THE RULE, THE LAW, AND THE RULE OF LAW: IMPROVING MEASUREMENTS AND CONTENT VALIDITY

This article examines the role of states in establishing the rule of law. It identifies several flaws in the current indexes and calls for better measurements of the rule of law by making two substantive claims: a) there is a need to account for law enforcement and citizen's compliance as key components of the rule of law and b) measurements of the rule of law should be based on hard or behavioral data. This article proposes a road map to conceptualize the problem and presents promising initial data and an index that captures the "rule" dimension of the rule of law for Latin American countries. This represents a base for further examination and debate.