Scholars point to the following defects as slowing movement toward rule of law.

They prefer big government because that is the first step to totalitarianism, toward unquestioned rule by the elite.

Yet the legal reforms are still a sign that China is increasingly sensitive to international standards and the need to move toward rule of law.

Human rights groups have begun to warn of a tendency toward one-man rule.

She did not know it, but she was beginning to take the first, hesitant steps toward rule.

When the Gold Coast began to move toward direct rule in the 1920's, the stool was recovered.

Perhaps it is not too much to ask for initial steps toward democratic rule and free elections.

But the biggest contrast is political: Their leader seems to be moving toward one-man rule.

They claimed he was leading the country toward Islamic rule.

Opposition leaders said such inflated figures were yet another step in a slide back toward one-party rule.