An analysis of network interactions in complex systems presents a more plausible explanation for the development of states and societies and the origins of liberty than does the linear approach adopted by Acemoğlu and Robinson in The Narrow Corridor , which is based on a single dichotomy—state vs. society. A methodology that responds to complexity relies on a far more comprehensive understanding of endogenous mechanisms of social change, the importance of pathways for information, the effects of system scaling, and, more generally, the dynamic relationship between a system and its constitutive parts.