![]() ![]() Broad definitions of rule of law include concepts such as free and fair elections, civil liberties and human rights. In its most confined definition, the rule of law means that no person is above the law. Using the statistical tool of logistic regression and controlling for the effect of other institutional and governance indicators, the results showed that strong rule of law does have a dampening effect on the risk of civil armed conflict. ![]() The thesis developed a new quantitative measure of rule of law and examined data on rule of law and civil conflict from 112 countries over the period 1970 to 2005. Given the extreme increase in civil armed conflict across the world in the past 50 years, it seemed a good place to start was to examine whether strong rule of law can prevent the risk of the onset of civil armed conflict. My thesis topic was inspired by a desire to quantitatively define and measure the effect of rule of law. In 2014 I completed the Masters of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University in Sweden. Further, there are very few studies, which objectively measure whether advancing the rule of law in a country really creates better outcomes for that country. Given the amount of international funding that is being dedicated to advancing the rule of law in fragile and post-conflict countries, there is very little literature that accurately defines (and confines) the term. At a meeting of civil society organisations, the speaker purported that rule of law was the new hot ticket in international development and suggested that the term be included in all new grant proposals. I heard the term used in lieu of "human rights", "democracy" and even "gender equality". In the humanitarian environment however, it seemed that the term "rule of law" was used as a catch-ll solution to a society's problems. In my prior work as a lawyer in Australia, the term had seemed somewhat confined and definable as a means of ensuring that no person was above the law. Working in fragile and post-conflict environments, I have been surprised to hear the term "rule of law" used so commonly. ![]()
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