On a list of nearly 150 countries, Cambodia ranks as the 47th most vulnerable to collapse or conflict, the Washington-based think tank Fund for Peace announced this week.
The second annual “Failed States Index,” produced jointly with Foreign Policy magazine, has ranked 148 nations, giving each country a score based on 12 indicators.
Out of a possible 10 points in each category, with 10 indicating a particularly serious problem, Cambodia earned an 8 for “chronic and sustained human flight.”
It notched up 7.8 for “criminalization or delegitimization of the state,” 7.5 for both the “rise of factionalized elites” and “deterioration of public services” and 6.9 points for “widespread violation of human rights.”
Out of a possible 120 negative points, Cambodia notched up 85.
Information Minister and Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said he had not seen the report, but said, “I don’t think we will collapse.” He added, “After more than one decade of working together we learn how to prevent Cambodia from collapsing into conflict.”
Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Iraq and Zimbabwe were the five least stable countries on the list, with Sudan at the bottom.
Cambodia was placed in the “warning” category along with Indonesia, which ranked 32nd, Laos, which came in at 40, Vietnam, which took 70th place, and Thailand, which was ranked 79th.
Bretton Sciaroni, chair of the International Business Club, said Cambodia’s supposed instability is not scaring away investors. “I have investors in my office every week who see the value of doing business here,” he said.
