The Narrow Corridor by Daron Acemoglu James Robinson is a definitive seminal work, which brings all the 'social sciences',- Politics, Economics, Governance, Anthropology, ... together to get a sense of the State of almost all the Nations of the day. They try to capture this sense in a model defined through the Axes of Power of States & Societies.
They have collected and distilled comprehensive & exhaustive information on all the nations. Then, they have analysed the information through the lenses of all the social sciences, while maintaining the 'textbook' boundaries of those social sciences. The authors have leveraged their power of captivatingly interesting narrative skills with scholarly incisive skills come out with an interesting model by measuring the governance, politics, economics and anthropology (with distinct thrust on history).
Their hypothesis of dynamic interaction between Rule of Law and Social Norms & Mores leads to the optimum space called Narrow Corridor. They also share many more interesting phenomena including Red Queen inspired by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, Paper Leviathans inspired by Paper Tigers,... They end up with lively painting on the global canvas. This book serves as the foundation for further study to arrive at a Unified Theory to help humanity to build more prosperous & happier nations.
