Rule of Law

Worldwide Governance Indicators

Rule of law captures perceptions of the extent

to which agents have confidence in and abide
by the rules of society, and in particular the
quality of contract enforcement, property
rights, the police, and the courts, as well as the
likelihood of crime and violence.

Rule of law

UK
Z
W

ZA

Initial thoughts on the rule of law

indicator
- Perceptions-based index takes into account the difference
between the legal systems on paper and its reality
- Rule of law measure given is an aggregate, unclear the
weight and importance of the different composites
- How can one compare and aggregate completely different
factors?
- Potential overlaps with other indicators
- Benchmarking and normative notions of governance
- Way forward?

The quality of contract enforcement

Measured by a couple of different measures, including
the enforceability of contracts (EIU)
In a sustainable democracy such as the UK (pros and
cons of these measures)
In a country like South Africa that in Levys framework is
personalised-competitive
In Zimbabwe (dominant and personalised)

The quality of property rights

Including several measures, such as GWPs measure of
property rights as well as survey questions such as
Does the State exercise arbitrary pressure on private
property (e.g. red tape)? wide range

The quality of the police

What is meant by quality of the police?
Unclear/undefined
Measured by both questions to the public about their
confidence in the police force, as well as the GIIs
measure of law enforcement (which measures
effectiveness of law enforcement and the accountability
of law enforcement officials)
GII only measures countries on different years,
accountability of law
Public perceptions on police force: information
asymmetry about what they are doing, majority/minority
issue, confidence in police force probably correlated to
type of governance

The quality of the courts

Measured by: confidence in judicial system (GWP),
independence of judiciary (HUM) etc.
Again, information asymmetry can be a big issue
information on court proceedings and functions may be
inaccessible even if available
Independence of judiciary is also likely to be correlated
with the corruption indicator

Likelihood of crime and violence

EIU statistics on Crime and Violence, survey questions
asking the respondents whether they have been victims
of crime

So...how can we improve?

Veras methodology for developing rule of law indicators centers on the
need for empirically defensible measures that gauge the operation of the
rule of law as experienced by people.
Equally important, indicators should be meaningful to a wide audience
and sensitive to change.
Since indicators are almost always proxies for underlying concepts, they
are most effective when carefully crafted and used in combination.
The experiences of poor and marginalized groups are an important litmus
test for problems with the rule of law because those on the margins of
society usually experience problems accessing justice first and most
acutely.

Thank you