Podcast Club ONLINE: The Global Political Landscape of 2026

Happy New Year! Wishing you all a joyful and laughter-filled 2026!

This week's podcast is The Good Fight, with host Yascha Mounk and guest Ivan Krastev, a political scientist and Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and Albert Hirschman Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna.

In this episode, Krastev shares his thoughts on what is coming globally in 2026. He discusses international reactions to the Trump administration, Trump's primary issue now that his initial rapid-fire changes have been ordered, and the Democrats' best strategy to move ahead. Krastev also talks about what other countries or global regions are likely to face in the new year. These include discussions on Europe’s weaknesses, how other countries than the United States are now viewing China, the impact of changing demographics worldwide, and much more.

Beyond the credits mentioned above, Krastev is the Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Stiftung in Berlin. He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group, and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Krastev is the author of several books and serves as a director and trustee of the School of Civic Education in London. He was executive director of the International Commission on the Balkans chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Edition of Foreign Policy, and a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

PLEASE NOTE: We require that attendees listen to the podcast below before attending the meeting to optimize discussion.

https://www.persuasion.community/p/ivan-krastev-3 (includes transcript)

or

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-fight/id1198765424?i=1000742859819

(59 min.)

What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an interesting and currently-relevant episode from podcasters like Ezra Klein, Michael Shermer, or Russ Roberts. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time talking in small break-out groups, which we remix 3 times during the course of the evening. Our conversations are casual and open. We ask that everyone speak respectfully at all times, and we encourage free and concise discussion relevant to the week's podcast topic. To do this, we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm

Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.