Global Justice Lab

The Global Justice Lab studies and supports organizations, systems and entire societies that are under significant pressure to change. Many justice systems struggle to maintain their social license in the face of demographic shifts, rapid economic development and the erosion of traditional governance regimes. Some face competition from other public and private sector players claiming to offer fairer, more effective or more cost-efficient solutions to justice-related problems. Stressors such as escalating political demands, growing perceptions of inequality and changing patterns of violence present acute challenges to the status quo. 

Understanding how organizations and societies cope with these pressures – or in some cases fail to do so – is the core focus of the Global Justice Lab. We look at how justice players adjust and adapt, tinker and improvise, deflect and resist. And we evaluate their success across the spectrum of possible responses, from engaging selectively to empirical evidence, to embracing innovative ideas that promise genuine change, to rebranding old habits in order to avoid changing at all.