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Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Philippines, A Failed State


“What the Failed State Index means. The most striking feature of the Failed States Index is in how it is developed. The assessments of the individual indicators and their resulting overall scores are not the work of academicians, but are compilations of vast numbers of global perceptions; among the 90,000 sources are media reports, government and academic studies, commentaries from pundits at all levels, and a whole host of published statistics, all from both inside and outside the countries on the list. The FSI in a very real sense is the view the world– and the country itself– has of the Philippines. TheFSI score and ranking for the Philippines has been, since the launch of the program, a description of the global impression of the country.”

There are 12 metrics used in determining the “Failed State Index”. The higher the score the worse is the country. A score of 7 and above means a serious problem. Here the comparative scores for India and the Philippines. Unlike India, the Philippines is in the list of 60 failed and near-failed states. The Philippines was at No. 56 when these metrics were first measured and this “Failed States Index” list was first published in 2005. The Philippines is getting progressively worse. It went from 56th place in 2005 to 51st in 2010 and is at 50th place in 2011. It is fast approaching Rwanda, Cambodia and Laos who are tied at 40th place in the list.


No. Metric India’s score Philippine score
1 Mounting demographic pressures 8.3 7.3
2 Massive movement of refugees or internally displaced persons, creating complex humanitarian emergencies 4.9 6.5
3 Legacy of vengeance-seeking group grievance or group paranoia 7.3 7.2
4 Chronic and sustained human flight 6.7 6.7
5 Uneven economic development across group lines 8.9 7.1
6 Sharp and/ or severe economic decline 5 5.6
7 Criminalization and/ or delegitimization of the State 5.5 8.3
8 Progressive deterioration of public services 7 6.1
9 Suspension or arbitrary application of the rule of law and widespread violation of human rights 6 7.3
10 Security apparatus operates as a “State within a State” 7.1 8.3
11 Rise of factionalized elites 6 8.5
12 Intervention of other states or external political actors 5.1 6.1
Total 77.8 85


It seems patently clear the country has very little will to reverse its decline into the upper reaches of the list of “Failed State” nations of the world. With 41.1% of all children of high school age unable to go to school, how can it?

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