[kictanet] Failed States Index 2012 - Kenya #16, Somalia #1, Libya #50 (???),

[Warigia Bowman]

Yes, I think it is completely unreasonable for Foreign Policy to give Kenya
this rating.

Kenya certainly has problems, but I am in Egypt right now, and from my
perspective, Kenya looks pretty good.

I think it is rather insulting that Myanmar gets a better rating than Kenya
or Uganda. Good grief. Part of the problem is the hegemonic discourse of
Africa as a site of failure.

Thanks for raising this issue. Warigia

On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 9:47 AM, Francis Hook <francis.hook at gmail.com>wrote:

> Apologies this is not mainstream ICT but at the periphery some ICT
> aspects need to be considered as well...(open access to information,
> ICT enabling democracy/choice/transparency, ICT in corruption, etc) .
>
> This index is by the US group Fund for Peace.   I wonder what metrics
> they are using or how they are weighting the values of the 13 indices
> they use.
>
> Kenya is ranked 16th...that's just 15 steps away from Somalia (???),
> 14 from DRC and shares the "teens" positions with Pakistan, Nigeria,
> Niger among others. The lower the  score, the more "failed" a state
> is.
>
> Anyway....the links:
>
> 1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_States_Index
> (updated with 2012 Index)
>
> 2 - http://www.foreignpolicy.com/failed_states_index_2012_interactive
>
>
> Personally I don't think Kenya should rate that poorly out of a 177 or
> so countries...I suspect some of the 13 indices are weighted more
> heavy than others (corruption, criminality, political situation etc) -
> and if such were removed from the index, just for the sake of seeing
> how it shifts the rankings, I'd like to think some EU countries would
> be in the top 50 at least....social unrest, steep economic decline,
> slum creation (US - housing/mortgage crisis has seen more people
> living in the streets in the last couple of years than in the last
> half a century), Wall Street demos, etc, ...."Suspension or arbitrary
> application of law" (Guantano Bay still open for business, The
> Patriots Act).
>
> And "Intervention of external political agents" - I think in Africa's
> case these "political agents" are usually from (or supported/fronted)
> by some developing countries that would want to nurture certain
> regimes in order to reap some economic gain...but that's an argument
> for another day.
>
> I'm also surprised the use of the adjective "primitive" by Korean
> Airlines, to describe Kenyans, elicited more reactions than this lowly
> ranking...should we get all hot and bothered about what is likely an
> issue of translation or summon our national pride and repudiate this
> "failed" states index?
>
> Rgds
>
>
> --
> Francis Hook
> +254 733 504561
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/warigia%40gmail.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>



-- 
Dr. Warigia Bowman
Assistant Professor
Clinton School of Public Service
University of Arkansas
1200 President Clinton Ave.
Sturgis Hall
Little Rock, AR 72201
501-683-5227
wbowman at clintonschool.uasys.edu
http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20120621/aded1fec/attachment.htm>