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There are several main approaches to defining the rule of law including formal and substantive, and functional conceptions of the rule of law. In this essay I am going to explore the formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law. The formulistic approach to the rule of law which is to explore the definitions of the rule of law we must look at the existence of certain criteria to test the rule of law …

…with the meaning of law itself. Policymakers need to be clear about the meaning of the rule of law because answers to many of the questions they are interested in whether "rule of law" such as if democracy is a prerequisite for rule of law. The rule of law has a number of different possible meanings. All of these definitions have problems, and which one is appropriate for which problem will depend on the problem.