Abridged by: Dr Kennedy Lweya – 19 June 2007
Malawi has this year been ranked the 29th failed state out of 177 states surveyed by The Fund for Peace (2007) using the Failed States Index Scores 2007.
In its article, The Fund for Peace says “We are pleased to present the third annual Failed States Index - which has been expanded to include 177 countries. Hundreds of thousands of articles from global and regional sources were collected from May to December 2006 using Thomson Dialog. Utilizing our CAST software to do initial analysis of these voluminous documents and with a review by experts, we compiled the scores below.”
“We encourage others to utilize the Failed States Index to develop ideas for promoting greater stability worldwide. We hope the Index will spur conversations, encourage debate, and most of all help guide strategies for sustainable security.”
The Twelve Indicators
These are neither exclusive nor exhaustive. You can add more measures, as appropriate.
Social Indicators
I-1. Mounting Demographic Pressures
I-2. Massive Movement of Refugees or Internally Displaced Persons creating
Complex Humanitarian Emergencies.
I-3. Legacy of Vengeance-Seeking Group Grievance or Group Paranoia
I-4. Chronic and Sustained Human Flight
Economic Indicators
I-5. Uneven Economic Development along Group Lines
I-6. Sharp and/or Severe Economic Decline
Political Indicators
I-7. Criminalization and/or Delegitimization of the State
I-8. Progressive Deterioration of Public Services
I-9. Suspension or Arbitrary Application of the Rule of Law and Widespread
Violation of Human Rights
I-10. Security Apparatus Operates as a "State Within a State"
I-11. Rise of Factionalized Elites
I-12. Intervention of Other States or External Political Actors
Scores among SADC countries - Malawi?
Only Malawi and Zimbabwe are in the Alert category (failed state) in SADC alongside Sudan , Afghanistan , Iraq , Chad and others while only South Africa is in Moderate category alongside such countries as US and UK . The rest of SADC states are in the Warning category (ie progressive) and Australia , Canada and Nordic states are in the Sustainable category.
Note: The number one or most failed state is Sudan while Norway is the most stable; Zimbabwe is number fourth most failed state.
Using Indicators above, Scores for Malawi are as follows:
(Note that the smaller the score out of 10 the better)
I-1 = 9; I-2 = 6; I-3 = 6; I-4 = 8; I-5 = 8.8; I-6 = 9.2; I-7 = 7.9; I-8 = 9; I-9 = 8; I-10 = 5.4; I-11 = 7.5; I-12 = 7.4. The total score is 92.2
Malawi ’s best score (5.4) is in the operation of the internal security apparatus “I-10 Security Apparatus Operates as a "State Within a State"”. It appears that our police and army are performing relatively well in protecting the rights of citizens and their property. It seems also that state security is enforced in accordance with the law. Congratulations to the police and the army on this.
Malawi also scores relatively well (6) in the mobility or settlement of its people in that the population has to a large extent not been displaced either internally or externally. The relative absence of Malawian internally displaced people or refugees could also be attributed to the realtive peace and calm in the country. The absence of conflict could be a good score for the security apparatus as well as governance structures in the country. A pat on the back could be due here to the governance systems: the executive, the judiciary, the legislature as well as the security apparatus. In the same manner these institutions of the state can also take credit for the country's relatively good score (6) in preventing the “Legacy of Vengeance-Seeking Group Grievance or Group Paranoia.”
Malawi ’s worst score (9.2) is in the economic sector, “Sharp and/or Severe Economic Decline.” Perhaps we need to boost, speed up and sustain the current economic progress that the country is registering.
The growing population relative to the country’s land area and resources also gives the country a bad score (9) - “Mounting Demographic Pressures.” Perhaps we need to increase our campaigns for family planning in order to contain the population pressure on the limited resources available particularly arable land, infrastructure and social services. Another alternative to meet the demands of the growing population would be to leap-frog on our socio-economic progress by diversifying our economic base - investing more in such sectors as agro-proessing, mining, small scale manufacturing and promotion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
I hope this helps to give pointers on what we should be doing to improve the lives of ordinary people in the country.
Regards
Kennedy Lweya, PhD
Source: http://www.fundforpeace.org
