Is Armenia a Failed State?

During the Congress of the Armenian National Congress Party on December 17, first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan announced that according to influential political scientists and economists, “Armenia already ranks among failed states, such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan, Iraq, and etc”.

Every

year, the world-famous Fund for Peace prepares and publishes the Fragile States Index. According to the 2016 Index, Somalia ranks first in the list of fragile states. Then come South Sudan, Central African Republic, Sudan, Yemen and Syria. Afghanistan mentioned by Ter-Petrosyan ranks 9^th and Iraq ranks 11^th.

The most stable states are Switzerland, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Finland, which occupy 174^th through 178^th positions.

Armenia ranks 109^th in the list, next to South African Republic, Macedonia and Mexico.

And though Armenia is in the “warning” subgroup of countries in this list, its statehood is more stable than that of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, Russia, and even China and Israel.

Hence, the claim that Armenia is a “failed state” should be received with reservations. And Armenia’s level of statehood is incomparable with that of Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, South Sudan or Iraq.