?The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of liberty

By Daron Acemoglu

ABOUT THE NARROW CORRIDOR

“Why is it so difficult to develop and sustain liberal democracy? The best recent work on this subject comes from a remarkable pair of scholars, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. In their latest book, The Narrow Corridor, they have answered this question with great insight.” -Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post

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.

“为什么发展和维持自由民主如此困难？ 最近关于这个主题的最佳著作来自一对杰出的学者，Daron Acemoglu 和 James A. Robinson。 在他们的最新著作《狭窄的走廊》中，他们以深刻的见解回答了这个问题。” -Fareed Zakaria，华盛顿邮报

出自国际畅销书《国家为何失败》的作者之手，这是一个至关重要的新大局框架，它回答了自由如何在某些国家蓬勃发展，但在其他国家却沦为专制主义或无政府状态的问题——并解释了自由如何在面临新威胁的情况下继续蓬勃发展。

在《为什么国家会失败》一书中，Daron Acemoglu 和 James A. Robinson 认为，国家的兴衰不是基于文化、地理或机会，而是取决于其制度的力量。 在他们的新书中，他们建立了一个关于自由以及如何实现自由的新理论，从时事和世界历史的不同线索中汲取了大量证据。

自由很难说是事物的“自然”秩序。 在大多数地方和大多数时间，强者支配弱者，人类自由被武力或习俗和规范所压制。 要么国家太弱无法保护个人免受这些威胁，要么国家太强大以至于人们无法保护自己免受专制。 只有在国家与社会之间达成微妙而不稳定的平衡时，自由才会出现。

有一个西方神话认为，政治自由是一种持久的建构，是通过“启蒙”过程获得的。 作者认为，这种静态观点是一种幻想。 实际上，通往自由的走廊是狭窄的，只有通过国家与社会之间根本的、持续的斗争才能保持畅通：作者着眼于美国民权运动、欧洲的早期和近代历史、大约公元前 500 年的萨巴特克文明以及拉各斯的努力 根除腐败并建立政府问责制，以说明获得和留在走廊所需的条件。 但他们也研究了中国的帝国历史、太平洋地区的殖民主义、印度的种姓制度、沙特阿拉伯令人窒息的规范牢笼，以及许多拉丁美洲和非洲国家的“纸利维坦”，以展示各国如何远离它，并解释 使自由更难实现的反馈回路。

今天，我们正处于动荡不安的时期。 我们比以往任何时候都更需要自由，但通向自由的走廊正变得越来越狭窄和危险。 地平线上的危险不仅“只是”失去我们的政治自由，无论其本身多么严峻； 严重依赖自由的还有繁荣和安全的瓦解。 自由走廊的对面是毁灭之路。

PRAISE

One of the Financial Times‘ Best Books of 2019
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2019
Shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize

“Why is it so difficult to develop and sustain liberal democracy? The best recent work on this subject comes from a remarkable pair of scholars, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. In their latest book, The Narrow Corridor, they have answered this question with great insight.” –Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post

“What explains the rise and fall of democracy and dictatorship? . . . [Acemoglu and Robinson] offer a provocative framework for analyzing our current moment of democratic crisis. . . . A powerful starting point for understanding the many perils facing aspirations for democracy and liberty today. . . helpfully recalibrates our American tendency to collapse debates over freedom into a binary clash between the narrow liberty of ‘free markets’ on the one hand, and the economic and political freedoms provided by social-democratic ‘big government’ on the other.” —The Washington Post

“Crucially and rightly, the book does not see freedom as merely the absence of state oppression . . . This book is more original and exciting than its predecessor. It has gone beyond the focus on institutions to one on how a state really works.” —Martin Wolf, Financial Times

“Fantastic.” —Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

“A work of staggering ambition—aiming to explain why liberty has or has not existed at every moment in time in every geography in the world… It is chock full of delightful detours and brilliant nuggets… Smart and timely.” —Newsweek

“A well-written and argued treatise. . . . indispensable reading.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Provocative and intuitively correct. An endlessly rewarding book.” —Kirkus (starred review)
 
“The Narrow Corridor takes us on a fascinating journey, across continents and through human history, to discover the critical ingredient of liberty. In these times, there can be no more important search—nor any more important book.” —George Akerlof, Nobel laureate in economics, 2001
 
“Liberty does not come easily. Many populations suffer from ineffective governments and are stuck in a cage of norms and traditions. Others are subdued by a despotic Leviathan. In this highly original and gratifying fresco, Daron Acemoglu and Jim Robinson take us on a journey through civilizations across time and space. A remarkable achievement that only they could pull off and that seems destined to repeat the stellar performance of Why Nations Fail.” —Jean Tirole, Toulouse School of Economics, Nobel laureate in economics, 2014
 
“With gripping examples of civilizations that thrived or failed, Acemoglu and Robinson provide an exhilarating analysis of the critical balance needed between state and society. The Narrow Corridor is destined to be the landmark book that maps the future of freedom for any serious policymaker, scholar, or citizen.” —Erik Brynjolfsson, coauthor of The Second Machine Age
 
“One of the biggest paradoxes of political history is the trend, over the last 10,000 years, away from small tribes and toward the development of the strong centralized states that allow societies of millions to function. But—how can a powerful state be reconciled with liberty for its citizens? This great book provides an answer to this fundamental dilemma. You will find it as enjoyable as it is thought-provoking.” —Jared Diamond, professor of geography at UCLA and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel
 
“How should we view the current challenges facing our democracies? This brilliant, timely book offers a simple, powerful framework for assessing alternative forms of social governance. The analysis is a reminder that it takes vigilance to maintain a proper balance between the state and society—to stay in the ‘narrow corridor’—and avoid falling into either statelessness or dictatorship.” —Bengt Holmstrom, Nobel laureate in economics, 2016
 
“Two of the world’s best social scientists have written a magisterial book of immense insight and learning, a true tour de force. From its rich historical study of the delicate balance between state and society it draws a chilling conclusion every thinking person should be aware of: Liberty is as rare as it is fragile, wedged uneasily between tyranny and anarchy.” —Joel Mokyr, author of A Culture of Growth
 
“Another outstanding, insightful book by Acemoglu and Robinson on the importance and difficulty of getting and maintaining a successful democratic state. Packed with examples and analysis, it is a pleasure to read.” —Peter Diamond, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2010
 

Praise for Why Nations Fail
 
“Bracing, garrulous, wildly ambitious and ultimately hopeful. It may, in fact, be a bit of a masterpiece.” —The Washington Post

“Why Nations Fail is a splendid piece of scholarship and a showcase of economic rigor.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A brilliant book.” —Bloomberg
 
“This is an intellectually rich book that develops an important thesis with verve. It should be widely read.” —Financial Times

“Why Nations Fail is a truly awesome book.” —Steven Levitt, coauthor of Freakonomics

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