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The Narrow Corridor

States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty

Written by Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
Listen to a clip Look inside
Paperback
$20.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
On sale Sep 22, 2020 | 576 Pages | 978-0-7352-2440-7
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  • History > Period History: Western Civilization > Western Civilization – Modern
  • History > Regional History: Western Civilization > Specialized Courses
  • History > Survey Courses > Western Civilization – 1750 to Present
  • History > Survey Courses > Western Civilization – Prehistory to Present
  • History > Survey Courses > World History – 1750 to Present
  • History > Topical History > History of Political Thought
  • Philosophy > Social and Political Philosophy > Political Philosophy
  • Political Science > Comparative Politics > Introduction to Comparative Politics
  • Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Introduction to Political Science
  • Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Ideologies
  • Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Philosophy
  • Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Sociology
  • Political Science > Introduction to Political Science > Political Theory and Thought
  • About
  • Author
From the authors of Why Nations Fail, a crucial framework that answers the question of how liberty flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy in others--and explains how it can weather new threats.
From the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, a crucial new big-picture framework that answers the question of how liberty flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy in others--and explains how it can continue to thrive despite new threats.

In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson argued that countries rise and fall based not on culture, geography, or chance, but on the power of their institutions. In their new book, they build a new theory about liberty and how to achieve it, drawing a wealth of evidence from both current affairs and disparate threads of world history.  

Liberty is hardly the "natural" order of things. In most places and at most times, the strong have dominated the weak and human freedom has been quashed by force or by customs and norms. Either states have been too weak to protect individuals from these threats, or states have been too strong for people to protect themselves from despotism. Liberty emerges only when a delicate and precarious balance is struck between state and society.

There is a Western myth that political liberty is a durable construct, arrived at by a process of "enlightenment." This static view is a fantasy, the authors argue. In reality, the corridor to liberty is narrow and stays open only via a fundamental and incessant struggle between state and society: The authors look to the American Civil Rights Movement, Europe’s early and recent history, the Zapotec civilization circa 500 BCE, and Lagos’s efforts to uproot corruption and institute government accountability to illustrate what it takes to get and stay in the corridor. But they also examine Chinese imperial history, colonialism in the Pacific, India’s caste system, Saudi Arabia’s suffocating cage of norms, and the “Paper Leviathan” of many Latin American and African nations to show how countries can drift away from it, and explain the feedback loops that make liberty harder to achieve.

Today we are in the midst of a time of wrenching destabilization. We need liberty more than ever, and yet the corridor to liberty is becoming narrower and more treacherous. The danger on the horizon is not "just" the loss of our political freedom, however grim that is in itself; it is also the disintegration of the prosperity and safety that critically depend on liberty. The opposite of the corridor of liberty is the road to ruin.
Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. In 2005 he received the John Bates Clark Medal, given to economists under age forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge, in 2012 he was awarded the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in economics for work of lasting significance, and in 2016 he received the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in economics, finance, and management for his lifetime contributions.
Photo © Peter Tenzer
Learn more about Daron Acemoglu
James A. Robinson, a political scientist and economist, is one of nine University Professors at the University of Chicago. Focused on Latin America and Africa, he is currently conducting research in Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Haiti, and Colombia, where he has taught for many years during the summer at the University of the Andes in Bogotá.
Photo © Nancy Wong
Learn more about James A. Robinson

About

From the authors of Why Nations Fail, a crucial framework that answers the question of how liberty flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy in others--and explains how it can weather new threats.
From the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, a crucial new big-picture framework that answers the question of how liberty flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy in others--and explains how it can continue to thrive despite new threats.

In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson argued that countries rise and fall based not on culture, geography, or chance, but on the power of their institutions. In their new book, they build a new theory about liberty and how to achieve it, drawing a wealth of evidence from both current affairs and disparate threads of world history.  

Liberty is hardly the "natural" order of things. In most places and at most times, the strong have dominated the weak and human freedom has been quashed by force or by customs and norms. Either states have been too weak to protect individuals from these threats, or states have been too strong for people to protect themselves from despotism. Liberty emerges only when a delicate and precarious balance is struck between state and society.

There is a Western myth that political liberty is a durable construct, arrived at by a process of "enlightenment." This static view is a fantasy, the authors argue. In reality, the corridor to liberty is narrow and stays open only via a fundamental and incessant struggle between state and society: The authors look to the American Civil Rights Movement, Europe’s early and recent history, the Zapotec civilization circa 500 BCE, and Lagos’s efforts to uproot corruption and institute government accountability to illustrate what it takes to get and stay in the corridor. But they also examine Chinese imperial history, colonialism in the Pacific, India’s caste system, Saudi Arabia’s suffocating cage of norms, and the “Paper Leviathan” of many Latin American and African nations to show how countries can drift away from it, and explain the feedback loops that make liberty harder to achieve.

Today we are in the midst of a time of wrenching destabilization. We need liberty more than ever, and yet the corridor to liberty is becoming narrower and more treacherous. The danger on the horizon is not "just" the loss of our political freedom, however grim that is in itself; it is also the disintegration of the prosperity and safety that critically depend on liberty. The opposite of the corridor of liberty is the road to ruin.

Author

Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT. In 2005 he received the John Bates Clark Medal, given to economists under age forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge, in 2012 he was awarded the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in economics for work of lasting significance, and in 2016 he received the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award in economics, finance, and management for his lifetime contributions.
Photo © Peter Tenzer
Learn more about Daron Acemoglu
James A. Robinson, a political scientist and economist, is one of nine University Professors at the University of Chicago. Focused on Latin America and Africa, he is currently conducting research in Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Haiti, and Colombia, where he has taught for many years during the summer at the University of the Andes in Bogotá.
Photo © Nancy Wong
Learn more about James A. Robinson

Additional formats

  • The Narrow Corridor
    The Narrow Corridor
    States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-593-10730-0
    $30.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Sep 24, 2019
  • The Narrow Corridor
    The Narrow Corridor
    States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-7352-2439-1
    $4.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Sep 24, 2019
  • The Narrow Corridor
    The Narrow Corridor
    States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-593-10730-0
    $30.00 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Sep 24, 2019
  • The Narrow Corridor
    The Narrow Corridor
    States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-7352-2439-1
    $4.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Sep 24, 2019

Other books by this author

  • Why Nations Fail
    Why Nations Fail
    The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-307-71922-5
    $20.00 US
    Paperback
    Currency
    Sep 17, 2013
  • Why Nations Fail
    Why Nations Fail
    The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
    Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
    978-0-307-71922-5
    $20.00 US
    Paperback
    Currency
    Sep 17, 2013
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