SOMALIA:SOMALIA HAS for the first time been ranked as the most unstable country in the world, while Israel has fallen into the ranks of the 60 weakest states, according to an annual assessment of the world's most troubled nations.
The 2008 Failed States Index, which is produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, also argues that Sudan, with its crisis in Darfur, is the world's second most unstable country.
Sudan is closely followed by Zimbabwe and then Chad, where Irish troops are serving in an EU peace-enforcement mission. The country's economic crisis and political turmoil have triggered the slide in this year's index.
Israel's low score - it ranks 58th on the list - reflects, in the words of the report, "deteriorating security in the West Bank, the country's sharp economic disparities, political stalemates, ongoing violence, and its failure to fully integrate its Arab minority".
According to this year's index, seven of the top 10 most unstable countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. With Chad taking fourth place for political instability, sub-Saharan states occupy four of the top five places in the index.
Fifth place goes to Iraq. This is an improvement on last year, when the country was ranked as the second most unstable nation.
The US military surge has been a key factor in the country's performance in the index this year.
One of the biggest declines in this year's index is registered by Bangladesh, now in 12th place. According to the report, a feuding, deadlocked government, the imposition of emergency rule last year, and the devastation wrought by a cyclone last November that left 1.5 million people homeless combined to reverse much of the country's recent economic progress.
The 2008 index ranks 177 states according to 12 social, economic, political, and military indicators, based on data from more than 30,000 publicly available sources. - (Financial Times service)