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Giving the example of Thomas Hobbes Leviathan (State as a sea monster) (absolute ruler), James Robinson in his book The Narrow Corridor: States, Society, and the Fate of Liberty divides such a monster as ‘Absent Leviathan’, ‘despotic Leviathan’ and ‘shackled Leviathan’. In countries like USA where the society is mobilised and continues to contest for its liberty, freedom and rights the state remains in a state of ‘shackled Leviathan’, chained and prevented by the people not to commit extra constitutional excesses.

Pearson Fellow Prillwitz hopes to bring evidence-based, data-driven decision making to his work as an intelligence analyst and counterterrorism manager in the US Air Force.

Third, and more profoundly, we can already see how the national security law will further strengthen state power and suppresses Hong Kong citizens’ basic liberty. In their latest book, entitled The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that liberty can only exist and flourish when both the state and the society remain strong, so that each can protect the wellbeing of the people, and prevent the dominance of and over each other. Nevertheless, not all societies are lucky enough to have a balance between the state and society to enable liberty to thrive.