This week, Foreign Policy magazine released the 2010 rankings for its Failed States Index , and there are several interesting changes to note. Of course, it should not come as a surprise to many that Somalia topped the list as most failed state, considering the country has no central government and is actually fragmented into three main pieces:
Somaliland (self-declared Republic)
Following years of war against President Barre's dictatorial and brutal regime, Somaliland (once British Somaliland) rescinded its act of union with Italian Somaliland (now Puntland and Southern Somalia) and declared itself independent. Though several relatively credible elections have been held, and peace largely achieved without foreign assistance through traditional institutions, the country remains totally unrecognized.
Puntland (autonomous)
Puntland's regional government can barely be called a government at all. Officially, it seeks a federation with other regions of Somalia. Unofficially, it is host to most of the Somalian pirates that threaten ships within a wide radius of the Somalian coastline. There are several theories why some people in this autonomous region have turned to piracy, including the unemployment in fishing industries resulting from illegal over-fishing of Somalia by foreign ships, but clearly the Puntland regional government could care less about the only real economic activity in its domain.
Southern Somalia
The area of the country most fought over, and for good reason (at least for a warlord): Barre invested almost all of the country's wealth in Mogadishu and other cities in Southern Somalia, making it the "best" place to plunder.
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