ABSTRACT
Democracy, the rule of law and governance capacity are often presented as three mutually reinforcing conditions that serve an array of goals: economic growth, development, social justice, civil peace and human rights. There are theoretical and empirical reasons to regard these things as interrelated, but the causal relationships are contingent and often elusive. Does democracy help or hinder the establishment of either the rule of law or any of the various measures of good governance that are in common usage? If the rule of law is a fundamental requisite for a high-quality democracy, does promoting the rule of law make countries more democratic – or does the rule of law in practice just as often serve anti-democratic agendas? The uncertainty and debate surrounding these and similar questions are compounded by contending understandings of the three concepts, all of which are complex and multifaceted. Contradictory findings about the relationship between democracy and good governance, for example, can often be traced to different conceptualizations and thus different empirical measures of these variables. The politicization of these concepts further complicates the scholarly debate, as democracy, good governance and the rule of law are not simply labels for concepts that can be operationalized and measured empirically but also live political projects pursued by a variety of actors – including the principal actors involved in constructing measures of these variables and conducting research into their causal significance.
