Translator's Note│Korean Edition Preface│Preface

Chapter 1: How does history end?

Is Anarchy Coming? │ Article 15 of the Constitution │ A Journey Through Domination │ War and Leviathan │ Shock and Awe │ Reeducation through Labor │ The Janus-Faced Leviathan │ The Cage of Norms │ Beyond Hobbes │ Putting the Texans in Chains │ The Fettered Leviathan │ Not the End of History, but Diversity │ Overview of this Book

Chapter 2: The Red Queen

The Six Torments of Theseus│Solon's Chains│The Red Queen Effect│What if You Must Exile?│Missing Rights│A Chieftain? What's a Chieftain?│The Slippery Slope│Remaining Illegible│The Narrow Corridor│The Pudding's Proof│Shackling Leviathan: Trust, But Verify

Chapter 3: The Will to Power

The Rise of the Prophet│What is your competitive edge?│The Buffalo Horn│The Lawless Evil│The Red-Mouthed Gun│Breaking the Taboo│Times of Trouble│Why Can't We Put Shackles on the Will to Power?

Chapter 4: The Economy Outside the Corridor

The Ghost in the Barn│No Need to Work Hard│The Caged Economy│Ibn Khaldun and the Cycle of Dictatorship│Ibn Khaldun Discovers the Laffer Curve│Janus-Faced Autocratic Growth│The Law of the Split Oar│The Shark Entering the Island│The Bird That Devours Others│The Economics of the Rose Revolution│The Economics of Caged Dictatorships

Chapter 5: Allegory of Selection

Frescoes in the Piazza del Campo | The Effects of Selection | How St. Francis Got His Name | The First Cat in the Canary Islands | The Economy in the Cloisters | The Effects of Bad Government | How the Tortilla Was Invented

Chapter 6: European Scissors

Europe, Entering the Corridors│The Long-Haired King and Parliamentary Politics│The Other Side of the Scissors│Combining the Two Blades of the Scissors│The Divided Kingdom│After 1066│Magna Carta: The Red Queen Effect Appears│The Grumbling Bees│The Blooming Parliament│From the Ting to the Alting: Europe Outside the Corridors│The Medieval Dollar and the Byzantine Leviathan│Moving Within the Corridors│We Must Break Next│The Origins of the Industrial Revolution│Why in Europe?

Chapter 7: The Mandate of Heaven

Capsizing the Boat│Everyone Under Heaven│The Rise and Fall of the Zheng Tian Emperor│Cutting the Pigtail│Cheap Dictatorship│A Dependent Society│The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Economy│Marx's Mandate│Moral Leadership and Growth│Freedom with Chinese Characteristics

Chapter 8: The Destroyed Red Queen

A Story of Hatred│India Caged in the Cage of Norms│The Broken│The Rulers│The Economy Caged in the Cage of Caste│Ancient Republics│The Land of the Tamils│From Ghana-Sangha to Lok Sabha│No Respect Among Varnas│The Broken Red Queen

Chapter 9: The Devil in the Details

The Diversity of Europe │ War Makes States, and States Make War │ What Kind of States Does War Make │ Freedom of the Highlands │ Important Differences │ At Lenin's Shipyard │ Returning the Russian Bear to its Untamed State │ From Dictatorship to Dissolution │ Because It Must Be │ Reasons for Divergence │ Oppression of the Plantations │ Why History Matters

Chapter 10: What Went Wrong with Ferguson?

The Noon Murder │ The Collateral Damage of American Exceptionalism │ What Bill of Rights? │ American Slavery, American Freedom │ The Circular Path of American Nation-Building │ We Will Overcome │ America Living in the Corridor │ Who's Having Fun on Route 66? │ Why Can't We Gather Any Information, Anytime? │ The Paradoxical American Leviathan

Chapter 11: Paper Leviathan

Patients of the Nation│Gnocchi in a Cage│Failing the Duck Test│Nowhere to Go│Orangutans in Tuxedos│Plowing the Sea│Africa's Mississippi│The Postcolonial World│The Consequences of the Paper Leviathan

Chapter 12: The Children of Wahhab

A Strategist's Dream│Taming the Ulama│Strengthening Our Norms│Untouchables in Saudi Arabia│Nebuchadnezzar Runs Again│Seeds of 9/11

Chapter 13: The Uncontrollable Red Queen

Destructive Revolution│The Rainbow Coalition of the Discontented│The Zero-Sum Red Queen│Dictatorship from Below│How the Red Queen Gets Out of Control│How Much Land Does a Peasant Need?│For Whom the Bell Tolls│Attracted to Dictators│Who Likes Checks and Balances?│Back in the Corridors?│The Danger Visible

Chapter 14 Inside the Corridor

The Black Man's Burden | The Rainbow Coalition | The Path to the Corridor | Building on the Iron Cage | Black Turks, White Turks | The Spring of Viagra | Undressing the Orangutan's Tuxedo | The Shape of the Corridor | Another World? | The Corridor Created by Globalization | We All Think Like Hobbes Now

Chapter 15: Living with Leviathan

Hayek's Mistake│Cow Trading│Leviathan vs. the Market│Unshared Prosperity│Unbridled Wall Street│Mega-Corporations│Avoiding the Zero-Sum Red Queen│Leviathan vs. the War on Terror│The Right to Act: The Niemoeller Principle

Acknowledgements
Appendix - References│Map Source│Photo Source│
References│Search

A new work by the winner of the John Bates Clark Medal, a potential Nobel Prize!
Financial Times Book of the Year 2019, Praise from World Scholars!

A 'narrow corridor' where the state and society maintain a balance of power

In 2020, COVID-19 hit the world hard.
While South Korea has been praised for its swift response and successful quarantine efforts, various social conflicts have surfaced in the process.
The PC room industry, which had its operations suspended, protested vehemently, saying, "Why are we the only ones being told to close while cafes and restaurants are allowed to do so?", and some religious groups insisted on holding in-person meetings, sparking controversy.
There is some logic to their criticism of those who are dissatisfied with the government's strong control during a national crisis.
Moreover, it is not easy in a democratic society to unconditionally ignore someone's actions or opinions.
Ultimately, the coronavirus crisis boils down to the most fundamental problem of the political system: the conflict between “state power” and “civil liberty.”


The problem is that the conflict between the state and society will only intensify in the future.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the international community, including the United States, has been putting more effort into the war on terrorism.
As the economic downturn becomes chronic, the movement to protect the domestic economy is also growing.
Technological advancements also raise questions about the very concept of state power.
Today, all government is computerized, and countless people leave their personal information online.
The fact that everything is connected means that if just one thing explodes, it can cause a chain reaction.
As systems centered around massive computer networks become more widespread, the risk of a terrorist attack that could bring down the system increases.

From internet terrorism and conflicts between interest groups to pandemics, wealth disparity, and economic recession, the power the state needs to address social problems is growing.
Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the international bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, says in his recommendation for Narrow Corridors that “the greatest paradox in political history is that human society has continually developed toward centralization.”
Daron Acemoglu and James A., authors of "Narrow Corridors,"
Citing Thomas Hobbes, Robinson argues that to avoid a "war of all against all," a "Leviathan" is needed, empowered by the people.
The book's narrative begins with the dilemma faced by modern states: the power of the state must grow, and as a result, individual freedom must be restricted.

The Path from National Failure to Prosperity

The authors argue that for a nation to prosper, the state and society must move into a "narrow corridor."
The 'narrow corridor' is a space where the state and society achieve a balance of power, and this can be easily understood through the graph presented by the authors.
The reason this is a corridor rather than a door is because, in the process of the state and society checking each other, they can escape the corridor at any time and anywhere.
Also, the reason this place is narrow is because it is difficult to achieve balance.

There are many factors that influence the balance between state and society.
However, not all factors that are the same will produce the same results.
Because each country's situation is different.
Let's take a look at the Black Death, which had a great impact on European history.
As population decline made labor scarce, society became more daring and serfs demanded a reduction in their duties.
The ability of the feudal elite to control society and collect taxes was diminished, and as a result, Western European societies were freed from the tyrannical control of the state.
However, in the case of Eastern Europe, the power of society was weak because the grouping of peasants was limited.

So, while England, France, and the Netherlands advanced along the 'narrow corridor', Eastern European countries, including Poland and Hungary, ended up strengthening their 'dictatorial states'.
In 1933, the German Reichstag passed an Enabling Act that abolished the parliament and gave Hitler full power.
The incomprehensible thing happened when a democratically elected legislature dissolved itself.
This is an example of how terrible a "zero-sum" situation can be when a nation and society focus solely on destroying each other, and how "narrow" the corridors become.

The cultural and historical factors that a country has experienced are also important factors.
India is both the world's largest democracy, a country with fierce political competition, and a country steeped in mystery, ruled by traditional caste norms.
How should we understand India's deeply ingrained hierarchy and inequality, and their impact on the country's economy? What enabled China to develop a powerful, centralized state? The bureaucracy also plays a significant role.
Argentina's bureaucracy is made up of "ghost civil servants," colloquially known as "gnocchi," who do not perform their official duties properly.
Although Argentina has a modern system in appearance, its public institutions are not performing their functions properly.
Is it because the state lacks the power to tolerate ghost civil servants? Or is there another reason?

"The Narrow Corridor" explores a variety of cases across time and space, from the ostracism of ancient Athens, to the "Legalist" and "Confucian" ideologies of the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, which formed the foundation of modern Chinese politics, to the mercenary system of Switzerland, and today, to the United States, where specific companies like Google dominate information.
Through this, we explore the factors that affect the balance of a nation and society and what is needed to achieve balance.


The crossroads of big government and small government

Freedom is the central theme of this book.
The authors argue that for individuals to be free, the state and society must be in balance, and that when this balance is achieved, the state can prosper economically.
This is where the main debate in economics and social science arises.
To what extent can the Leviathan known as the state intervene in the economy? What are the criteria for determining which activities warrant state intervention and which should be left to the market?

The key question is whether the state is still subject to social checks and balances as it develops its capacity to meet society's needs.
This requires new ways to develop society's capacity to monitor and control the state.
In other words, to determine whether state intervention is beneficial, one must not only look at the economic trade-offs that arise from the intervention, but also consider the resulting political impact.
It is not just a question of the size of the state's capabilities, but also of who monitors and controls those capabilities and how that power is used.
Because ultimately, a country's political system affects the quality and quantity of its economy.


The authors discuss this issue through examples from the Tiv people in Africa, the outlook for the Chinese economy, and the US, where the fruits of economic growth have not been properly distributed.
These discussions will provide insights into Korean society, which is currently experiencing significant debate regarding government intervention in the economy.

A New Political Theory for Economic Prosperity in the Age of Pandemic and AI In 1989, Francis Fukuyama predicted the "end of history" in which all countries would converge on the American political system.
Five years later, Robert Kaplan said that our society was moving towards "anarchy," referring to countries in Africa where governments were not functioning properly.
And then, in 2018, Yuval Noah Harari predicted a “digital dictatorship” in which governments would monitor and control us, even policing how we think.
Looking at China's increasingly strict control over its population, it seems our future is moving towards a digital dictatorship, as Yuval Harari said.
Meanwhile, given the recent turmoil in the Middle East and Africa, a future of anarchy seems not so far away.
However, the authors argue in "The Narrow Corridor" that neither is the future we face.

History will flow toward 'diversity' rather than 'end', and the future will differ depending on a country's political system.
And that system depends on the ability to check and balance each other.
This book will offer many insights to Korean society, which is in need of new politics in the age of pandemics and AI.