When it comes to failure, no South Caucasus country can hold a candle to war-survivor Georgia in the estimation of the 2010 Failed State Index.
Foreign invasion, little ability to exercise control over its borders and 2008-war-related domestic grievances keep the country's total score (91.8) high on a 120-point scale. Georgia fell between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the Index, assembled by Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace, a Washington, DC-based research organization.
Criteria such as Refugees and Delegitimization of State as well as Uneven Development bring Azerbaijan (84.6) up on the failure list, where it landed slightly ahead of Israel.
Armenia was ranked as the least "failed" of the three South Caucasus states with a score of 74.3.
As seemingly always, Norway is ranked as the world's most successful country.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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