Book Description

The rule of law provides the foundation for communities of opportunityand equity - communities that offer sustainable economic development,accountable government, and respect for fundamental rights.Executive SummaryThe World Justice Project (WJP) joins efforts to producereliable data on rule of law through the WJP Rule of LawIndex 2015, the fifth report in an annual series, whichmeasures rule of law based on the experiences andperceptions of the general public and in-country expertsworldwide. We hope this annual publication, anchoredin actual experiences, will help identify strengths andweaknesses in each country under review and encouragepolicy choices that strengthen the rule of law.The WJP Rule of Law Index 2015 presents a portraitof the rule of law in each country by providing scoresand rankings organized around nine factors: constraintson government powers, absence of corruption, opengovernment, fundamental rights, order and security,regulatory enforcement, civil justice, criminal justice, andinformal justice. These factors are intended to reflecthow people experience rule of law in everyday life.The country scores and rankings for the WJP Ruleof Law Index 2015 are derived from more than100,000 household and expert surveys in 102countries and jurisdictions. The Index is the world'smost comprehensive data set of its kind and the onlyto rely solely on primary data, measuring a nation'sadherence to the rule of law from the perspective ofhow ordinary people experience it. These featuresmake the Index a powerful tool that can help identifystrengths and weaknesses in each country, and helpto inform policy debates, both within and acrosscountries, that advance the rule of law.