This series is a look at Foreign Policy Magazine's "Postcards From Hell, 2012: What does living in a failed state look like? A tour through the world’s 60 most fragile countries." You can read the full photo essay here. DPoH commentary on photos provided by Jacqueline, unless otherwise noted. 

Note: Sorry about the breakage in posts, guys, classes have just started. I wanted to stick to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, but it doesn't look like that's going to be the case.

Today's postcard comes from a country whose name was synonymous with "soul-crushing despair" in my Intro to IR class: Zimbabwe

Hey, um, you got a little something on your forehead.

For those of you who were unaware, the situation in Zimbabwe is bad. I mean, really bad. And don't even get me started on the recently-addressed hyperinflation. It's your prototypical "starving African nation".

And yet, there are actually signs of hope. The screamingly terribad economy has expanded by around six percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Robert Mugabe--whose name is a byword for rampant political corruption on BBC's Mock The Week--is actually in a power-sharing arrangement with the leader of the opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai. Progress, yay! Now let's see if it will hold.