Yascha Mounk with Jane Coaston: Making Diverse Democracies Endure

The popular political thinker shares his big-picture vision for how to bridge the bitter divides within diverse democracies.

Some democracies are highly homogeneous. Others have long maintained a brutal racial or religious hierarchy, with some groups dominating and exploiting others. Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating members of many different ethnic or religious groups fairly. Achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project in countries around the world, and it is, Yascha Mounk argues, the greatest experiment of our time. In his new book, Mounk draws on history, social psychology, and comparative politics, to examines how diverse societies have long suffered from the ills of domination, fragmentation, or structured anarchy. And he shows that the past can offer crucial insights for how to do better in the future. And that there is real reason for hope.

Mounk speaks with Jane Coaston to share his profound understanding of an urgent problem, and his genuine hope for our human capacity to solve it.

Presented in partnership with SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Yascha Mounk is a writer and academic known for his work on the rise of populism and the crisis of liberal democracy. Born in Germany to Polish parents, Mounk received his BA in history from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and his PhD in government from Harvard University. He is now an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University and the founder ofPersuasion. Mounk is also a contributing editor at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Jane Coaston is the host of the New York Times podcast “The Argument.” She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband.

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Yascha Mounk © Steffen Jaenicke