Safety and Rule of Law
Personal Safety:  Within this sub-category the Ibrahim Index measures: (i) Safety of the Person – level of criminality in a country. (ii) Violent Crime – prevalence of violent crime, both organised and common. (iii) Social Unrest – prevalence of violent social unrest. (iv) Human Trafficking – government efforts to combat human trafficking. (v) Domestic Political Persecution – clustered indicator (an average) of the following variables: Physical Integrity Rights Index – government respect for citizens’ rights to freedom from torture, extrajudicial killing, political imprisonment, and disappearance.  Political Terror Scale – levels of state-instigated political violence and terror.

Rule of Law: Within this sub-category the Ibrahim Index measures: (i) Strength of Judicial Process – extent to which the judicial process or courts are subject to interference or distortion by interest groups. (ii) Judicial Independence – degree of independence, separation of powers, and a system of checks and balances within the judicial system. (iii) Property Rights – clustered indicator (an average) of the following variables: Property Rights Protection – degree to which private property rights are respected and enforced ; Property Rights – extent to which government ensures a clear process for ownership and acquisition of property ;  Property Rights – clustered indicator (average) of variables from the African Development Bank and the World Bank measuring the extent to which property and contract rights are guaranteed and protected ; Property Rights Index – ability of individuals to accumulate private property, secured by clear laws that are fully enforced by the state . (iv) Orderly Transfers of Power – extent of clarity, establishment and acceptance of constitutional mechanisms for the orderly transfer of power from one administration to another. (v) Sanctions – whether the United Nations Security Council and/or the African Union has imposed sanctions on a state, or governmental or non-governmental actors within a country (EA/OD).

Accountability and Corruption: Within this sub-category the Ibrahim Index measures: (i) Transparency and Corruption – clustered indicator (average) of variables from the African Development Bank and the World Bank measuring the accountability of public officials (both elected and appointed) to citizens, law-making bodies, and the justice system for: Use of funds and resources; Results of their actions . (ii) Accountability of Public Officials – extent to which safeguards/sanctions exist to ensure public officials (both elected and appointed) are accountable and perform competently. (iii) Corruption in Government and Public Officials – level of vested cronyism in, and corruption of, public officials (both elected and appointed) . (iv) Prosecution of Abuse of Office – extent to which there are legal or political penalties for public officials (both elected and appointed) who abuse their positions . (v) Corruption and Bureaucracy – how obstructive state bureaucracy is. This includes the amount of red tape likely to be encountered, as well as the likelihood of encountering corrupt officials and other groups . (vi) Accountability, Transparency and Corruption in Rural Areas – provisions put in place to: Encourage decentralisation of management of public finances for rural areas; Promote accountability and transparency in decision-making and disclosure of information at local level.

National Security: Within this subcategory the Ibrahim Index measures: (i) Domestic Armed Conflict – level of domestic armed conflict in a country, or the likelihood of conflict developing in the near future. (ii) Government Involvement in Armed Conflict – whether government is the primary or secondary party in armed conflict, in which the use of armed force results in 25 or more battle deaths in a year . (iii) Battle Deaths (Civilian and Combatant) – civilian or combatant battle deaths (greater than 25) resulting from war, minor conflict and n
Measures 3 indicators (a) Personal safety (b) Rule of law (c) Accountability and corruption and (d) National security.