimization of the State
Egypt is high on the list thanks to its high 9/10 score in the "Delegitimization of the State" criterion, among other things. The researchers define it as as:
7: Criminalization and/or Delegitimization of the State
- Massive and endemic corruption or profiteering by ruling elites
- Resistance of ruling elites to transparency, accountability and political representation
- Widespread loss of popular confidence in state institutions and processes, e.g., widely boycotted or contested elections, mass public demonstrations, sustained civil disobedience, inability of the state to collect taxes, resistance to military conscription, rise of armed insurgencies
- Growth of crime syndicates linked to ruling elites
Hey Tom,
I dunno if I agree with the ranking. I also dunno if FfP has any credibility for me to accept its results or even take it with a grain of salt.
I am not saying it is a conspiracy t make Egypt look bad, I am just saying i don't agree with their analysis. it is too grim.
The part that stood out is:
"Widespread loss of popular confidence in state institutions and processes, e.g., widely boycotted or contested elections, mass public demonstrations, sustained civil disobedience, inability of the state to collect taxes, resistance to military conscription, rise of armed insurgencies"
This of course fails to mention that according to their finding, Syrian economy is doing better and its government has more legitimacy than Mubaraks.
Assem,
I also don't know much about the Fund for Peace, but their research was published in Foreign Policy magazine, which is about as credible as it gets.
As far as economy goes, from what I can remember, Syria has a higher GDP per capita than Egypt. And from friends I know who have been there, I have always heard that the standard of living there seems higher.
I agree that Egypt seems to be doing a better job of raking in foreign direct investment and liberalizing/privatising, etc. But the benefits of this growth are going exclusively to the elites.
I'm guessing Egypt's poor ranking in the Economy category came from the "Uneven economic development along group lines" category, which is defined as:
* Group-based inequality, or perceived inequality, in education, jobs, and economic status
* Group-based impoverishment as measured by poverty levels, infant mortality rates, education levels
* Rise of communal nationalism based on real or perceived group inequalities
All three of these a massively, undeniably a major force in Egypt right now, as I am sure you are aware.
About the legitimacy thing - to me, "widespread loss of confidence in state institutions and processes" sounds like a perfect way to describe the average Egyptian's relationship to the government.
I know what you mean though, it is funny that Egypt comes out above Syria - athough they are so close (like 4 places) and it is a complicated index of lots of relatively subjective criteria, so the margin of error is probably high enough to make the difference irrelevant.
for me, i imagine it like this:
bottom 20: things are always blowing up.
20-40: nothing works, but there are hardly any explosions
40-60: things work often enough that people believe that they deserve for them to work
60 and up: you can drink the water
hehehe jesse thats hilarious.
an explodeyness index would indeed be a useful tool for we nomads...