The Fickle Balance between State Power and Civil Freedom

After publishing Why Nations Fail (2013), Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson published their latest book, The Narrow Corridor (2019).

Their thoughts make for an interesting read on the dynamic development of Indonesian politics, a historical struggle to reach a balance between the state, society and the freedom of its citizens. The history of the nation has always been one of political turbulence, with the pendulum swinging between the demand of freedom of its citizens and the need for strong state institutions. The two are frequently hard to synchronize.

Before the emergence of formal state institutions, the community still needed a comfortable order of life and a feeling of security. Then there appeared a hierarchical social order, controlled by strong and charismatic people, reinforced by ethnic and religious sentiment. Such a social structure by Acemoglu is called a cage of norms. One of the problems faced by the Afghan Government these days is the power of exclusive communalism, such as the Pashtuns and other groups whose existence is like a state within a state, so that it is difficult to create national peace. The Pashtuns are very loyal to strict local laws and traditions, which are partly drawn from religions they understand. The position of women is very backward as if only a complement to men. According to Acemoglu, this cage of norms is still strong in various African countries.