The Good Fight Yascha Mounk on Making Diverse Democracies Work
Apr 23, 2022
Ravi Gupta interviews Yascha Mounk, a professor at Johns Hopkins and founder of Persuasion, about his new book, The Great Experiment. They discuss the challenges of building diverse democracies and how group identity can foster both division and unity. Mounk emphasizes navigating political polarization and the need for empathy through shared experiences. The conversation highlights the role of social capital in reducing conflict and the importance of recognizing diversity as an opportunity rather than a threat.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Mounk's "Experiment" Misinterpreted
- Yascha Mounk recounts a German TV interview where his use of "experiment" to describe diverse democracies sparked backlash.
- The far-right misinterpreted it as social engineering, while Mounk intended it as an American-style experiment with unknown outcomes.
The Uniqueness of Diverse Democracies
- Diverse democracies are historically novel, with few successful examples.
- Mounk suggests the US is doing relatively well compared to historical diverse societies, but acknowledges existing injustices.
Diversity and Violence
- Diversity can increase the risk of violence, especially in democracies.
- Historically, diverse societies were often empires or autocracies, where power dynamics mitigated some risks.
