UPSC Essentials | Key terms of past week with MCQs: April 24 to April 30

— The ongoing approach to dealing with mafia in Uttar Pradesh and other related events is attracting a lot of attention. ‘Rule of law’ is being discussed.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Udit Misra Explains:

What is the rule of law?

— The notion behind the rule of law is to curb the exercise of arbitrary power by anyone. But, formally defining the rule of law can be much more onerous and can often lead to rather serpentine definitions.

— For the United Nations (UN), the rule of law “is a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards”.

— The better approach is to outline what is expected when the rule of law prevails.

— The World Justice Project (WJP), which is an independent, multidisciplinary organization working to advance the rule of law worldwide, lays out four broad outcomes, as it were, if the rule of law prevails in a country. These are:

Accountability: Implying that the government as well as private actors are accountable under the law.

Just Law: Implying that the law is clear, publicised, and stable and is applied evenly. It ensures human rights as well as property, contract, and procedural rights.

Open Government: Implying that the processes by which the law is adopted, administered, adjudicated, and enforced are accessible, fair, and efficient.

Accessible and Impartial Justice: Implying that justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are accessible, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

How is the rule of law index created?

— Each year, the brings out a report ranking countries on the basis of the rule of law index. The index measures people’s perceptions and experiences of the rule of law in 140 countries and jurisdictions. The data featured in the 2022 report comes from global surveys completed by more than 154,000 households and 3,600 legal practitioners and experts

How is the index constructed?

— To build this index, the WJP looks at eight factors, which are further sub-divided into 44 sub-factors.

The eight main factors are as follows:

Constraints on government powers: This includes things like how effectively does the legislature or the judiciary deal with the government.

Absence of corruption: This essentially ascertains if public offices are being used for private gains.

Open Government: This includes things such as the right to information and laws and government data are well publicised.

Fundamental rights: This also includes whether the due process was followed.

Order and security: Whether crime is effectively controlled and civil conflict limited etc.

Regulatory enforcement: Things like whether regulations are effectively enforced etc.

Civil justice: Includes factors such as whether people can afford and access civil justice,

Criminal justice: Includes factors such as whether due procedures are followed etc.

The index values range between 0 and 1 with 1 being the score for complete adherence to the rule of law.

Why does the rule of law matter?

— Research shows that a stricter adherence to the rule of law is positively correlated to higher economic growth, better educational attainment, improved health outcomes, and greater peace among other benefits.

Where does India stand on the rule of law Index?

— India’s overall score in the 2022 report is 0.5 and its global rank is 77 out of 140 countries. Table 1 alongside captures how India performed on the various sub-categories. It is noteworthy that in 6 out of the 8 categories, India’s rank is lower than its overall rank.

Table 1: India’s performance on rule of law index

— Even though India’s score hasn’t changed, it has moved up two places in the latest rankings. However, if one compares it to 2015, the score has fallen marginally from 0.51 to 0.50 while the rank has changed from being 59th out of the 102 countries ranked in 2015.

— Within the South Asia region, India is placed third, behind Nepal and Sri Lanka, out of six countries; Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan being the other three.

— Among the 38 countries that fall under the same income bracket — namely lower-middle income — India is ranked 9th. Countries such as Senegal, Ghana, Indonesia and Ukraine were ahead of India as of the 2022 report.

(Source: Should Thakur have killed Gabbar, and other questions triggered by the rule of law index by Udit Misra)

Point to ponder: Rule of law most fundamental feature of modern constitutions of world. Discuss.

1. MCQ:

Which of the following are regarded as the main features of the “Rule of Law”? (2018)

1. Limitation of powers

2. Equality before law

3. People’s responsibility to the Government

4. Liberty and civil rights

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 1, 2 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

 SIPRI data 

WHY IN NEWS?

— More problems. More money. That is a key takeaway from the latest data published today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading global security think tank.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Deutsche Welle writes:

— For 2022, researchers recorded a year-on-year jump of 3.7 per cent in worldwide military expenditure. That marks an all-time high and follows several years of continuously higher spending.

— For those who follow world events, the doubling down on defense likely comes as no surprise. Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine has particularly led European countries to pay their military budgets renewed attention. Ever since the first Russian missiles struck Ukrainian cities in February 2022, country after country has announced new spending.

Spending as a safety blanket

— Defense outlays among NATO members — the Euro-Atlantic military alliance incorporating most European countries — have been going up since at least 2014. That is when Russia initially attacked Ukraine, illegally annexing the Crimean Peninsula and backing separatists in the eastern part of the country. NATO members agreed to meet a defense spending goal of 2 per cent of national GDP by 2024, and many of them have been slowly working toward that target.

— The Russian threat that all this money is meant to counter, however, has not materialized as frightfully as first imagined. The fact that Ukraine has so far managed to counter the Russian forces, which are theoretically superior, and hem them into a corner of the country, casts serious doubt on a broader danger to the rest of Europe.

— Still, money for new military kit, and other defense-related spending, keeps pouring in. Russia may be a flop on the battlefield but it could still be a potent adversary in cyberspace. Infiltration of and attacks on digital infrastructure can be low-cost, but high-damage. And, of course, Russia maintains a considerable nuclear arsenal.

What the numbers mean

— A chicken-or-egg scenario has taken shape. As governments respond to a growing sense of unraveling security, they contribute to its further deterioration. At the same time, however, the SIPRI data shows that the spending spree may not be as pronounced as headlines and policymakers sometimes make it out to be.

— While actual spending is up, topping a combined $2.2 trillion (€2 trillion) in 2022, as a share of GDP it is 0.1 per cent lower than it was in 2013. That is despite double-digit increases over the past decade across many countries, including nuclear powers and those known for prioritizing armed forces, such as China (63 per cent), India (47 per cent), and Israel (26 per cent).

— In each of these countries, however, defense spending has declined as a percentage of national economic output.

— The discrepancy suggests economic expansion has outpaced national budgets in areas such as defense, even if dollar figures can appear eye-popping; and rapid, record inflation has forced governments to spend more just to keep up.

— In other words, they have lost purchasing power. A defense ministry faces similar price pressures when shopping for a squadron of fighter jets that a normal household does for buying a carton of eggs. Countries looking not just to maintain, but grow or upgrade their militaries, have to spend even more, which SIPRI’s reporting reflects.

— Inflation has also been a political problem, particularly in Germany, which early last year pledged an additional €100 billion for its armed forces in response to Russian aggression. After years of facing criticism for not spending enough, higher prices have muted its efforts to finally do so.

Not just bombs and bullets

— The additional sum, which comes on top of Germany’s regular defense budget, is not reflected in the SIPRI data because none of it was ready to be spent last year. Even when the funds do start flowing, Germany may still fall short of NATO’s goals, according to an analysis by the German Economic Institute at the end of last year.

— Earmarked for a five-year period, it’s a chunk of change intended to buy Germany new weapons and other equipment. The SIPRI figures, however, cover broader ground.

— National defense establishments are sprawling institutions, employing hundreds of thousands of civilian and military personnel, sometimes in far-flung and hostile regions, at great cost. These employees need to be fed and clothed, and have an administration to manage them.

— More spending, therefore, does not necessarily translate into more weapons and upgraded fighting forces. Although the arms industry is booming and under pressure to keep up with demand, defense ministries are also paying to keep the lights on and toilets clean, like in any office.

— The year-on-year increase also accounts for military aid, which has seen an exceptional increase due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The United States alone has contributed more than $47 billion to Ukraine’s defense, according to the Kiel Institute, a German economic think tank.

— The portion of spending that does go directly to weapons varies by country, and it can be difficult to assess how effectively it is invested. That’s because there is a “lag effect,” SIPRI researcher Nan Tian explained.

— Weapon systems are large and complex and can take years to develop, procure, and press into service. Many of the aircraft, missile batteries, and armored vehicles considered top-of-the-line that Ukraine has pushed to receive from NATO members are decades old. Some of the latest spending, SIPRI notes, is going towards modernizing nuclear forces that most hope are never used.

— How much bang taxpayers get for their buck spent on defense is always a question when such huge sums of money are at play. That is especially the case for the US, which is by far the leader in military output. In 2022, the official US defense budget came in at $877 billion (€790 billion), according to the report. That accounts for 39% of global military expenditures.

— Taken as a percentage of national GDP, this defense spending may be less than it was in 2013 and a far cry from Cold War highs of nearly 10%, but no matter how you crunch the numbers it still enabled the US to project power and “spread that influence to the rest of the world.”

— China, which the US says is a major reason for increases to the defense budget, is a distant second, putting out $292 billion (€263 billion) last year. Despite the disparity between the world’s two largest economies, many US officials and security analysts are warning of China gaining a military edge.

— The extent to which that is true may have to do with where that money is spent. Whereas China is flexing its military muscle in its Pacific neighborhood, the US seems intent on maintaining a security footprint around the world — a position it has held since the Second World War.

On India

— Despite an 11 per cent drop in its arms import between 2013-17 and 2018-22, India remained the world’s largest arms importer from 2018 to 2022 followed by Saudi Arabia, according to the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).