KUCHING: A failed state is defined as a state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control.
However, it can be argued the term is subjective in its nature given that there is no single or agreed upon definition.
With this in mind, there are common characteristics and contributing factors that could lead to a state being labelled as failed.
A failed state usually has lost the capability to provide the basic functions of government such as low enforcement and justice, education, military defence, and a stable economy.
This would mean that a failed state experiences ongoing civil violence, rampant corruption, insurgency, high rates of crime, judicial incompetence as well as military interference in politics.
Social and political scientists have created rankings such as the Fragile State Index by making quantitative measurements of state failure in which the indicators encompass social, political, economic and cohesion.
Social indicators comprise of demographic pressures, refugees or internally displaced persons and external intervention while political indicators include state legitimacy, basic public services as well as human rights and the rule of law.
Economic indicators look at economic decline, uneven economic as well as human flight and brain drain (out migration of knowledgeable and skilled professionals) while cohesion indicators involve security apparatus, factionalised elites, and group grievance.
According to the Fragile States Index 2021, Yemen continues to be ranked as the most fragile state followed by Somalia, Syria, and South Sudan.
Despite a recent article ran by an international news portal describing that Malaysia had gone down the path of failed statehood, the country ranks 123 with a score of 56.9 compared to its 57.56 score in 2020, 60.50 score in 2019, 63.59 score in 2018 and 65.40 score in 2017.
The countries listed in the Fragile State Index 2021 are as follows:
1. Yemen
2. Somalia
3. South Sudan
4. Syria
5. Dr Congo
6. Central African Republic
7. Chad
8. Sudan
9. Afghanistan
10. Zimbabwe
11. Guinea
12. Haiti
13. Iraq
14. Nigeria
15. Burundi
16. Cameroon
17. Eritrea
18. Niger
19. Guinea Bissau
20. Uganda
21. Mali
22. Myanmar
23. Ethiopia
24. Pakistan
25. Kenya
26. North Korea
27. Republic Of The Congo
28. Libya
29. Ivory Coast
30. Liberia
31. Mauritania
32. Venezuela
33. Mozambique
34. Egypt
35. Angola
36. Bangladesh
37. Rwanda
38. Togo
39. Sierra Leone
40. Zambia
41. Timor Leste
42. Eswatini
43. Djibouti
44. Lebanon
45. Nepal
46. Sri Lanka
47. Gambia
48. Burkina Faso
49. Malawi
50. Papua New Guinea
