A host of important topics are discussed on the Fragile States Index website, Foreign Policy. The concerns discussed focus on global defense, which has been a problem around borders, territories, countries, and the entire globe. It just takes a small amount of regional volatility to spread to the global level, particularly in recent years (Foreign Policy, 2015). The aim of this essay is to examine the material available on the website and, in particular, to use it to address the case study of Iraq.
The Website in Brief
The website delves into the global insecurity that has afflicted a number of countries and states. The affected nations have taken the issue of instability far to an extent that it spills past their borders. In light of this, the people are affected due to constant state of turmoil that fills such countries posing a myriad negative effects. For 12 years, the Fragile States Index (FSI) was created by Funds for peace and published by Foreign Policy. This was mandated to publish vital information about countries basing on the economic, social, and political elements that examined how political shifts, environmental calamities, peace accords, and wars have made countries stable or crush. In this regard, the index ranks the countries on their degree of fragility (Foreign Policy, 2015).
The fragile index increased due to countries becoming unstable. Syria civil wars that commenced in 2011 became intense in 2015 in the Middle East registering high number of asylums in the region. This chaos spread faster like wild fire to most countries in Europe making a number of countries rising up in the fragile index. Also, Hungary and Central Europe countries had intense xenophobic backlash where human's rights were violated. These led to increased number of migrants to Britain which consequently made Britain leave the European Union. West Africa suffered the same challenge from the Boko Haram who destabilized countries such as Cameroon, Niger, and Chad. The instability led to majority of people living as refugees (Foreign Policy, 2015).
The website further gives overall rank, score, and indicators scores about those countries that have constant regional instability. The defining measures of the fragile states index is on the basis of a number of parameters. These parameters are demographic pressures, security apparatus, human flight, group grievance, refugees and internally displaced persons (Foreign Policy, 2015).
Analysis of Iraq's FSI
The tone of the website on the case of Iraq is hopeful, despite being position 11 in the overall rank, and 104.7 score. There is a promising room for change since the indicator scores has been dropping from the year 2006 to 2011 and has remained constant since then to 2015 (Ismael & Ismael, 2015).
Furthermore, the website approaches the country objectively without passing judgement based on the historical turmoil experienced over the past. Though, the country is high in the fragile states index, the site is positive about the country (Kaplan, 2014).
Based on what I have learnt from other sources, for instance, through Google Scholar and PubMed, the website does not give an accurate portrayal of Iraq.
The reality as per the security atmosphere of Iraq does not match the information in the website. Iraq is a polarized country in terms of her security and that of her people. More information is not adequately discussed about the migrants, political divide among the parties and leaders, and the ultimate state of the country in terms of peace in the recent past.
References
Foreign Policy. (2015). Fragile States Index. [Retrieved on October 13, 2017] from: http://foreignpolicy.com/fragile-states-index-2016-brexit-syria-refugee-europe-anti-migrant-boko-haram/
Ismael, T. Y., & Ismael, J. S. (2015). Iraq in the twenty-first century: regime change and the making of a failed state (Vol. 34). Routledge.
Kaplan, S. (2014). Identifying truly fragile states. The Washington Quarterly, 37(1), 49-63.
