Sri Lanka and 'Failed State' Mantra

Week since the launch of the "Failed States 2007" report by Foreign Policy magazine, we are hearing more and more of the 'failed state' mantra being chanted by the so called Civil Society.

Foreign Policy journal has been compiling this report for some time now and they based /ranked States on different indicators. The report is some what extensive but doesn't give out much about the back ground and also about the factors that change status of the states in the report.

Also, reading the report I get the impression that most of these factors /indicators are more towards the western way of thinking, and attempting to interpret life the western way but in reality the report should be based on more realistic terms and factors.

Report mentions freedom of worship as a significant indicator of stability. Furthermore, it states that vulnerable states display significant amount of religious intolerance. They go on to say that religious repression is a thinly veiled attempt to muzzle civil society of the said countries.

I don't know much about the ground situation in Sudan who is topping the list nor Yemen who is just a notch above us or Republic of Congo, a notch below us but one thing I know is that there are four main religions in Sri Lanka and they all co-exist. If anyone, doubt for a fraction of a second that there is persecution based on religious beliefs in Sri Lanka, please visit the local township nearby or visit four most significant religious places of each major religion in Sri Lanka, and you'll find may be a Temple, Kovil, Mosque or may be a Church close by not more than 1Km away, with a healthy congregation.

So are we really failed states as much as they say?

Are we like Yemen or Congo?

I think not. However, I do accept the fact that there is a question when it comes to the level of rule of law, transparency and accountability that exist currently in Sri Lanka. But that doesn't definitely amount to be ranked and places below Liberia or Congo.

What's next for the Failed States? Pass resolution in the UN Security Council against such stats and send in US troops to remove the failed government and establish a new democratic and all love, happiness and strawberries type government, like the one in Iraq?

I guess the NGO pundits will add the 'Failed State' tag into their list of reasons (War, Abductions, killings, human rights violations, and evictions) why we need to discuss 'peace' with LTTE, or yield to pressure from Norway or organisations like AI or even Federalism as a solution to a so called Failed State.

May be its time we simply forget this "Failed States 2007" report and get on with exploring and executing realistic ways and means to restore Rule of Law in the country and enforce Accountability and Transparency within Governance.