Failed States and External Intervention

“Outside intervention can be both a symptom of and a trigger for state collapse. A failed state may be subject to involuntary restrictions of its sovereignty, such as political or economic sanctions, the presence of foreign military forces on its soil, or other military constraints, such as a no-fly zone.” — Foreignpolicy.com

So which countries faltered as a result of external/outside intervention? I’m curious to know the repercussions which fell onto the average Iraqi as a result of sanctions and other forms of intervention prior to our invasion. How much of the poverty or “economic decline” did our sanctions to prevent Sadam from building “weapons of mass destruction” cause?

Then the case of future failed nations. Afghanistan and again, IRAQ. Clearly things aren’t going well. Without our persistent “help,” the likely-hood of these countries “failing” yet again is high.

You can find the rest of the Failed State Index here. You may need to log-in, I had success with the username ‘anonymoususer’ and password ‘anonymous’. Check bugmenot for more.