Alternatives

Named index

August 6, 2026 · Institutional diligence

Fragile States Index vs Entropy Index

State fragility taxonomy — versus thermodynamic systemic stress and capital clocks.

The Fragile States Index (Fund for Peace) ranks countries on state fragility pressures and capacity. Entropy Index measures systemic adaptive stress under sealed six-domain physics with Watch and Act clocks. Fragility taxonomy vs regime instrument — adjacent, not identical.

Product lexicon

Three terms a mandate IC needs before reading the clocks — same language on the live Index.

Watch
Earliest Crisis of any fashion — I_sys Crisis, gap Crisis, or dual. Surface to clients; do not allocate on Watch alone.
Act
Dual Crisis — I_sys Crisis ∧ entropy gap ≥ Orange. The capital posture clock.
Hit
Signal at or before the relevant event day. Lighting on the day counts; missing the month is a miss.

Side by side

DimensionFragile States IndexEntropy Index
ObjectState fragility pressures and coping capacityThermodynamic insecurity / systemic stress on adaptive systems
AudiencePolicy, NGO, research, some corporate riskInstitutional allocators and risk committees
OutputAnnual (and related) fragility rankings and scoresLive NII · regime bands · sealed historical clocks
Capital languageFragility categories for policy attentionWatch vs Act for notice vs allocate
ProofLong-running FSI public franchiseWatch and Act both lit dual Crisis by March 2008 — 6 months before Lehman.

When Fragile States Index wins

  • You need a public, comparable fragility ranking for policy or research.
  • The question is state fragility taxonomy, not desk capital clocks.
  • You want an open annual index, not a licensed instrument.

When Entropy Index wins

  • The IC needs sealed physics and Watch/Act language.
  • You are allocating capital under structural stress — not mapping fragility for policy alone.
  • You need sealed case clocks on one instrument.

Sealed proof · same physics as live

Three locked case studies under V5-locked physics — team-ready PDF on each page for IC circulation.

Adjacent, not interchangeable

Fragility and systemic stress rhyme in casual speech. Diligence separates them. FSI is a public policy-facing fragility framework. Entropy Index is an institutional sealed instrument. See also country risk ratings and ICRG.

Boundaries

We will not claim to be “the new Fragile States Index.” We will not scrape FSI into marketing theater.

Framework · honesty rails

Sealed V5-locked (1.19.0) — amp/κ/C frozen; same physics on live watch and historical cases. These pages are category contrasts — not live model runs or dated forecasts.

What we will not claim

  • We do not claim Entropy Index replaces every gauge, rating, or research firm named in these contrasts.
  • We do not publish live Watch/Act labels without product chrome on the live face.
  • We do not invent lead times beyond Travis-signed sealed case clocks.
  • Watch (earliest Crisis of any fashion) is not Act (dual Crisis) — do not allocate on Watch alone.

Questions desks ask

Do you publish an annual fragility ranking?
No. We publish Index-native research and live regime bands on scored systems — different public objects.

Related contrasts

Category contrast · www.entropyindex.com/alternatives/fragile-states-index · not a live model run