Why the Rule of Law? Experimental Evidence from China

Abstract

Similar to many developing countries, the government of China has publicly committed itself to the rule of law. As part of the campaign to strengthen the rule of law, the government, media and academics have employed multiple justifications for the value of rule of law, including instrumental justifications such as economic growth and corruption reduction, and intrinsic or normative justifications like increased fairness and neutrality of judicial decisions. While various justifications for the rule of law abound, we know exceedingly little about why the public might value the rule of law. To understand mass attitudes toward the rule of law, we conducted a conjoint survey experiment using a national urban sample of 2,100 Chinese residents. We find instrumental justifications, especially corruption reduction, to have the largest effects, though several intrinsic justifications are also significant. Additionally, intergroup analysis shows that income and experience with the courts condition the type of justification that is most likely to be employed.