Countries are increasing beginning to resemble public companies. Like any public company, these Pty Ltd Countries can fail and go bankrupt. Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace have released the 2008 Index of failed Countries. At what point does a Country cease to exist? “When the national government loses control of all or part of its territory and is no longer able to ensure the personal safety of its citizens. When governments lose their monopoly on power and the country’s laws, and law and order begins to disintegrate. When governments can no longer guarantee essential services such as education, health and food supply, then they lose their legitimacy” (*).
In its earliest stages, failure is accompanied by increasing inflation rates and deterioration of the country’s entire infrastructure, followed thereafter by civil war, terrorism and the prevalence of organised crime.
The assessment of the health of Countries involves looking at 12 different variables, including the situation as regards human rights, public services, demographic pressure and the number of refugees. Any country that exceeds 100 points ceases to exist. In the past four years, in other words since the aforesaid Index has been calculated, the number of failed Countries has risen from 7 to 13, and the number of aspirant failed Countries, with a points score of between 90.1 and 99.3, have risen to 22.
When a Country fails, it contributes to global instability. Criminals begin to use the Country to traffic in drugs, like in Afghanistan, which has become the heroin production capital of the world. The Country hosts terrorist groups, and here Iraq is the world leader. Civil wars expand beyond the national borders, as happened in Rwanda. The environment is decimated, as has happened both in Haiti and in Somalia. Epidemics spread out of control.
At one time, the imperialist Countries represented the greatest threat to world peace. Now the failure of Countries represents the greatest threat. How many Countries need to fail before our civilisation, as we know it, disappears completely?
The top ten former Countries are, in order: Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad, Iraq, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, the Ivory Coast, Pakistan and the Central African Republic.
Finally, there is also some good news. Italy is not yet officially listed as a failed Country. This is notwithstanding the fact that this Country pretty much meets all of the criteria used to define a failed Country. Perhaps, here by us, the anti-State has replaced the State, without anyone realising what is happening.
(*) Lester Brown in “Plan B 3.0”