Mission

The Rule of Law and Economic Development Research Group (ROLED) aims to further the understanding of the rule of law’s role in fostering equitable economic growth and sustainable development. 

The rule of law and economic development

The rule of law serves as a foundation of democracy and a guardrail of good governance. It counters corruption, punishes and deters crime, and makes human rights actionable, enforceable and realizable. Weak rule of law, impunity, injustice, and insecurity impede inclusive development. For these reasons, our research aims to contribute to understanding the role of state, market and civil society in advancing rights-based economic development in country-specific contexts. 

History

Founded in 2011, ROLED built upon the McGill Faculty of Law’s longstanding work with Russian law reformers since the creation of the Russian Federation in the early 1990s. Faculty members partnered with the Centre for Private Law, which advised President Yeltsin directly and played a pivotal role in Russia’s legal reforms and the drafting of the Russian Civil Code and private law legislation. 

The Russian context provided an impetus for ROLED to examine the various dimensions of the rule of law and its relationship to economic development. ROLED has since evolved to encompass a broader global perspective, focusing on the complex interplay between the rule of law, institutions, governance structures, access to justice and economic development in emerging economies against the backdrop of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Finding commonalities through interdisciplinary research

Through collaborative and interdisciplinary research approaches, ROLED examines transition and emerging economies to surface commonalities among them. Our objective is to compare the systems and structures in which law operates and evaluate the current climate of the rule of law and its relationship to economic development within each country.

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