The Narrow Corridor

States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty

23 hrs and 44 mins

english language

Published Sept. 26, 2019 by Penguin Audio.

ISBN:
978-0-241-98852-7
Copied ISBN!
Audible ASIN:
0593107306
Goodreads:
52943150
4 stars (1 review)

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, a steady state, arrived at by a process of "enlightenment". This static view is a fantasy, the authors argue; rather, the corridor to liberty is narrow and stays open only via a fundamental and incessant struggle between state and society. The power of state institutions and the elites that control them has never gone uncontested in a free society. In fact, the capacity to …

5 editions

Subjects

  • politics
  • history