The Landscape Of Law Essays Examples

What exactly do we mean when we speak about rule of law? In “The Great Degeneration” Ferguson quotes Bingham's seven criteria “by which we should access a legal system”. Each criterion can be broadened and divided into a few separate points but the core stays unchanged.
Speaking about Ukraine in terms of rule of law in this country, it is worth mentioning that it has problems with each of these criteria. The law in Ukraine is neither clear nor predictable. Numerous and continuous changes in laws and regulations often mislead and contradict each other. Questions of right and liability hardly is resolved by application of legal base this country possesses because of its insufficiency thus they are generally resolved by the exercise of discretion. Ministers and public offices are controlled by oligarchs and thus represent their interests. This often includes exceeding and violation of the powers conferred to them. Courts in Ukraine do not serve their mission to resolve disputes between parties which can not come to the consensus, they serve for the benefit of particular interested side of dispute. All the procedures and services the State provide for the protection of citizen, namely his or her rights protection, are not performed in a good faith and fair. According to the Amnesty International, Ukraine ranks among countries with lowest level of protection and highest level of abuse any rights possible.
If the rule of law defined by these criteria appeared as non-existent in Ukraine, what this country needs to do to get the situation better? By all means such pitiful situation requires reforms. Ukraine stands on the edge now because of deep trouble with its politics and economics. This two dimensions are so much deeply interfered that shifts in one of them will definitely bring up changes in another one. The further actions taken by the local authorities will demonstrate whether it goes down or with the help of reforms and political cooperation the country manages to survive. That is why legal, political and economic changes are needed.
As it follows in the Ferguson's book, countries aiming at improving their investment and economic attractiveness start reforming their legal and administrative systems. The World Bank monitors such activity and keeps all the data regarding the estimates for governance quality (Table 1). Speaking about Ukraine in 2013 we may see negative trends in all areas except Government Effectiveness. It demonstrates a slight increase. Such indicators as Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism and Control of Corruption now present two-fold decline. Regulatory Quality and Rule of Law also went downwards. Such results represent low quality of public administration, absence of business regulatory environment, poor protection of property rights and insufficient rule-based governance. Institutions in Ukraine as well as public sector management appeared to be ineffective and unable to perform their functions in full. Transparency, accountability and corruption in public sector, according to Voice and Accountability and Control of Corruption, now follow negative trends again.

Estimates for governance quality, Ukraine, 2003-2013

Source: data adapted from Worldwide Governance Indicators.
Another approach we can take is to look at Doing Business reports. Ukraine ranks 96 among 189 countries in terms of Ease of Doing Business in 2015. This is 16 points increase comparing to 2014 rank. Despite such positive trend which is mostly based on developments in Registering Property and Paying Taxes, some key separate indicators still show too much complicated legal system for starting business. Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction Permit, Getting Credit, Protecting Minority Investors, Trading Across Borders and Resolving Insolvency went downwards.
Taking into account that four steps to the establishment of the rule of law are to reduce violence, to protect property rights, to impose institutional checks on government and to prevent corruption in the public sector, it appears that Ukraine fails to fulfill any of them. I expect in the future Ukraine will demonstrate prompt actions to establish the rule of law but now its ability to grant is ceases according to all indicators.

The Informal Sector in Ukraine

The shadow economy is a real problem for many countries around the globe but it Ukraine its scale is enormous. Informal sector in this country amounts to 50% of its GDP ranking sixth in the world's top list.
Ukraine being one of the most favorably geographically located country in Europe demonstrates poor development of its economy due to ineffectiveness and existence of large informal sector. These problems are mostly results of Soviet heritage and will cease to exist if the country chooses right model of business development.

Bibliography

“Doing Business.” World Bank. Accessed 2014.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/ukraine
“Experts tell government how to de-shadow economy.” Unian.info. Last modified October 24, 2014. http://www.unian.info/economics/1000407-experts-tell-government-how-to-de-shadow-economy.html
Ferguson, Niall. “The Landscape of Law” in The Great Degeneration. London: Penguin Books, 2014.
“Worldwide Governance Indicators.” World Bank. Accessed 2014.
http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/index.aspx#reports