The World Justice Program, an independent organization working to advance the rule of law around the world, recently released its Rule of Law Index 2021 report in its tenth annual edition, in which it ranks 139 countries worldwide by measuring a “nation’s adherence to the rule of law from the perspective of how ordinary people experience it”. More particularly, the Rule of Law Index is the average of eight factors highlighted in the following section:

-       Constraints on Government Powers: measures the extent to which those who govern are bound by law

-       Absence of Corruption: measures the absence of corruption in a number of government agencies

-       Open Government: measures the openness of a government and to the extent to which it shares information with the public

-       Fundamental Rights: measures the protection of fundamental human rights

-       Order and Security: measures how well the society assures the security of persons and property

-       Regulatory Enforcement: measures the extent to which regulations are fairly and effectively implemented and enforced

-       Civil Justice: measures whether ordinary people can resolve their grievances peacefully and effectively through the civil justice system

-       Criminal Justice: evaluates the criminal justice system

Nordic countries dominated the top four positions, with Denmark ranking first in the world in the Rule of Law 2021 index with a score of 0.90, while also occupying the first place in the constraints on government powers (score of 0.94), absence of corruption (0.95), fundamental rights (0.92), regulatory enforcement (0.89), civil justice (0.86) and criminal justice (0.83) factors. Denmark was trailed by Norway (score of 0.90) which occupied the first place in the world in the open government (0.89) & criminal justice (0.85) factors, and followed by Finland (score of 0.88) and Sweden (0.86).

Regionally, the U.A.E. topped the list (global rank 37) with a Rule of Law index score of 0.64, followed by Jordan (score: 0.55; global rank: 59) and Tunisia (score: 0.53; global rank: 65). Egypt, on the other hand, ranked last in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a score of 0.35, positioning last on a global basis in the open government factor with a score of 0.22. On the local front, Lebanon ranked 104^th in the world in the Rule of Law index with a score of 0.45. Lebanon came in 6^th among 8 covered Middle East and North African countries and 35^th amongst 40 covered upper middle income countries in the concerned index. In details, Lebanon’s best score (0.64) was in the order & security factor (global rank: 103, upper middle income class rank: 29, MENA rank: 7), followed by the constraints on government powers factor with a score of 0.49 (global rank: 84, upper middle income class rank: 22, MENA rank: 4) and the fundamental rights factor with a score of 0.47 (global rank: 98, upper middle income class rank: 32, MENA rank: 3). On the other hand, Lebanon fared worst in the criminal justice factor with a score of 0.35 (global rank: 104, upper middle income class rank: 32, and 7^th in the MENA region) and the absence of corruption factor with a score of 0.36 (global rank: 109, upper middle income class rank: 35, and last in the MENA region). This is further highlighted by the following two tables: