Figure 10. Access to justice by region, 1946–2020

which matters proceed and decisions follow. As a strategy, the design of the justice system is a conscious or subconscious policy choice, because procedural aspects of law can have substantive effects on citizens. For instance, any increase in the cost of filing—monetary or procedural—disproportionately burdens those who lack financial resources and legal expertise. In short, designing justice is an art of governance.

Effective justice systems matter not only intrinsically, but also because they facilitate economic development in many ways: by enforcing contractual agreements, resolving legal disputes, promoting social cohesion, and building trust among market stakeholders and towards government institutions. Earlier, this chapter briefly discussed how, in the aggregate, institutions, rather than geography or openness to trade, have been established as the key drivers of economic development. A growing body of experimental and quasi-experimental literature using microdata is shedding light on the mechanisms through which well working judicial systems affect economic outcomes. By reducing risk in contract enforcement, better justice improves firm-to-firm trade (Chemin 2012), increases investment (Crawford et al. 1978; Chakraborty et al. 2018) and promotes productive use of credit (Shvets 2013). As a result, entrepreneurship and firm size can also increase along with stronger justice systems and greater access to justice (Lichand and Soares 2014; Laeven and Woodruff 2004). There is also a fundamental distributional aspect to well-working justice systems: access to justice increases productivity and protects citizens at risk of conflict or when laws are biased against them (Aberra and Chemin 2021; Blattman et al. 2014; Sandefur and Siddiqi 2013). A more limited, but growing, academic literature finds that the presence of a strong justice system can lower corruption (Litschig and Zamboni 2018).

The challenges to building strong and binding judiciaries run deep in MENA. In fragile and conflict-affected countries, civil, commercial and administrative justice services are barely available to non-existent. In middle-income countries, underfunded justice institutions cannot deliver adequate justice services to citizens and businesses, not to mention to the large numbers of refugees who are excluded from the justice system and discriminated against. High-income countries still have high levels of inequality, and vulnerable groups with little voice face discrimination in the legal system. In terms of access to justice, which has been stagnant for decades, MENA is the worst among all regions in the world (see Figure 10).

Strengthening the certainty, speed, and inclusiveness of justice systems in MENA would go a long way towards creating a rule-based system, which could have high payoffs for development in all sectors.

Figure 10. Access to justice by region, 1946–2020

Access to justice, average of country-specific values 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 19461948195019521954195619581960196219641966196819701972197419761978198019821984198619881990199219941996199820002002200420062008201020122014201620182020

▬ East Asia Source: Varieties of Democracies 2022. ▬ Europe ▬ LAC ▬ MENA ▬ North America ▬ SA ▬ SSA