Persuasion | Yascha Mounk | Substack

Reading Is Dead. And We Killed It.

What BookTok is doing to the industry—and our minds.

20 hrs ago • Leonora Barclay

America’s AI Policy Is Truly Chaotic

What we need is real regulation, fast.

Jun 29 • Francis Fukuyama

Pakistan Has Never Looked So Important

There’s only one winner of the Iran deal—the country that made it happen.

Jun 26 • Rashmee Roshan Lall

The University As We Know It Is Finished

That’s a good thing.

Jun 17 • Nils Gilman

Right and Left Are Seeing Two Different Worlds

Even when facts are agreed upon, interpretations are wildly different.

Jun 25 • Dan Williams

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It’s the Internet, Stupid

Oct 2, 2025 • Francis Fukuyama

What “Western Civilization” Really Means

Mar 3 • Francis Fukuyama

The University As We Know It Is Finished

Jun 17 • Nils Gilman

A Letter From An Iranian

Jun 21, 2025 • Mitra Vand

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Francis Fukuyama

America’s AI Policy Is Truly Chaotic

What we need is real regulation, fast.

Jun 29 • Francis Fukuyama

The Art of the Non-Deal

With this ceasefire, Trump has capitulated to Iran.

Jun 15 • Francis Fukuyama

A Liberal Vision For Europe

Yes, its identity is based in Christianity. But to meet today's challenges, the continent must look to the Enlightenment.

Jun 9 • Francis Fukuyama

Newsletters

Essays and conversations about big ideas from our editor-in-chief.

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama shares some of the many things on his mind.

American Purpose

American Purpose at Persuasion is a continuation of the magazine, media project, and intellectual community chaired by Francis Fukuyama. Includes Larry Diamond's "Diamond on Democracy" column and the "Bookstack" podcast with Richard Aldous.

Yascha Mounk

Trump Is Finally Fading

This may, at long last, be the beginning of his political end.

Apr 29 • Yascha Mounk

The Post-Populist Dilemma

Orbán is out. Now comes the hard part.

Apr 13 • Yascha Mounk

A Response to "The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides"

Michael Lind on the two types of bourgeoisie.

Mar 19 • Michael Lind and Yascha Mounk

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Podcast: The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk

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Charles Fain Lehman on Why Cities Got Safer

Yascha Mounk and Charles Fain Lehman explore how strategic policing drove the decline in violent crime—and why Baltimore was left behind.

Jun 30 • Yascha Mounk

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The Good Fight Club: Why the Center Left Is Losing, the Squad vs. the Median Voter, and How Patriotism Wins Elections

Matthew Yglesias, Claire Ainsley, and Yascha Mounk debate whether progressives have abandoned the working-class voters they once claimed to represent.

Jun 27 • Yascha Mounk

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Mark Leonard on Whether Europe is Doomed

Yascha Mounk and Mark Leonard discuss how the West can defend itself without America.

Jun 23 • Yascha Mounk

Podcasts

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Bookstack

Episode 190: Antonia Senior on the Cambridge Five

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Dara Massicot on Where the Russia-Ukraine War Stands Today

American Purpose

Trump’s Threat to Scientific Research

Why the administration’s plan will shift accountability from scientific standards to political review.

Jun 30 • Don Kettl

Belarus Steps Back From Russia

How Lukashenko exposed Putin’s weakness.

Jun 26 • Nikola Mikovic

Trump Lost Both the War and the Negotiation

America didn’t achieve a single one of its aims in Iran.

Jun 25 • Saeid Golkar

The Kennedy Center Could Have Transformed American Culture

An ode to what might have been.

Jun 24 • joseph horowitz

The Myth of Authoritarian Efficiency

When it comes to getting stuff done, democracies win every time.

Jun 19 • Jørgen Møller and Svend-Erik Skaaning

Bookstack

32:08

Episode 190: Antonia Senior on the Cambridge Five

Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST.

Jun 28 • Richard Aldous

30:07

Episode 189: Laurence Jurdem on George H. W. Bush

Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST.

Jun 14 • Richard Aldous

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Episode 188: Liaquat Ahamed on 1873

Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST.

May 31 • Richard Aldous

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The community for those who believe that a free society is worth fighting for.

Recent posts

Trump’s Threat to Scientific Research

Why the administration’s plan will shift accountability from scientific standards to political review.

Jun 30 • Don Kettl

Charles Fain Lehman on Why Cities Got Safer

Yascha Mounk and Charles Fain Lehman explore how strategic policing drove the decline in violent crime—and why Baltimore was left behind.

Jun 30 • Yascha Mounk

1:19:04

Episode 190: Antonia Senior on the Cambridge Five

Bookstack at Persuasion is delivered to you every other Sunday at 6am EST.

Jun 28 • Richard Aldous

32:08

The Good Fight Club: Why the Center Left Is Losing, the Squad vs. the Median Voter, and How Patriotism Wins Elections

Matthew Yglesias, Claire Ainsley, and Yascha Mounk debate whether progressives have abandoned the working-class voters they once claimed to represent.

Jun 27 • Yascha Mounk

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Welcome to the Postmodern Presidency

Before there was Trump, there was French theory.

Jun 3 • Damon Linker

Colleges, Maybe Try Teaching!

Academia has become unrooted from pedagogy.

May 7 • William Deresiewicz

The Unexpected Persistence of John Rawls

We walk in the garden of his ideas.

Feb 10 • Joseph Heath

Rebecca Goldstein on Why Humans Need to Matter

Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Goldstein debate whether our desperate need for significance is a flaw we should overcome—or an essential part of human…

Jan 13 • Yascha Mounk

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Against Strong Gods

Historical goldfishishness is letting us drift to the false security of a closed society.

Sep 22, 2025 • Sam Kahn

The "Deep State" and Its Discontents: A Series By American Purpose

The New Normal of Holding Federal Workers Hostage

The shutdown is over. The fight is not.

May 6 • John Yochelson

Unbalanced Powers

The saga of the Government Accountability Office tells the story of the Trump administration’s campaign for a unitary executive.

Mar 24 • Don Kettl

An Efficient Government Is A Limited Government

If we want an institution to be good at what it does, we must first define its role.

Feb 23 • Emily Chamlee-Wright

Why American Governments Can’t Get Things Done

We used to build things. Today, the state is hampered by red tape and veto points.

Feb 18 • Francis Fukuyama

Practical Pluralism: A Series By Persuasion

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Danielle Allen on Why Technocratic Liberalism Failed

Yascha Mounk and Danielle Allen discuss democratic backsliding.

Feb 28 • Yascha Mounk

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Daniel Diermeier on Why Universities Are Their Own Worst Enemies

Yascha Mounk and Daniel Diermeier examine how elite institutions created the backlash that now threatens their future.

Feb 14 • Yascha Mounk

Teach Students Conservative Thought

The great thinkers on the right must be part of any syllabus that truly serves the next generation

Dec 1, 2025 • Benjamin Storey and Jon A. Shields

In Defence of Striving

What we can all learn from Texas high school mariachis.

Nov 7, 2025 • Quico Toro