Horn of Africa Countries Rank Near Bottom of Human Freedom Index

 The Cato Institute has just released its Human Freedom Index 2021 that ranks and evaluates 165 countries.  The index presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. It evaluates 82 indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas: rule of law; security and safety; movement; religion; association, assembly, and civil society; expression and information; relationships; size of government; legal system and property rights; sound money; freedom to trade internationally; and regulations.

Countries in the Horn of Africa did not score well.  Ethiopia ranked 132, Djibouti 137, Somalia 159, and Sudan 162.  Eritrea and South Sudan were not included in the rankings.  

Africa and the Human Freedom Index 2018

The Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom have just published "The Human Freedom Index 2018: A Global Measurement of Personal, Civil, and Economic Freedom" by Ian Vasquez and Tanja Porcnik.

It evaluated 162 countries for 2016, the most recent year for which sufficient data are available. It looked at 79 indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas: rule of law, security, safety, movement, religion, association, assembly, civil society, expression, information, identity, relationships, size of government, legal systems, property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor, and business.

Of the 47 African countries evaluated, the ten best performing were: Mauritius (37), Cape Verde (53), Seychelles (54), Ghana (57), South Africa (63), Botswana (64), Rwanda (71), Namibia (74), Kenya (82), and Uganda (85). The five worst performing African countries were: Libya (158), Sudan (157), Egypt (156), Algeria (155) and Burundi (154).

Kenya: Drought, Pastoralism, and Violence

World Politics Review published on 9 May 2017 an interview with Murithi Mutiga, International Crisis Group, titled "How Drought and Politics Are Exacerbating Pastoralist Violence in Kenya."

The author discusses the intersection in northern Kenya of drought, access to water and pasture, pastoralism, land conservation and confiscation, and politics. The result is an increase in violence.

East Africa: Forbes' 2017 Listing of Best Countries for Business

Forbes has released its 2017 global listing of Best Countries for Business. It evaluated 139 countries on the basis of the following 11 factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, red tape, investor protection, stock market performance, personal freedom, trade freedom, and monetary freedom.

Countries in East Africa did not score well. Kenya ranked best at number 105, followed by Uganda (107), Tanzania (122), and Ethiopia (130). Other countries in the Horn of Africa were not included in the survey.

South Sudan Focus Groups on Constitution-Making

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs published in June 2013 a focus group study titled "From a Transitional to a Permanent Constitution: Views of Men and Women in South Sudan on Constitution-Making."  There were 46 focus group discussions in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas across the 10 states of South Sudan.  The discussions covered a wide range of issues.  The authors of the published summary are Traci D. Cook, Leben Nelson Moro and Onesimo Yabang Lo-Lujo.