Published September 20, 2012 | By Amelia Whitehead and Filipa Carreira

Since the violence of 2010, Kyrgyzstan has made significant strides towards reestablishing stability within its borders. In October 2010, the country held its first free and fair parliamentary elections, resulting in the formation of a coalition government. However, the current peace remains fragile. Ethnic tensions, exacerbated by the recent violence, continue to fester. Osh constitutes to be a key transit point in the Central Asian drug trade, linking heroin producers in Afghanistan to buyers across Europe. Religious freedoms have been sharply curtailed, due in part to concerns over radical Islamist groups. Kyrgyzstan was the most-improved nation in the 2012 Failed States Index.

Published June 18, 2012 | By J. J. Messner

Upon first glance, it could be easy to assume that there is very little new to be found in the 2012 Failed States Index. After all, Finland has managed to win back-to-back best-place on the Index and Somalia now has the ignominious distinction of five-straight worst-place finishes. Nine of the worst ten in 2012 are the same as in 2011; meanwhile, the “best ten” at the sustainable end of the index are the same ten countries as in 2011. So, nothing has really changed, right?

Wrong.

Though a quick glance of the 2012 Failed States Index could suggest business as usual, the Index actually saw some of the most dramatic shifts in the eight-year history of the Index, which was first published in 2005. In those eight years, three of the four most significant “worsenings” occurred in 2012. Prior to this year’s Index, the most significant decline had been Lebanon in 2007 – which worsened by 11.9 points – coinciding with the conflict with neighboring Israel. This year, two countries managed to beat that record, and both for very different reasons.

Unsurprisingly, the greatest worsening was that of Libya (a 16.2 point year-on-year rise from 2011), as the country endured a civil war, sustained NATO bombing and the overthrow and assassination of its reviled leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. After finishing 111th on the 2011 Index, Libya now finds itself at 50th.

Published June 18, 2012 | By Patricia Taft

The most improved country in the 2012 Failed States Index, the landlocked Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, seems an unlikely one. Since independence from Russia in 1991, the country has been beset with a host of problems that have spanned political, social and economic lines.

Like several of its Central Asian neighbors, the country plays host to various ethnic minorities, with Uzbeks the predominant group in the south of the country. Keeping in line with several other Central Asian Republics, Kyrgyzstan was ruled from independence by a series of authoritarian regimes which brutally quelled opposition and strangled freedom of expression in all its forms. Adding to the tinderbox are myriad demographic pressures resulting from disputes over natural resources, particularly in the Ferghana Valley, as well as the country’s complex relationship with Russia and, at times, the U.S.

When looking at Kyrgyzstan’s improvement in this year’s Index, it is impossible not to point out that last year, the country came second only to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in the category of states that had most worsened. Roiled by political turmoil that led to the ouster of long-time President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April of 2010, the year quickly turned bloody when clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks resulted in over 200 deaths in June. Clashes in the south of the country in 2010 also caused a large scale humanitarian emergency and IDP crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people, mostly ethnic Uzbeks, fleeing their homes. The attacks against ethnic Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan further heightened tensions with neighboring Uzbekistan, already at a boiling point over Tashkent’s decision to shut down natural gas supplies to the country by 50%. Spillover from the June uprising, coupled with a generally worsening economy also caused upheaval in the Ferghana Valley, leading to riots and protests where dozens were injured.

June 20, 2011
By Annie Janus
The Failed States Index

With much of the world’s attention turned to the Arab Spring, Kyrgyzstan’s 2010 revolution seems to have been forgotten. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan’s politically tumultuous year has seen it worsen significantly in the Failed States Index, moving from 45th position to a more serious 31st, and into the Alert category.

Kyrgyzstan’s worsening in this year’s index reflects dramatic reversals in several scores that tend to indicate the state’s susceptibility to internal conflict, and as such, these worsening scores are largely are result of the 2010 revolutions.

Published February 25, 2011 | By Jonas Vaicikonis

Status of International Nonproliferation and Counterterrorism Efforts in the Caucasus & Central Asia