4. Afghanistan
- Corruption score: 12
- Power structure: Islamic Republic
Afghanistan has an incredibly difficult history to try and condense. The area has been inhabited for a very long time — and its geographic location has also put it in the middle of many conflicts over hundreds, if not thousands of years. There’s a reason the country has been stuck with the nickname ‘the graveyard of empires’, as it is incredibly difficult to not only conquer, but to keep under control.
The country has been loosely held together by a central government that largely lacks power, and has been carved up by a myriad of local tribal leaders and warlords, as we’ve seen first-hand with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The country’s now-former president Hamid Karzai was notoriously corrupt — he’s been recently busted for taking bagfuls of money from the American military, among other things. Afghanistan is also home to an enormous amount of the world’s heroin production, which has brought lots of wealth to a lucky few.
The country’s economy has remained in a state of flux for some time now, although the fall of the Taliban has helped — as has a flood of international aid. But it still faces major issues going forward. As the CIA puts it, “Criminality, insecurity, weak governance, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government’s difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country pose challenges to future economic growth.”
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