Yascha Mounk and Yuval Levin discuss why neither Democrats nor Republicans have built a durable post-Cold War coalition—and how American politics could be transformed in 2028. Yuval Levin is an academic and 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, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream and, most recently, American Cove...
Jun 29, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Yascha Mounk and Simon Fanshawe also discuss how gay and lesbian rights were won—and what that should teach today’s activists. Simon Fanshawe is an activist, writer, and consultant who is a co-founder of Stonewall UK and the rector of the University of Edinburgh. His book is The Power of Difference: Where the Complexities of Diversity and Inclusion Meet Practical Solutions. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Simon Fanshawe discuss whether there is a tension between hiring for merit an...
Jun 22, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Yascha Mounk and Olivier Roy discuss the rise of the French right. Olivier Roy is a French political scientist and professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. His latest book is The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Olivier Roy discuss how the new European far-right differs from the old; the French concept of laïcité, or secularism, and whether it goes too far in curtailing public religious practices...
Jun 15, 2024•1 hr 9 min
Yascha Mounk and Brad Wilcox discuss how marriage contributes to better outcomes for both children and adults. Brad Wilcox is Professor of Sociology and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Wilcox is the author of Get Married. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Brad Wilcox discuss whether more people getting married really would improve their lives; why we might need a political an...
Jun 08, 2024•55 min
Yascha Mounk and William Galston discuss why neither the Democrats or Republicans have been able to build a durable governing majority. William Galston is an author and academic who holds the Ezra K. Zilker Chair in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Galston was also deputy assistant for domestic policy to President Bill Clinton. His latest book is Anti-Pluralism: The Populist Threat to Liberal Democracy. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and William Galston discuss why cul...
Jun 01, 2024•2 hr 32 min
Yascha Mounk and Daryl Davis discuss his lifetime of convincing Ku Klux Klan members to renounce racism. Daryl Davis is an American R&B and blues musician, author and social activist. Davis estimates he has been the direct or indirect cause for over 200 conversions from the Klan. He is also co-founder of the Prohuman Foundation. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Daryl Davis discuss how a childhood experience with racism inspired him to interview and befriend members of the Ku Klux Kl...
May 25, 2024•2 hr 35 min
Yascha Mounk and Nellie Bowles discuss her career at The New York Times and reporting on the ground from urban “autonomous zones” in 2020. Nellie Bowles is a writer and reporter and the head of strategy at The Free Press, where she writes the TGIF column. Her book is Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Nellie Bowles discuss how she came to chafe against the institutional culture of The New York Times and why she l...
May 18, 2024•1 hr 12 min
Yascha Mounk and Helen Joyce discuss the evidence base for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in young people. Helen Joyce is an Irish journalist and the Director of Advocacy at Sex Matters. She is the author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Helen Joyce discuss the findings of an independent review by Hilary Cass of gender identity services for children and young people in the United Kingdom; how government and public health ins...
May 11, 2024•1 hr 23 min
Yascha Mounk and Eboo Patel discuss how interfaith work can serve as a model for engaging productively across differences. Eboo Patel is the founder of Interfaith America and the author of We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy. Patel also served as an advisor on faith to President Barack Obama. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Eboo Patel discuss how the dominant diversity paradigm in many institutions divides individuals into oppressors and oppressed; how universities ...
May 04, 2024•1 hr 14 min
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 Mike Pesca discuss what real balance ought to look like in reporting hotly contested issues. Mike Pesca is a journalist and the host of "The Gist", the longest running daily news podcast in history. He spent a decade as a correspondent for NPR, guest hosting “All Things Considered” and “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” In this week’s...
Apr 27, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Yascha Mounk and Kwame Anthony Appiah discuss cultivating thick identities (and thick skins). Kwame Anthony Appiah is a British-Ghanaian philosopher, Professor of Philosophy and Law and New York University, and the “Ethicist” columnist for The New York Times Magazine. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Kwame Anthony Appiah discuss why universities discarded an ethic of common humanity for a new form of identitarianism; how we can recognize and respect individual and cultural diversity...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Yascha Mounk and Vinay Prasad assess the strengths and weaknesses of America’s public health response. Vinay Prasad MD, MPH is a hematologist-oncologist and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco. In this week’s episode, Yascha Mounk and Vinay Prasad discuss the impact and efficacy of mask mandates and lockdowns; how the stifling of dissenting views among doctors and scientists harmed decision-making; and how we can improve our...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Yascha Mounk and Alexandra Hudson discuss how civility can be a tool for pursuing justice. Alexandra Hudson is a writer, an adjunct professor at the Indiana University Lilly School of Philanthropy, and the founder of the publication Civic Renaissance. Hudson’s first book is The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Alexandra Hudson discuss how civility is different from mere politeness; why true civility can require eng...
Apr 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Haidt discuss the end of the play-based childhood and the rise of the phone-based childhood. Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU's Stern School of Business. He is also a member of Persuasion's Board of Advisors. Haidt is the author of The Righteous Mind and, with Greg Lukianoff, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind. His new book is The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Ca...
Mar 30, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Lynn discuss why the dysfunctional relationship between politicians and civil servants made for great TV, and what that tells us about the nature of politics. Jonathan Lynn is an English writer, director and producer. Lynn is best known as the co-creator of the series "Yes, Minister" and its sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister." He also directed the films "My Cousin Vinny" and "The Whole Nine Yards." In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Lynn discuss how his t...
Mar 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Yascha Mounk and Coleman Hughes discuss the difference between race blindness and racism blindness. Coleman Hughes is a writer and the host of Conversations with Coleman. His new book is The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Coleman Hughes discuss why race is a poor proxy for setting public policy; why being colorblind doesn’t mean disregarding one’s own cultural affinities; and how we can continue to make progress against rac...
Mar 16, 2024•1 hr 26 min
Yascha Mounk and Ed Luce discuss the sense of impending disaster in American politics. Ed Luce is the US national editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He is also a member of the Persuasion board of advisors. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ed Luce discuss what worries Americans most about the state of the country heading into the next election; the presumptive re-match between Biden and Trump; and why a second Trump term could be more dangerous than the first. This transcri...
Mar 09, 2024•1 hr
Yascha Mounk and Alex Byrne discuss how to understand the differences between sex and gender—and why it matters. Alex Byrne is a philosopher and a professor at MIT in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. He is the author, most recently, of Trouble With Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Alex Byrne discuss the evolution of the concept of gender and whether it’s useful for understanding social reality; why pediatric gender medicine struggles ...
Mar 02, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Yascha Mounk and Larry Summers also discuss the promise and perils of artificial intelligence. Larry Summers is an economist, the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, and a member of the board of directors of OpenAI. Summers is the former President of Harvard University, the former Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton, and was a director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama....
Feb 24, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Yascha Mounk and Francisco Toro discuss the surprise election of Bernardo Arévalo and the broader state of Latin American politics. Francisco Toro is a Venezuelan journalist and the founder of Caracas Chronicles. He is also a contributing editor at Persuasion and the author of the Substack newsletter The Two Worlds of Climate. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Francisco Toro discuss the chances Guatemala's reformist president will set the country on a better path; whether El Salvador...
Feb 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Yascha Mounk and Ricardo Hausmann discuss development economics and how globalization has changed the nature of knowledge. Ricardo Hausmann is an economist and the founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School. Hausmann has also served as Minister of Planning of Venezuela (1992-1993) and on the Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ricardo Hau...
Feb 10, 2024•59 min
Yascha Mounk and Martha Nussbaum discuss how to reflect on a life lived well. Martha Nussbaum is a philosopher and the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Nussbaum is the author of many books, including, most recently, Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Martha Nussbaum discuss the need for an overlapping consensus between citizens of profoundly different beliefs; how regarding ...
Feb 03, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Yascha Mounk and Ruy Teixeira discuss what Biden would need to do to rebuild a broad coalition for the 2024 election. Ruy Teixeira is a political scientist, 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. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Ruy Teixeira discuss how Democrats lost the working class and what ...
Jan 27, 2024•59 min
Yascha Mounk and Albert Wu discuss how historical divisions explain the outcome of the island’s recent elections. Albert Wu is a Taiwanese historian and the author, with his wife Michelle Kuo, of the Substack newsletter A Broad and Ample Road. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Albert Wu discuss the electoral victory of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and what it portends for cross-strait relations; how the Kuomintang went from fighting the CCP in a bloody civil war to advocati...
Jan 20, 2024•54 min
Yascha Mounk and Rob Henderson discuss his journey from poverty to the Ivy League—and how it has shaped his view of America. Rob Henderson is a writer and author of Rob Henderson’s Newsletter. His forthcoming book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, will be released next month. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Rob Henderson discuss the importance of a stable family for children; the concept of “luxury beliefs”; and why some things are more important than so...
Jan 13, 2024•2 hr 42 min
Yascha Mounk and Tyler Austin Harper discuss the state of academia and the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay. Tyler Austin Harper is a writer and an assistant professor of environmental studies at Bates College. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Tyler Austin Harper discuss how universities can reclaim their status as sites for the free exchange of ideas; why enrollment in the humanities has declined; and the ways in which the new progressive ideas concerning identity rema...
Jan 06, 2024•1 hr 18 min
Yascha Mounk and Branko Milanovic discuss the history and trajectory of global inequality. Branko Milanovic is an economist and a professor in the Graduate Center at The City University of New York. Formerly a lead economist at the World Bank, he is the author, most recently, of Visions of Inequality: From the French Revolution to the End of the Cold War. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Branko Milanovic discuss Milanovic’s famous “Elephant Curve” graph and why global income growth ...
Dec 24, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Yascha Mounk and Mary Harrington debate whether or not societies have made significant progress towards gender equality. Mary Harrington is a writer and a contributing editor at UnHerd. She is the author of Feminism Against Progress. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Mary Harrington discuss second-wave feminism and the downstream consequences of the sexual revolution; the unintended effects of industrialization and contraceptive use; and whether the contraceptive revolution has, as H...
Dec 16, 2023•44 min
Yascha Mounk and Philip Pettit discuss small-r “republicanism” and how to make sure people don’t suffer from domination. Philip Pettit is the L.S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University. His latest book is The State. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Philip Pettit discuss the intellectual traditions of liberalism and republicanism; how freedom from domination differs from freedom from interference; and what role the state plays in making...
Dec 09, 2023•1 hr 18 min
Yascha Mounk and Tara Isabella Burton discuss the shift in modern societies away from external truths to a new gospel of finding one’s authentic self. Tara Isabella Burton is a writer and novelist. She is the author of Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World. Her latest book is Self Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Tara Isabella Burton discuss the trend towards religious non-affiliation and the rise of à la car...
Dec 02, 2023•59 min
