The State Power and Its Restraints, by Yongmei Zhou

The Sustainable Development Goals recognize the need to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies with effective rule of law and transparent, effective and accountable institutions. These goals are not only important in their own right but are also relevant for the achievement of economic and social development goals. Given how distant this vision may seem to people living in countries facing civil conflict, high inequality and stagnant growth, two questions are worth asking: 1) given a governance context, sometimes highly imperfect, what does it take to make development progress; and 2) what can drive successful governance reforms. These are the questions taken on by the World Development Report 2017 on Governance and the Law (the WDR).