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WJP Rule of Law Index 2012® Released
"The WJP Rule of Law Index® is an innovative quantitative assessment tool
designed by the World Justice Project offering a detailed and
comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the
rule of law in practice. It provides original data regarding a variety
of dimensions of the rule of law, enabling the assessment of a nation’s
adherence to the rule of law in practice, identify a nation’s strengths
and weaknesses in comparison to similarly situated countries, and track
changes over time." (From World Justice Project, The Rule of Law index).
The executive summary of the 2012 index and additional introductory material are posted below.
WJP Rule of Law Index 2012 report:
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012, The World Justice Project (WJP) released the WJP Rule of Law Index® 2012 report.
This year’s report includes, for the first time, a total of 97
countries and jurisdictions. The report ranks countries across eight
areas impacting on the rule of law: limits on government power,
corruption, security, fundamental rights, open government, regulatory
enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice. The report is the
product of interviewing 97,000 members of the general public and more
than 2,500 experts in 97 countries.
The report’s findings were unveiled on November 28th, 2012
at a special presentation in Washington, D.C. Remarks were provided by
panelists Adama Dieng, Karan Bhatia, Joy Olson, and Guest Speaker,
Cherie Blair QC. A video of the presentation can be viewed here.
The Index and its findings have stimulated discussions and actions on
the rule of law in countries around the world, and has been cited by
heads of state and chief justices as supporting evidence of the need to
advance rule of law reforms in their countries.
For a complete list of countries covered in the WJP Rule of Law Index, please click here. To visualize the rule of law around the world, please follow this link.
Executive Summary:
The WJP Rule of Law Index is a quantitative assessment tool designed by the World Justice Project to offer a comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law, not in theory, but in practice. The WJP Rule of Law Index is derived from a set of principles that constitute a working definition of the rule of law. Adherence to these principles is measured by means of a large set of performance indicators that provide a
comprehensive and multidimensional picture of the status of the rule of law in each country.
Rather than looking at laws, actors, or institutional arrangements, the WJP Rule of Law Index assesses a nation's adherence ot the rule of law by examining practical situations in
which a rule of law deficit could affect the daily lives of ordinary people. For instance, the Index evaluates whether citizens can access public services without the need to bribe a government officer; whether a basic dispute among neighbors or companies can be resolved peacefully and cost-effectively by an independent adjudicator; and whether people can conduct their daily activities without fear of crime or police abuse. These are among the common situations that occur in the lives of people and that are directly influenced by the degree of rule of law in the society.
he Index provides new data on nine dimensions of the rule of law:
1. Limited government powers
2. Absence of corruption
3. Order and security
4. Fundamental rights
5. Open government
6. Regulatory enforcement
7. Civil justice
8. Criminal justice
9. Informal justice
These nine dimensions, or factors, are further disaggregated into 48 sub-factors. The scores of these sub-factors are built from over 400 variables drawn from assessments of the general public (1,000 respondents per country) and local legal experts.1 The outcome of this exercise is one of the world's most comprehensive data sets measuring the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law - not in theory but in practice.
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