Shackling the Leviathan Balancing the citizenryā€™s wants with the stateā€™s needs is critical for a successful society, says 2018 Perloff lecturer Daron Acemoglu

By Zev Hurwitz

Governments with too much or too little power can be problematic. Just ask Daron Acemoglu, the 2018 Perloff lecturer at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

In his remarks on May 8, 2018, at the Luskin School, Acemoglu reviewed some of his most recent work about institutions and societal outcomes. The event shared a title with his upcoming book, ā€œThe Narrow Corridor to Liberty: The Red Queen and the Struggle of State Against Society,ā€ which he is co-authoring with James A. Robinson.

When it comes to issues of authority, Acemoglu said, striking the right balance is key. Too much or too little state power can lead to catastrophic violence and warfare.

ā€œA lot of social and political theory is built around avoiding these sorts of scare scenarios,ā€ he said.

At one extreme, a society where the government loses its means to govern can lead to chaos. Acemoglu shared a picture of the decimated city of Mosul, Iraq, following an ISIS takeover in 2014.

ā€œThis is an iconic case of what happens when a governmentā€™s law enforcement function collapses and anarchy prevails,ā€ Acemoglu said.

On the flip side, governments with too much power can perpetrate the chaos directly. Such is the case with the state-led persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar.

ā€œWhatā€™s remarkable about this is that it wasnā€™t caused by the collapse of the state but was actually perpetrated by the state,ā€ he said.

Another example of a governmentā€™s unchecked power, Acemoglu said, is Chinaā€™s use of mass-pooled data to maintain social order.

Acemogluā€™s upcoming book discusses the notion of ā€œShackling the Leviathan.ā€ The Leviathan, as he describes it, is a large-scale controlling state entity, either a governmental institution or a ruler. ā€œShacklingā€ the Leviathan is the process by which the stateā€™s non-elite public obtains control of the Leviathanā€™s operations by instituting checks and balances. Acemoglu cites the United States and United Kingdom as nations that have successfully tamed the Leviathan.

ā€œOnce you create an environment in a society where its citizens shackle the Leviathan, not only does this pave the way for the emergence of liberty, but it fundamentally changes the nature of politics,ā€ he said.

Even in modern times, some societies have managed to exist largely in peace with either extreme or absent governing structures. The Tiv in Nigeria operate without any centralized government, Acemoglu noted.

For states that successfully shackle the Leviathan, Acemoglu says, the challenge becomes maintaining the status quo. The ā€œRed Queenā€ refers to a line in Lewis Carrollā€™s ā€œAlice in Wonderland,ā€ in which the monarchic leader notes, ā€œIt takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place.ā€ Maintaining such a balance between state and citizen control is often a work in progress, and a painful one at that.

ā€œYou have to keep on running,ā€ he said.

Acemoglu is an economics professor at MIT focusing on political economy. His prior work includes research on the role of institutions in economic outcomes for various countries.

The Harvey S. Perloff Lecture Series is named for the founding dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, which has since evolved, in part, into the Luskin School. The event was sponsored by UCLA Luskin Urban Planning and Public Policy and byĀ Global Public Affairs.

Urban Planning Professor Michael Storper introduced the speaker by noting similarities between Acemogluā€™s lecture and Perloffā€™s own work in regional economics.

ā€œThereā€™s a kind of interesting continuity over time with the themes of this lecture,ā€ Storper said. ā€œInstitutions are the foundations of economic and social work.ā€

Nearly 75 students and faculty members were in attendance at the evening lecture, which was followed by a reception.

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