An Assessment Framework for Compliance with International Space Law and Norms: Promoting Equitable Access and Use of Space for Emerging Actors

This book proposes a framework for assessing countries' levels of compliance with international space law and norms. It begins by exploring the development of two movements, namely the evidence-based policymaking and programming movement and the rise of ratings and rankings research, and their growth across various disciplines. The analysis suggests that such efforts are useful in measuring the behavior of countries in space according to how well they adhere to existing space law and norms.

A comprehensive, periodic, and systematic measure of countries' efforts to comply with space law and norms does not exist, therefore this work endeavors to fill this gap by offering a framework in which to assess compliance. Application of the framework results in five possible ratings which a country may be assigned, ranging from highly compliant to non-compliant. It is envisioned the proposed framework can be applied for advocating for greater compliance to promote space security and sustainability.