Postcards from Hell

Postcards from Hell is a photo essay with images of the world's most failed states. "For the last half-decade, the Fund for Peace, working with Foreign Policy, has been putting together the Failed States Index, using a battery of indicators to determine how stable -- or unstable -- a country is. But as the photos here demonstrate, sometimes the best test is the simplest one: You'll only know a failed state when you see it." It's really worth checking out the rest of Postcards from Hell and taking a look at the Failed States Index.

3. Sudan - "In this scene, children crowd around a U.N. helicopter in the South Sudanese town of Akobo."

4. Zimbabwe - "The bad news is that Mugabe has kept up his dictatorial rule as if nothing had changed; for example, he celebrated his 30th anniversary in office to the spectacular fanfare seen here, where children display militant loyalty to the ruling party."

7. Iraq - Iraq rocketed to the top of the Failed States Index after a 2003 U.S. military invasion ousted the dictator Saddam Hussein and set off a period of violent turmoil. Amid the explosion of sectarian killings and reprisals that followed, more than 2 million Iraqis fled the country, and many have yet to return. Although Iraq has calmed dramatically since the violence peaked in 2007, the country remains deeply polarized along ethnic and religious lines. Recent parliamentary elections were among the freest in the Arab world, but were marred by suicide attacks and allegations of fraud, and a new government has yet to be named. Any number of factors could prove destabilizing going forward: tension over oil rights, latent Sunni-Shiite hostility, the pullout of U.S. combat troops by Sept. 1. An April 23 attack in Baghdad is pictured here, on a day when 58 died in similar assaults throughout the country.   

16. Burma - "Most recently, a cease-fire between the minority Kokang and the Burmese military broke down, sending refugees pouring over the border with China. Here, a girl carries a basket through a market in the northern part of the country."

21. Uganda - "In office since 1986, the country's president, Yoweri Museveni, has come under increasing criticism in recent years for his kleptocratic rule and reluctance to give up power. Here, men rallying against Museveni burn a bus in protest. "