The Crime Desk: The United States is among the 50 most conflict-prone countries in the world. And the United States is the only western country on this list. This is according to a new study that has determined the level of political violence around the world. News: Voice of America Bengali. The report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, or ACLED, cited the rise of political violence and the proliferation of far-right groups in the United States in recent years as one of the reasons why the United States made the list.
ACLED is a nonprofit data collection, analysis, and inventory organization based in Wisconsin, USA. They have collected data from more than 240 countries and regions around the world. In the 12 months to early September, the agency documented more than 139,000 incidents of political violence worldwide. This number is 27 percent higher than the previous year.
ACLED ranks each country and region on the conflict index based on four indicator dimensions, based on data collected over a year. These indicators are the intensity of the threat of death, the level of danger to civilians, the geographical extent, and the number and distribution of armed forces. Most countries have experienced at least one incident of political violence.
These 50 countries, however, are characterized as “extreme”, “high”, or “disturbed” due to high levels of conflict. Myanmar has the largest number of armed groups in the world. With this situation, the country is at the top of the list in the “extreme” stage. Next are Syria and Mexico. The United States was identified as “troubled” along with 19 countries in Africa and Asia, including Libya, Ghana, and Chad.
In this context, Sam Jones, head of ACLED’s communications department, said that the United States’ position on the list proves that political violence is not limited to poor or undemocratic countries. He added the insecurity of civilians and the fragmentation of armed groups. In particular, the United States is on the list due to the deterioration of these two indicators.
