The Good Fight

Lawrence Wright has been friends with Jamal Khashoggi for nearly two decades. In a new documentary, The Kingdom of Silence, he tells the complicated story of America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia through the lens of Khashoggi’s life—from his youthful enthusiasm for jihadis to his years serving the Saudi royal family and his eventual embrace of the Arab Spring. On the latest episode of The Good...

For much of the past four years, Matt Yglesias dismissed worries about growing illiberalism on the left as a campus fad that is sure to fade. This year, he changed his mind, becoming increasingly vocal about his concerns, and co-signing the Harper’s letter. On the latest episode of The Good Fight, Yascha Mounk and Matthew Yglesias talk about how and why he changed his mind. The podcast also discus...

Irshad Manji has a lot of experience in trying to persuade those who really don’t want to be persuaded. Early in her career, Irshad wrote two influential books that advocated for a reformed Islam. In conversations with religious conservatives around the world, she found that a combative style did not help her win adherents for her cause; instead, she started to acknowledge their views—before proud...

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. A few weeks ago, I got an email from somebody I admire tremendously: Elizabeth Anderson, one of the most interesting contemporary political philosophers. Anderson, she wrote, has long been an avid listener to The Good Fight. But she strongly disagrees with the episode I did with Edward Irizarry, i...

Michael Sandel, one of the most influential political philosophers of our time, makes a provocative argument: Meritocracy allows successful people to feel good about themselves, and doesn’t do anything to address the plight of those who are less fortunate. It is time to abandon the ideal. In this conversation about Sandel’s new book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?, I debat...

If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. For the past years, Frank Dobbin, a Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, has been researching diversity initiatives at big corporations and academic institutions. He has consistently come to the same, sobering conclusion: They don’t tend to work. And in many cases, they actually backfire....

Please sign up to become a member of Persuasion, the new community Yascha has founded for those who believe that a free society is worth fighting for. Just go to www.persuasion.community A few days ago, a rather strange exchange caught my attention on Twitter. At a public meeting of a local New York City school board, one member accused another of perpetrating racism by holding his girlfriend’s ne...

Yascha is starting a new platform for citizens who are committed to the defense of a free society. Please go to http://www.persuasion.community to sign up. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk speaks with Thomas Rid, Professor of Strategic Studies at John Hopkins University SAIS about the operations of secret services around the world and the misinformation campaigns that shape international competition.  Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

Yascha Mounk talks to Omar Wasow, a professor of political science at Princeton University, about the case for non-violent protest, and how best to bring about greater racial equality in the United States. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Francis Fukuyama about the changes that COVID-19 will (and will not) bring about. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Ron Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins University, about the impact the coronavirus will have on higher eduction and the role universities can play in defending liberal democracy against the rise of populism. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Yascha Mounk talks to Sarah Longwell, the Publisher of The Bulwark, about how to persuade those who have voted for populists in the past to change their minds. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to David Miliband, the CEO of the International Rescue Committee, about the world after corona and what we need to do right now to help the poorest countries in the world manage the pandemic.  Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

Yascha Mounk speaks to Daniel Ziblatt, the Eaton Professor at Harvard University, about the impact of the coronavirus on populism and democracy. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Constanze Stelzenmüller, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, about the rise of populism in Germany and how it will transform the country in the next years. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at CAP, about his much misunderstood theory according to which demographic change will favor the Democratic Party. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to E. J. Dionne, author of Code Red, about what it would take to unify the Democratic Party (and beat Donald Trump). Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Ezra Klein about the nature and causes of polarization in the United States - and whether we can fix it. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com/ Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Pratap Bhanu Mehta, one of India's foremost writers and intellectuals, about the rise of Narendra Modi, and the reasons for the crisis of liberal democracy in the country. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk speaks to Peter Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies at Harvard University, about the close connection between declining social status and the rise of populism. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Sam Koppelman, co-author of Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump, about the nature of impeachment, the arguments for and against removing Donald Trump from office, and what Democrats need to do to win in 2020. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to Rachel Brown, Executive Director of Over Zero, about the roots of political violence; whether the United States stand at the brink of civil war; and what interventions can stop violence from breaking out in deeply polarized societies.  Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....

Yascha Mounk talks to Martin Gurri, author of The Revolt of the Public, about the way digital technology empowers the insurgent public, and how it will transform the politics of both democracies and autocracies. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yascha Mounk talks to political scientist Dan Kelemen about the trilemma facing Boris Johnson on Brexit, the drift towards autocracy in Poland and Hungary, and why membership in the European Union may make it easier for aspiring dictators to undermine democracy. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk Podcast production by John T. Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...