How does history end? -- The Red Queen -- Will to power -- Economics outside the corridor -- Allegory of good government -- The European scissors -- Mandate of Heaven -- Broken Red Queen -- Devil in the details -- What's the matter with Ferguson? -- The paper leviathan -- Wahhab's children -- Red Queen out of control -- Into the corridor -- Living with the leviathan

"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"--

The most fundamental definition of liberty is that people are free from violence, intimidation, and other demeaning acts. Acemoglu and Robinson examine how and why human societies have achieved liberty-- or failed to achieve it. Believing that liberty is a basic aspiration of all human beings, they examine why it has been rare in history-- and is rare today. -- adapted from foreword