Stability

When thinking about the world and determining an approach to classifying it’s many states for comparison, I decided not to look at what type of government each state has, but whether or not whatever system a state uses is working. The stability of the state is what is important to me for classification. So, I divide states into three groups: strong stability, average stability, and weak stability. To me, it is important to look at the success or failure of a state and a state’s government. States can be compared to other states in their group to see which aspects of government worked towards success (or failure) for one, and failure (or success) for another. The aspects of the states I considered when putting states into each category was the legitimacy of governments, the cooperation of the public/society, and the economic standings of the state. But still, many other aspects of the state (besides the three I just listed) can be taken into consideration when comparing states based on stability.

For example, I placed the United States and Chine in the “strong stability” group. When the United States is compared to China, it is seen that these two states have very different types of government. The US is an advanced democracy, while China is an authoritarian regime. And yet, both of these states are successful using their own methods. According to FactBook, China’s economy is a market-oriented economy that plays a major role in the global economy. China supports state-owned enterprises that are important to “economic security” and looks to foster globally competitive national champions. China had one of the strongest economies in the world. And even during the current global economic turmoil, China has pulled through and remained one of the most stable states in the world. Similarly, the United States, before these hard times, had one of the most stable economies. And just as China, the US has faired better than many states that are now struggling. Compared to each other, the US and China are both very stable, even though the ways they govern and maintain this stability are very different.

This same strategy can be applied to other countries in other groups. Details of failure and success in states can be analyzed for comparison. We can look at certain aspects of government that failed in certain states, and hypothesize whether or not other ways of governing (that may have failed in a different state) would succeed in those unstable states.