Announcing the WJP Rule of Law Research Consortium

Engaging with rule of law issues invariably means grappling with big ideas from multiple perspectives. Because scholars from around the world approach rule of law from different vantage points and academic disciplines, rule of law scholarship lacks the opportunities for collaboration and dialogue seen in more traditionally unified fields. Against this backdrop, the World Justice Project is proud to announce the Rule of Law Research Consortium (RLRC), a global and interdisciplinary scholarly group intended to ignite and facilitate rule of law research. As the core initiative of the WJP’s Research and Scholarship program, the Consortium will further the program’s commitment to examining the rule of law from all perspectives.

Background & Activities

Until now, scholars in a number of disciplines—economics, political science, law, sociology, and anthropology—have studied the rule of law from their personal perspective. There has not been an institutional arrangement that convenes these experts across regions and disciplines to exchange and build on each other’s expertise. The Rule of Law Research Consortium is designed to provide venues for meetings and incentives for collaborations that will build the new generation of rule of law scholarship. The Consortium aims to be the premier repository for rule of law knowledge in the world.

The Consortium will contribute to setting the agenda for rule of law research through annual conferences and topical seminars that will address the pressing open questions for the field. Joint conferences with partner organizations will also offer scholars a chance to meet with policymakers and practitioners to discuss key rule of law issues and how to solve them. A research paper series will cultivate new ideas and drive scholarly production while online collaboration platforms will ensure that production can continue remotely.

Members

The current membership of the consortium is composed of scholars from around the world at the top of their field. They are:

Benito Arrunada — Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Tim Besley* — Economics / Political Science, London School of Economics

Nehal Bhuta — Law, European University Institute

Rosa Brooks — Law, Georgetown University

David Caron — Law, King’s College London

Thomas Carothers — Law, Carnegie Endowment

Yun-Chien Chang — Law, Academica Sinica

Albert Chen — Law, Hong Kong University

John Comaroff — Anthropology, Harvard University

Mariano-Florentino Cuellar — Law, Stanford University

Kevin Davis — Law, New York University

Larry Diamond — Political Science, Stanford University

Brad Epperly* — Political Science, University of South Carolina

Julio Rios Figueroa — Political Science, Centro de Investigación y Docen- cia Económicas

Bryant Garth — Law, Southwestern Law School

James Gathii — Law, Loyola University Chicago

Tom Ginsburg, Co-Chair* — Law/Political Science, University of Chicago

Jon Gould — Law, American University

Gillian Hadfield — Law, University of Southern California

John Hagan — Economics, Harvard University

Gretchen Helmke — Political Science, University of Rochester

Susan Hirsch* — Anthropology, George Mason University

Erik Jensen — Law, Stanford University

Hamid Khan — Law, George Washington University

Rachel Kleinfeld — International Relations, Carnegie Endowment

Jack Knight* — Law/Political Science, Duke University

Timur Kuran — Economics, Duke University

Margaret Levi* — Political Science, University of Washington

Beatriz Magaloni* — Political Science, Stanford University

Jenny Martinez — Law, Stanford University

James Melton — Political Science, University College London

Sally Merry — Anthropology, New York University

Smoki Musaraj — Anthropology, University of California-Irvine

Robert Nelson, Co-Chair* — Sociology/Law, Northwestern University

Eric Neumayer — Environment / Development, London School of Economics

Randy Peerenboom — Law, La Trobe University

Jothie Rajah — Law, American Bar Foundation

Anita Ramasastry — Law, University of Washington

Bo Rothstein — Political Science, University of Gothenburg 

Andrei Shleifer — Economics, Harvard University

Kim Lane Scheppele — Law/Sociology, Princeton University

David Shirk — Political Science, University of San Diego

Svend-Erik Skaaning — Political Science, Aarhaus University

Kellye Testy — Law, University of Washington

Francesco Trebbi — Economics, University of British Columbia

Renata Uitz — Law, Central European University

Thierry Verdier — Economics, Paris School of Economics

Mila Versteeg — Law, University of Virginia

Stefan Voigt* — Economics, University of Hamburg

Barry Weingast — Political Science, Stanford University

Bruce Western — Sociology, Harvard University

Jennifer Widner — Political Science, Princeton University

Michael Woolcock* — Sociology, World Bank

Qianfan Zhang — Law, Peking University

*Founding members

Upcoming Events

Members of the Consortium will participate in two events in the Fall of this year. In September, some members of the Consortium will participate in a policy-relevant workshop on violence and the rule of law with other scholars, policy experts, and practitioners. The conference, which centers on three thematic areas—marginalized communities, organized crime, and political violence—is being held at Stanford University and co-hosted by the WJP, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University. The workshop seeks to take stock of efforts to address these forms of violence and determine the most pressing areas for future research.

In October, the Consortium itself will meet at the University of Chicago for its first annual conference. The meeting will feature presentations of work across all areas of rule of law research with an eye towards assessing the current state of scholarship and determining a research agenda. Members will also discuss what they would like to see take place at Consortium events and how the group ought to proceed most effectively.  

 

Photo: World Justice Project