Foreign Policy and Fund for Peace have published the 2008 Failed States Index. The main goal of the Index is to assess the vulnerability of states to slide towards further violence and chaos. There are twelve indicators of state vulnerability, which can be found here. At the top of the Index (most failed) is Somalia, where the political situation has continually deteriorated (like much of the world) on account of shortages and food riots (it was in third place in 2007). The chaos in Somalia has been directly linked to ongoing battles with the Islamist insurgency. Moreover, as mentioned in this blog several times, Iraq and Israel have been plagued with instability that often results from the role of religion in politics. The Failed States Index 2008 points out, for example, that Iraq's score has improved (now 5th place; 2nd place in 2007), although "discord among sectarian factions has shown no real improvement." With respect to Israel, the main force behind its new ranking in the top 60 (most failed states) is its "inability to fully integrate its Arab minority." The ranking for Israel (now fifty eight) is reported to be based mostly on the political reality of the West Bank. There is also a precarious connection between religion and politics (meaning violence) in Sudan, which is ranked this year as the second most failed state in the world (compared to 1st last year). The full list of country rankings can be found here. The article explaining the Index does not directly address the role of religion as a factor for conflict or an element of instability. Instead, the focus of the 2008 analysis was more on 1) how the U.N's peacekeeping presence in the Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Haiti helped improve their rankings; 2) how oil prices have helped provide lifelines to Presidents such as Omar Hassan al-Bashir (Sudan); and 3) how the rapid increase in the cost of essential goods such as flour and rice "can cause chaos." One main question, therefore, was primarily left out of the analysis on failed states and political hardship.