A flawed report on failed states

As is but inevitable, such indicators are difficult to pin down and quantify. There is inherent subjectivity, especially if cross-country comparisons are attempted. However, the exercise is not without utility.

Evidently, India is has particular problems with demographic pressures, a legacy of violence, chronic human flight, uneven economic development along group lines, deterioration of public services and a security apparatus operating as a ‘state within a state’.

In all probability, most Indians will agree with most of these, but raise their eyebrows on the security apparatus claims. This raises a question impossible to answer. Understandably, debates are more visible in democracies, particularly in media. Since rankings factor in media reports and NGO reactions, does that exaggerate the importance of items like violence, uneven development, worsening public services and an overweening security system? In June 2008, UN polled respondents in 19 countries on their views on torture. The majority in 14 countries wanted unequivocal rules against torture. The four exceptions, when respondents wanted exceptions made for terrorists when innocent lives were at stake, were India, Nigeria, Turkey and Thailand, with India leading the group at 59 per cent. 28 per cent of Indians felt all torture should be prohibited, 47 per cent accepted limited torture of terrorists to save innocent lives and 12 per cent felt torture should generally be allowed. In a similar poll conducted in June-July 2006, the percentage of Indians supporting torture was 32 per cent, not 59 per cent. Assuming samples are comparable, that’s a very sharp increase indeed.

An indicator like sustained human flight is included in the 12 categories with the plausible hypothesis that given a choice, people exit (migrate) from misgoverned countries to better governed ones. Or in the given context, if measurement is robust, from a relatively stable country to a more stable one. The only other country with a score of 72.9 is Namibia. How many Indians would like to trade place with Namibians? For that matter, how many Indians would like to exit to Kazakhstan, Senegal, Libya, or Ghana? All four are more “stable” than India.

... contd.