Persuasion | Yascha Mounk | Substack

The Third Gulf War Follows Directly From the Last Two

On the escalating logic of American action in the Middle East.

Mar 27 • Seva Gunitsky

My Intelligence Isn't Artificial, Thanks

Why choosing my brain over a machine is the easiest decision I ever made.

Mar 26 • Sam Kahn

Growth Is All You Need

How development economics forgot the most important thing.

Mar 25 • Quico Toro

Nobody Cares About Cubans

Not Trump. Not left-wing activists. And certainly not the Cuban regime.

Mar 24 • James Bloodworth

The Two Nightmares of Jürgen Habermas

In remembrance of Germany's acclaimed philosopher.

Mar 23 • Joseph Heath

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What “Western Civilization” Really Means

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A Letter From An Iranian

Jun 21, 2025 • Mitra Vand

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Francis Fukuyama

What AI Hypists Miss

These systems still struggle with implementing real world solutions.

Mar 18 • Francis Fukuyama

How Not To Do Regime Change

Nearly two weeks in, it’s clear just how ill thought-through Trump’s regional war is.

Mar 12 • Francis Fukuyama

Expecting Iran to Unconditionally Surrender Is a Fool’s Errand

Mar 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

A Response to "The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides"

Michael Lind on the two types of bourgeoisie.

Mar 19 • Michael Lind and Yascha Mounk

The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides

What happens when elites all believe the same thing.

Mar 11 • Yascha Mounk

My Day of Jury Duty

What a deeply ordinary day in a deeply ordinary court taught me about American democracy.

Feb 28 • Yascha Mounk

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Podcast: The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk

1:03:12

David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal

Yascha Mounk and David Autor explore why you can’t compensate workers for lost dignity with a check—and what that means for future economic shocks.

Mar 28 • Yascha Mounk

1:14:52

David Goodhart on Why the Educated Elite Lost Touch with Democracy

Yascha Mounk and David Goodhart explore how the domination of mobile, university-educated “anywheres” sparked the populist revolt.

Mar 24 • Yascha Mounk

49:36

Shashank Joshi on Why the War in the Middle East Won’t End Anytime Soon

Yascha Mounk and Shashank Joshi examine whether the United States and Israel are achieving their strategic objectives in the Middle East.

Mar 21 • Yascha Mounk

Podcasts

The Good Fight

David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal

Bookstack

Episode 183: Steve Israel on the Einstein Conspiracy

Frankly Fukuyama Podcast

Francis Fukuyama on Trump’s War With Iran

American Purpose

If Mojtaba Khamenei Isn’t Leading Iran, Who Is?

Why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are likely making the decisions.

Mar 28 • Saeid Golkar

A Path For Europe

The Iran War poses a diplomatic dilemma. One solution is for Europeans to aid the Gulf states directly.

Mar 26 • Ines Burrell

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

What Regime Change Could Mean for Iran

The Islamic Republic enters a moment that could quickly become a legitimacy crisis.

Mar 10 • Saeid Golkar

North Korea Was Right About Nuclear Weapons

Mar 9 • Shahn Louis

Bookstack

29:45

Episode 183: Steve Israel on the Einstein Conspiracy

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

Mar 22 • Richard Aldous

26:42

Episode 182: Christopher Clark on A Scandal in Königsberg

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

Mar 8 • Richard Aldous

28:10

Episode 181: Hélène Landemore on Politics Without Politicians

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

Feb 15 • Richard Aldous

26:37

Episode 180: Nicolas Stavros Niarchos on the Elements of Power

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

Feb 1 • Richard Aldous

Recent posts

If Mojtaba Khamenei Isn’t Leading Iran, Who Is?

Why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are likely making the decisions.

Mar 28 • Saeid Golkar

David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal

Yascha Mounk and David Autor explore why you can’t compensate workers for lost dignity with a check—and what that means for future economic shocks.

Mar 28 • Yascha Mounk

1:03:12

This Week At Persuasion

Quico Toro on development economics! Plus, Shashank Joshi on The Good Fight!

Mar 26 • Leonora Barclay

A Path For Europe

The Iran War poses a diplomatic dilemma. One solution is for Europeans to aid the Gulf states directly.

Mar 26 • Ines Burrell

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

The latest from

Yascha Mounk

David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal

Sam Kahn

My Intelligence Isn't Artificial, Thanks

Leonora Barclay

This Week At Persuasion

Quico Toro

Growth Is All You Need

Richard Aldous

Episode 183: Steve Israel on the Einstein Conspiracy

Francis Fukuyama

What AI Hypists Miss

Luke Hallam

Trump Once Again Failed the Decency Test

David Hamburger

A Letter From An Israeli Shelter

Persuasion

Our Events

Why Liberalism: A Series By Persuasion

Liberalism As Mob Boss

How to respond to conservative critiques of actually existing liberal societies.

Oct 30, 2025 • Alexandre Lefebvre

An Open Society Requires Constant Vigilance

Liberalism is built on paradoxes—but we have a duty to defend it.

Sep 10, 2025 • Roger Partridge

Bringing Human Nature Back In

Francis Fukuyama in the latest of our series “Why Liberalism.”

Aug 13, 2025 • Francis Fukuyama

The Woke Right Stands At the Door

Whence comes this uncanniest of all guests?

Aug 6, 2025 • Jonathan Rauch

Gradual Change is F***ing Awesome—And Liberalism Knows It

On Darwin, abuse, and Costanza politics.

Jul 30, 2025 • Wayne Karol

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

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

Houston, We Have a Problem

It's not rocket science that kept America from returning to the moon. It's state capacity.

Feb 8 • Francis Fukuyama

Universities, Liberalism and Democracy: A Series By Persuasion

A Pedagogy of the Empowered

The left-wing cancellations of yesteryear teach us how to respond to the right-wing censorship of today.

May 26, 2025 • Eboo Patel

How I Learned To Stop Criticizing Everything

There are two directions higher education can take. Here’s why I chose pluralism.

Oct 25, 2024 • Eboo Patel

The current system is broken. Here’s what truly inclusive institutions would look like.

Sep 26, 2024 • Rachel Kleinfeld

Reflections on the New Encampment Culture

There were many puzzling features of the recent protests. This coming year, universities must course correct—while protecting the right to dissent.

Sep 20, 2024 • David Bromwich

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