The World Justice Project

"Mainstreaming" the Rule of Law Around the World

Participants in the Singapore international meeting broke into small groups by discipline to discuss the impact of rule of law.

The World Justice Project has reached out to leaders from diverse disciplines on four continents to discuss with them the impact of the rule of law. International participation has been lively.

• Africa: 61 leaders from 21 countries, representing ten disciplines, met in Accra, Ghana.
• Asia: 52 leaders from 16 countries, representing eleven disciplines, met in Singapore.
• Europe: 36 leaders from 22 countries, representing eleven disciplines, met in Prague, Czech Republic.
• Latin America: 47 leaders from 11 countries, representing twelve disciplines, met in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Across all the meetings, participants shared a broad consensus that the rule of law is necessary to achieve their respective goals. They articulated ways in which the rule of law (or its absence) impacts those goals. And they articulated the types of situations where strengthening the rule of law could solve community problems.

Participants in the Accra, Ghana meeting were invited to submit proposals for small projects involving multidisciplinary collaborations in their communities to advance the rule of law. About a dozen projects have been funded, and several of these will be showcased at the World Justice Forum in Vienna in July 2008.

Here's what participants from around the world (PDF) had to say about the importance of the rule of law.