The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk and Shikha Dalmia discuss American conservatism, the rise of authoritarian populism, and whether identitarians of the left are right or wrong on their fundamental goals.

Shikha Dalmia, a writer and journalist, is the founder of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism and of The UnPopulist, an editorial partner of Persuasion.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Shikha Dalmia discuss her journey from socialist India to the American libertarian movement; how mainstream libertarianism failed to meet the challenge posed by Donald Trump; and the proliferation of populist attitudes among the American electorate.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

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Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the war in Ukraine and Germany’s political, economic, and security crisis.

Norbert Röttgen is a senior leader of the Christian Democratic Union. A former cabinet minister, he was chair of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee from 2014 to 2021. Röttgen is the author ofDemocracy and War: Politics and Identity in a Time of Global Threats.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Norbert Röttgen discuss the insufficiency of Germany’s support of Ukraine (and theZeitenwende that wasn’t); the nascent pro-Russian movement gaining strength on the margins of German politics; and whether the path to an independent and secure Europe runs through Germany.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

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Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

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Yascha Mounk, Ruy Teixeira, and Yuval Levin discuss why American elections are so close—and how one party could build a stable majority.

Ruy Teixeira is the co-founder and politics editor of The Liberal Patriot, and the author, with John Judis, of The Emerging Democratic Majority and, most recently, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes. 

Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Levin is the author of A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus and, most recently, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again. 

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk, Ruy Teixeira and Yuval Levin discuss “politics without winners,” or America’s unusual streak of close-run elections; why both Democrats and Republicans have failed to build a dominant coalition; and what it would take for either party to win a durable majority.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

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Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

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Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss the secret history of free speech and why the word “problematic” is problematic.

Teresa Bejan is a professor of political theory at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Oriel College. She is the author of Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration and the forthcoming First Among Equals, which explores ideas of equality before modern egalitarianism.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Teresa Bejan discuss how liberals should think about the role of virtue in society; why a robust culture of free speech requires more than just legal protections; and why "mere" civility is the key to unlocking a broader conception of tolerance.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

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Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

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James Robinson, a political scientist and economist, is the Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago. Robinson is the co-author, with Daron Acemoglu, of Why Nations Fail and The Narrow Corridor. 

Today, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that it would award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to James Robinson, Daron Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”

In this week’s conversation, originally released in 2019, Yascha Mounk and James Robinson discuss the importance of political institutions; the roots of freedom and prosperity; and how citizens can beat the historical odds to improve their countries.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

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Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

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Sign up for the Persuasion panel event in London: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trump-vs-harris-what-next-for-america-and-the-world-tickets-1026768591497

Yascha Mounk and Charles Taylor discuss the modern struggle for meaning and belonging.

Charles Taylor is a Canadian philosopher and Professor Emeritus at McGill University. Taylor is the recipient of both the Kyoto and Templeton prizes, and is the author of major works including A Secular Age and Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. His most recent book is Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Charles Taylor discuss how the modern notion of identity differs from that of the past; the role of religion and religious belonging in today’s societies; and the “post-liberal” critiques of liberalism, including the claim that it’s impossible to be truly religious or devout in a liberal democracy.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

Spotify | Apple | Google

Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

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Yascha Mounk and Ruxandra Teslo discuss luxury beliefs and the concept of "elite misinformation."

Ruxandra Teslo is a PhD student in Genomics at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK. She writes about science and culture at Ruxandra’s Substack.

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ruxandra Teslo discuss Rob Henderson’s concept of luxury beliefs, its key insights, and the misleading ways in which it’s often used; the academic study of “misinformation” and why we should be skeptical of (much of) it; and how cultural ideas about progress shape outcomes in the real world.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

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Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

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Yascha Mounk and Amanda Ripley discuss what natural catastrophes reveal about human nature.

Amanda Ripley is an American author and journalist. Her books include The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes and High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out. 

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Amanda Ripley discuss the pitfalls common to many survival scenarios and the psychological tools most helpful in avoiding them; whether the strength of one’s community ties or improvements in forecasting technology are of greater significance in the statistical decrease in deaths from disaster; and why we still haven’t imbibed the most critical lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

Spotify | Apple | Google

Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

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The first installment of a new monthly feature.

In this inaugural mailbag, Yascha answers listener questions on the upcoming US election; how concerned we should be about a second Trump term; whether it’s possible for a politician to change their views without giving up on their principles; his tips for how to travel well; and more.

This is a preview. To access the full episode, become a paying subscriber today by visiting http://www.yaschamounk.substack.com/subscribe! And please send us questions for future installments at [email protected].

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Yascha Mounk and Musa Al-Gharbi discuss why so many members of elite groups like to pretend they’re oppressed.

Musa al-Gharbi is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. His most recent book is We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite.

In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and Musa Al-Gharbi discuss the tendency of certain elite groups to lay claim to marginalized identities as a form of symbolic capital; the challenges posed by "asymmetric multiculturalism," in which we encourage certain groups to organize along identitarian lines while discouraging others from doing the same; and how we can apply greater consistency to our analysis of social dynamics.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight.

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone.

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://www.persuasion.community

Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry

Connect with us!

Spotify | Apple | Google

Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion

Youtube: Yascha Mounk

LinkedIn: Persuasion Community

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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