Countries at Risk of Political Instability in 2008

This map (Economist via Bangkok Pundit and Thai News) shows countries the news magazine considers at the highest risk of political instability in 2008. Bangkok Pundit took one look at Thailand (colored black = highest risk) and asked:

So why did we have the coup again?

That's a good question. In September 2006 Thailand went from being the most stable country in the region -- a model democracy for the developing world -- to a most unstable situation. And the change came overnight. Of course the map isn't perfect. A glance at Africa reveals that the Economist misread the situation in Kenya, but this failure of foresight suggests the journal's editors were conservative in this risk assessment. (By this map, even Pakistan is a safer bet than Thailand!)