Global Peace Index 2010: Rwanda, Libya, Equatorial Guinea beat USA!

Below is the 2010 Global Peace Index  rankings. “We work with a definition of peace that is not as the opposite of war but the absence of violence,” says Clyde McConaghy, Board Director of the Institute for Economics and Peace – the Sydney, Australia, think tank behind the Global Peace Index, or GPI.

What we can say is that the rankings based on the GPI index are surprising at the best. Even Clyde McConaghty admits the counter intuitive nature of the GPI, acknowledging  that Americans may be suspicious of any peace index that  put their country behind Nicaragua and Rwanda.  In fact, Rwanda is known as one of the most violent places in the World, its military has been invading its neighbors or using proxy militias, and a number of armed groups are apposed to the Government. Recently, the Rwandan government unleashed a ruthless repression on its political opposition and the media and has forced into exile tens of thousands  Rwandans, including high ranking political and military figures. To alleviate the criticism,  Clyde McConaghy qualifies the credibility and reliability of the GPI by admitting that  gauging peacefulness is not the same as ranking national well-being or happiness. “Ours is not an airy definition” of peace, but a “technical definition – it’s not a state of mind,” he  quickly clarified.

Hence, it appears that to rank high on the GPI, a government may only need to unleash terror on its people, kill opponents, send others into exile, stifle the opposition and the media.

Rankings (source – Wikipedia – June 10, 2010)

Country	2010 Rank	2010 Score	2009 Rank	2009 Score	2008 Rank	2008 Score	2007 Rank	2007 Score
New Zealand	1	1.188	1	1.202	4	1.350	2	1.363
Iceland	2	1.212	4	1.225	1	1.176
Japan	3	1.247	7	1.272	5	1.358	5	1.413
Austria	4	1.290	5	1.252	10	1.449	10	1.483
Norway	5	1.322	2	1.217	3	1.343	1	1.357
Ireland	6	1.337	12	1.333	6	1.410	4	1.396
Denmark	7	1.341	2	1.217	2	1.343	3	1.377
Luxembourg	7	1.341	13	1.341	9	1.446
Finland	9	1.352	9	1.322	8	1.432	6	1.447
Sweden	10	1.354	6	1.269	13	1.468	7	1.478
Slovenia	11	1.358	9	1.322	16	1.491	15	1.539
Czech Republic	12	1.360	11	1.328	17	1.501	13	1.524
Portugal	13	1.366	14	1.348	7	1.412	9	1.481
Canada	14	1.392	8	1.311	11	1.451	8	1.481
Qatar	15	1.394	16	1.392	33	1.694	30	1.702
Germany	16	1.398	16	1.392	14	1.475	12	1.523
Belgium	17	1.400	15	1.359	15	1.485	11	1.498
Switzerland	18	1.424	18	1.393	12	1.465	14	1.526
Australia	19	1.467	19	1.476	27	1.652	25	1.664
Hungary	20	1.495	27	1.575	18	1.576	18	1.575
Slovakia	21	1.536	24	1.539	20	1.576	17	1.571
Malaysia	22	1.539	26	1.561	37	1.721	37	1.744
Hong Kong					23	1.608	23	1.6570
Oman	23	1.561	21	1.520	25	1.612	22	1.641
Uruguay	24	1.568	25	1.557	21	1.606	24	1.661
Spain	25	1.588	28	1.577	30	1.683	21	1.633
Costa Rica	26	1.590	29	1.578	34	1.701	31	1.702
Netherlands	27	1.610	22	1.531	22	1.607	20	1.620
Chile	28	1.616	20	1.481	19	1.576	16	1.568
Poland	29	1.618	32	1.599	31	1.687	27	1.683
Singapore	30	1.624	23	1.533	29	1.673	29	1.692
United Kingdom	31	1.631	35	1.647	49	1.801
France	32	1.636	30	1.579	36	1.707	34	1.729
Botswana	33	1.641	34	1.643	46	1.792	42	1.786
Laos	34	1.661	45	1.701	51	1.810
Taiwan	35	1.664	37	1.652	44	1.779	36	1.731
Bhutan	36	1.665	40	1.667	26	1.616	19	1.611
Tunisia	37	1.678	44	1.698	47	1.797	39	1.762
Vietnam	38	1.691	39	1.664	37	1.720	35	1.729
Kuwait	39	1.693	42	1.680	45	1.786	46	1.818
Italy	40	1.701	36	1.648	28	1.653	33	1.724
Croatia	41	1.707	49	1.741	60	1.926	67	2.030
Lithuania	42	1.713	43	1.687	41	1.723	43	1.788
South Korea	43	1.715	33	1.627	32	1.691	32	1.719
United Arab Emirates	44	1.739	40	1.667	42	1.745	38	1.747
Romania	45	1.749	31	1.591	24	1.611	26	1.682
Estonia	46	1.751	38	1.661	35	1.702	28	1.684
Mozambique	47	1.779	53	1.765	50	1.803	50	1.909
Ghana	48	1.781	52	1.761	40	1.723	40	1.765
Egypt	49	1.784	54	1.773	69	1.987	73	2.068
Bulgaria	50	1.785	56	1.775	57	1.903	54	1.936
Zambia	51	1.813	58	1.779	53	1.856	53	1.930
Malawi	51	1.813	47	1.711	73	2.024	68	2.038
Sierra Leone	53	1.818
Latvia	54	1.827	54	1.773	39	1.723	47	1.848
Tanzania	55	1.832	59	1.796	58	1.919	57	1.966
Libya|	56	1.839	46	1.710	61	1.927	58	1.967
Burkina Faso	57	1.852	71	1.905	81	2.062
Morocco	58	1.861	63	1.811	63	1.954	48	1.893
Namibia	59	1.864	65	1.841	77	2.042	64	2.003
Bosnia and Herzegovina	60	1.873	50	1.755	66	1.974	75	2.089
Panama	61	1.878	59	1.798	48	1.797	45	1.798
Greece	62	1.887	57	1.778	54	1.867	44	1.791
Gambia	63	1.890
Nicaragua	64	1.924	61	1.801	59	1.919	66	2.020
Albania	65	1.925	75	1.925	79	2.044
Moldova	66	1.938	75	1.925	83	2.091	72	2.059
Indonesia	67	1.046	67	1.853	68	1.983	78	2.111
Equatorial Guinea	68	1.948	61	1.801	64	1.964	71	2.059
Jordan	68	1.948	64	1.832	65	1.969	63	1.997
Bahrain	70	1.956	69	1.881	74	2.025	62	1.995
Argentina	71	1.962	66	1.851	56	1.895	52	1.923
Cuba	72	1.964	68	1.856	62	1.954	59	1.968
Swaziland	73	1.966
Gabon	74	1.981	51	1.758	55	1.878	56	1.952
Rwanda	75	2.012	86	2.027	76	2.030
Cyprus	76	2.013	48	1.737	52	1.847	51	1.915
Madagascar	77	2.019	72	1.912	43	1.770	41	1.766
Paraguay	77	2.019	73	1.916	70	1.997	55	1.946
Senegal	79	2.031	80	1.984	71	2.011	65	2.017
China	80	2.034	74	1.921	67	1.981	60	1.980
Bolivia	81	2.037	81	1.990	78	2.043	69	2.052
Nepal	82	2.044
Brazil	83	2.048	85	2.022	90	2.168	83	2.173
Republic of Macedonia	83	2.048	88	2.039	87	2.119	82	2.170
United States of America	85	2.056	83	2.015	97	2.227	96	2.317
Angola	86	2.057	100	2.105	110	2.364	112	2.587
Bangladesh	87	2.058	90	2.045	86	2.118	86	2.219
Peru	89	2.067	79	1.972	80	2.046	70	2.056
Serbia	90	2.071	78	1.951	85	2.110	84	2.181
Guyana	91	2.095
Mongolia	92	2.101	89	2.040	88	2.155
Dominican Republic	93	2.103	70	1.890	82	2.069	74	2.071
Trinidad and Tobago	94	2.107	87	2.035	98	2.230	94	2.286
Kazakhstan	95	2.113	84	2.018	72	2.018	61	1.995
Papua New Guinea	95	2.113	93	2.059	95	2.224	88	2.223
Ukraine	97	2.115	82	2.010	84	2.096	80	2.150
Jamaica	98	2.138	102	2.111	96	2.226	81	2.164
Liberia	99	2.148
Uganda	100	2.165	103	2.140	114	2.391	104	2.489
Ecuador	101	2.185	109	2.211	100	2.274	87	2.219
Republic of the Congo	102	2.192	106	2.202	117	2.417
El Salvador	103	2.195	94	2.068	89	2.163	89	2.244
Iran	104	2.202	99	2.104	105	2.341	97	2.320
Belarus	105	2.204	98	2.103	94	2.194
Cameroon	106	2.210	95	2.073	92	2.182	76	2.093
Mexico	107	2.216	108	2.209	93	2.191	79	2.125
Saudi Arabia	107	2.216	104	2.167	108	2.357	90	2.246
Mali	109	2.240	96	2.086	99	2.238
Uzbekistan	110	2.242	106	2.202	111	2.377	110	2.542
Cambodia	111	2.252	105	2.179	91	2.179	85	2.197
Guatemala	112	2.258	111	2.218	103	2.328	93	2.285
Armenia	113	2.266
Haiti	114	2.270	116	2.330	109	2.362
Syria	115	2.274	92	2.049	75	2.027	77	2.106
Algeria	116	2.277	110	2.212	112	2.378	107	2.503
Turkmenistan	117	2.295	101	2.110	102	2.302
Cote d’Ivoire	118	2.297	117	2.342	122	2.451	113	2.638
Azerbaijan	119	2.367	114	2.327	101	2.287	101	2.448
Kenya	120	2.369	113	2.266	119	2.429	91	2.258
South Africa	121	2.380	123	2.437	116	2.412	99	2.399
Venezuela	122	2.387	120	2.381	123	2.505	102	2.453
Mauritania	123	2.389	124	2.478	120	2.435
Thailand	124	2.393	118	2.353	118	2.424	105	2.491
Honduras	125	2.395	112	2.265	104	2.335	98	2.390
Turkey	126	2.420	121	2.389	115	2.403	92	2.272
Ethiopia	127	2.444	128	2.551	121	2.439	103	2.479
India	128	2.516	122	2.433	107	2.355	109	2.530
Yemen	129	2.573	119	2.363	106	2.352	95	2.309
Philippines	130	2.574	114	2.327	113	2.385	100	2.428
Burundi	131	2.577
Myanmar	132	2.580	126	2.501	126	2.590	108	2.524
Sri Lanka	133	2.621	125	2.485	125	2.584	111	2.575
Lebanon	134	2.639	132	2.718	132	2.840	114	2.662
Zimbabwe	135	2.678	134	2.736	124	2.513	106	2.495
Central African Republic	136	2.753	133	2.733	134	2.857
Nigeria	137	2.756	129	2.602	129	2.724	117	2.898
Colombia	138	2.787	130	2.645	130	2.757	116	2.770
North Korea	139	2.855	131	2.717	133	2.850
Democratic Republic of the Congo	140	2.925	139	2.888	128	2.707
Chad	141	2.964	138	2.880	135	3.007
Georgia	142	2.970
Russia	143	3.013	136	2.750	131	2.777	118	2.903
Israel	144	3.019	141	3.035	136	3.052	119	3.033
Pakistan	145	3.050	137	2.859	127	2.694	115	2.697
Sudan	146	3.125	140	2.922	138	3.189	120	3.182
Afghanistan	147	3.252	143	3.285	137	3.126
Somalia	148	3.390	142	3.257	139	3.293
Iraq	149	3.406	144	3.341	140	3.514	121	3.437