Does Mexico have an “Open Government”?

The World Justice Project (WJP) 2012-2013 Report recently assessed 97 countries on eight Rule of Law factors. The “Open Government” factor involves engagement, access, participation, and collaboration between the government and its citizens. It includes accountability, freedom of information, and ability to petition the government.

The WJP ranked Mexico 32^nd of 97 countries in terms of “Open Government”. Brazil ranked one better at 31^st, while India (48^th), China (69^th) and Russia (70^th) trailed significantly. For comparison, Sweden was ranked 1^st, Canada 6^th, USA 13^th, Ghana 30^th, Italy 47^th, Guatemala 58^th. Four African countries occupied the very bottom places: Ethiopia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe (94^th to 97^th , respectively).

In assessing open governments, the WJP uses four subfactors (with Mexico’s rank among the 97 countries in parentheses):

1. The laws are publicized and accessible (48^th)
2. The laws are stable (26^th)
3. Right to petition the government and public participation (53^rd)
4. Official information is available on request (39^th)

These scores suggest that Mexico is pretty much in the middle of the 97 countries assessed. It would do well to focus attention on better publicizing laws and encouraging public participation.

A previous post focused on the WJP analysis of Mexico’s “Criminal Justice System”. Future posts will investigate other “Rule of Law” dimensions of the WJP study.