Wisdom of Crowds

How did it all go wrong? Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a leading scholar of Afghanistan, joins Damir and Shadi to dissect the Taliban's victory and discuss what it tells us about the failures of America's nation-building effort. Why did the Afghan government collapse so quickly? Have the technocrats and NGOs in the democracy promotion industry been completely discredited? And for the sake of the Afghan people, should we now help the Taliban succeed in governing the country? Things get heated. Murtazashvili is director of the Center for Governance and Markets and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan. She lived in Afghanistan for 3 years, conducting fieldwork in rural villages across the country, and previously worked at the US Agency for International Development and the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.   Recommended reading: Jen Murtazashvili in the Washington Post "Afghanistan is not the Balkans," by Thomas Barfield (ResearchGate) Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History, by Thomas Barfield (Amazon) Nassim Taleb on the Taliban's refusal to deadlift "When Terrorists and Criminals Govern Better Than Governments," by Shadi Hamid, Vanda Felbab-Brown, and Harold Trinkunas (The Atlantic) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveParents in the 1990s believed they were doing their children a favor by instilling in them the ethos “do what you like, follow your dreams, and things will work out.” But Michael Brendan Dougherty, author of  My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search for Home, argues that sometime in the 2000s, this promise of liberation revealed itself as a curse, feeling more like abandonment than instruction. In a wide-ranging conversation, he, Shadi, and Damir talk about the meaning and importance of identity, where modernity falls short, the promise and peril of nationalism, and much more. In Part Two, available here for subscribers, the conversation continues with a discussion about immigration in America and Europe, if Islam is the religion of the future, whether white Americans have a distinct identity, and if right-wing governments in Poland and Hungary are harbingers of the future or the last gasps of a dying ideology. Subscribe here to listen to the rest of the discussion. Members will also have access to our recent two-part conversation with Ross Douthat as well as our weekly Friday Essays. Recommended Reading: My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son's Search For Home, by Michael Brendan Dougherty (Amazon) "Critical Race Theory as Metaphysics," by Michael Brendan Dougherty (National Review) "Why the Fight Over Critical Race Theory Matters," by Michael Brendan Dougherty (National Review)

Wisdom of Crowds associate editor Matt Winesett joins Damir and Shadi to debate Donald Rumsfeld's legacy and if his mistakes permanently discredited nation building and democracy promotion abroad. They also discuss how younger Millennials perceived the Iraq War, whether Bushism or Trumpism would better serve the GOP's future, how much politicians' personal character ultimately matters, and much more. Their conversation continues in a bonus episode, out next week. Subscribe here to get it straight to your inbox. Recommended Reading: “The Defense Secretary Who Let Bin Laden Get Away,” by Peggy Noonan (The Wall Street Journal) “The Hubris of Donald Rumsfeld,” by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds) “Oh, the Audacity!” by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam (Amazon) American Conservatism: Reclaiming an Intellectual Tradition, by Andrew Bacevich (Amazon) "Dispatches From the Conservative Bubble," with Matt Winesett, Damir Marusic, and Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) "The Poetry of D. H. Rumsfeld," by Donald Rumsfeld (Slate) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Damir calls in from a conference in Slovakia and describes what life is like in a land without widely available vaccines. Shadi addresses why he won't just register as a Republican already (or convert to Catholicism). And they both discuss if Europe is in danger of sinking into irrelevance, whether George W. Bush should have sent troops to Crimea, the relationship between America's power and its values, and much more. Recommended Reading: "Biden Talks a Big Game on Europe. But His Actions Tell a Different Story," by Jeremy Shapiro (Politico) "Morality is Impossible Without Power," by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) "How Liberal Triumphalism Breeds Passivity," by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds) The Avery James tweet This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Damir and Shadi return to a familiar topic, but this time with a twist. Damir manages to sound like an optimist. He argues that the fad of wokeness will collapse under the weight of its own contradictions, while Shadi thinks it's probably too late. They also discuss whether justice is possible without God, the rather odd fact that Shadi's first academic article was on feminist theory, why white parents seem nonplussed about indoctrinating their kids, and whether a rising crime wave will undermine the woke revolution. The debate continues in a special bonus episode, out on Saturday. Subscribe here to get it straight to your inbox. Recommended Reading: "How America Fractured Into Four Parts," by George Packer (The Atlantic) "How Michel Foucault Lost the Left and Won the Right," by Ross Douthat (The New York Times) "Stop Blaming the Pandemic for America's Violent Crime Wave," by Zaid Jilani (Inquire) "Nice Woke Parents, Episode 4," (The New York Times) The Harper's Letter This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Ross Douthat discusses decadence in America, wokeness, and UFOs. Topics include societal stagnation, pandemic effects, wokeness as a new religion, national pride, challenges of a unifying narrative, and impact on popular culture.

An Iranian-born immigrant, Sohrab Ahmari has become one of America's most prominent and controversial Catholic commentators. His new book, The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos, asks us to rethink our understanding of freedom and choice—and the fact that we have too much of it. What does it mean to be a "political Catholic"? What is the value of a state-imposed Sabbath? Does civilization require heartfelt religious belief, or is there a benefit in simply going through the motions? And can a liberal society avoid enforcing an oppressive orthodoxy of its own?   Part two of the conversation with Sohrab is available here for subscribers. Part one ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, with Sohrab suggesting the law is not just a reflection of the public's wishes but can be a moral teacher for the public as well. The conversation then moves into other interesting territory, including on how Sohrab has gained more respect for Islam since his conversion to Catholicism. Subscribe here to listen to the rest of the discussion; you won't want to miss it. Recommended Reading: The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos, by Sohrab Ahmari (Amazon) From Fire, by Water: My Journey to the Catholic Faith, by Sohrab Ahmari (Amazon) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

What do Shadi and Damir's divergent responses to the Gaza crisis tell us about questions of morality, idealism, and power? Damir presses Shadi on his recent commentary about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians—and the line between analysis and polemics. Shadi argues the Middle East still matters—and that it's in America's national interest to be moral. Damir counters by saying that it is the job of the analyst to complicate stories, not necessarily to resolve them. Required Reading: "I'm Angry About Palestine. Should You Be?" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds) "Don’t take the narrow view of what’s happening in Gaza," by Shadi Hamid (The Atlantic) "A separate peace? What the Gaza crisis means for Arab regimes," by Shadi Hamid (Brookings) The Shadi vs. Dershowitz showdown (The Megyn Kelly Show) "Four Perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" (Carnegie Connects) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Damir returns to the office and is surprised by how it feels. Shadi marvels at the precipitous decline of outrage—but wonders if our collective tuning out of politics might have drawbacks. And why have so many corporations gone woke? All this and more on this week's episode of Wisdom of Crowds. Required Reading: "Tema Okun's 'White Supremacy Culture' work is bad," by Matt Yglesias (Substack) "Can We Please Ditch the Term 'Systemic Racism'," by John McWhorter (Substack) "Biden Struggles With Western Pandemic Disunity" by Ed Luce (Financial Times) "Democracy’s Skeptics—and Its Necessity," by Osita Nwanevu (Wisdom of Crowds) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

The liberal idea arose partly as a response to the religious wars of 17th-century Europe. Could something similar occur in the Islamic world today? Mustafa Akyol thinks so—and his new book Reopening Muslim Minds offers a fascinating and forthright case for reinterpreting Islamic history and revisiting Islamic law. Mustafa joined Shadi and Damir to talk about what inspired the book, starting with his arrest by Malaysia's "religion police." They go on to debate Islam's proper role in public life, how to interpret sharia in a modern context, the promise (and dangers) of "rationalism," and what makes Islam attractive in the first place. Part two of the conversation with Mustafa is available here for subscribers. If the first hour catches your interest, join us as we wade deeper into various controversies. The discussion turns to whether Islam will follow a similar trajectory as Christianity, apostasy laws, the case of Turkey, whether democracy is a means or an end, and what all of this means for American foreign policy. Subscribe here.   Required Reading: Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom, and Tolerance, by Mustafa Akyol (Amazon) "Where Islam and Reason Meet," by Mustafa Akyol (The Wall Street Journal) Sharia: Theory, Practice, Transformations, by Wael B. Hallaq (Amazon) Mustafa's New York Times archive This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe