This is likely true. I don't know if all of them are failed though. But if you have no rule of law, and no trust by the people, at all, in the political class, you have some of the elements of a failed state. Corruption is going to happen. But when it overwhelms the country's ability to function in a deliberative fashion, that is failure. THe US is a failed state. It does not have to stay that way. But right now, it is at a crisis. Some African countries are still battling neocolonialism and have never ever become functioning nations. The US, on the other hand, was functioning as a real country, flawed but real. Now, it is a complete disaster politically.