This week’s episode is a special collaboration with The Disagreement, a new platform that aims to “celebrate and normalize healthy disagreement.” (Check them out!) Wisdom of Crowds is 100% behind that mission statement, and so it was natural for us to agree to record an episode together. Fans of Wisdom of Crowds will know that Shadi has recently completed a book about American power, tentatively titled, “On Power.” Fans will also know that he debated the socialist writer Dan Bessner of the podcast last summer, in our episode titled “Is a Better World Possible Without American Power?” A lot has happened since that episode air, especially in the Middle East. So it’s a good time for Shadi and Dan to consider that question again. Enjoy Hamid v. Bessner, Round 2.

Required Reading and Listening:

Hamid v. Bessner, Round 1: “Is a Better World Possible without American Power?” (Wisdom of Crowds)

Shadi’s recent post about completing his manuscript: “The Art of Losing Well” (Wisdom of Crowds).

The Disagreement homepage.

Christine and Damir kick things off by discussing a memoir about the fall of Communism in Albania. Damir reflects on his own post-Communist background, and ponders why Communist nostalgia affects only some countries, while others are not looking back. He wonders whether Christine is becoming a Communist herself after reading her essay about “Limitarianism,” a school of political thought that favors a cap on extreme wealth. Christine unpacks her own ideas about economic justice and democracy, and considers whether the Communist past in Europe should influence American political ideas for the future.

For paid subscribers, the bonus part of the episode focuses on whether the United States or Europe has the better economic system, and whether European dreams of a “green” economy can survive competition with China.

Required Reading:

* Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi.

* The full story behind Joyce Carol Oates’ infamous tweet.

* Damir’s Monday Note about Lea Ypi’s book.

* Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns

* “What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?” by Christine Emba (The Atlantic)

* “The Price of Peace is Stagnation” by Janan Ganesh (The Financial Times)

This week’s podcast is a recording of a live event. Rachel M. Cohen, a senior policy reporter for Vox, recently published an essay where she asks: “To our generation, being a mom looks thankless, exhausting, and lonely. Can we change the story?” As listeners know, this question speaks right to the heart of Wisdom of Crowds. Christine and Shadi invited Rachel to discuss her piece before a live audience in Washington, DC on March 20. The topics of conversation included marriage, singleness, hope, dread, and love. For paid subscribers, the bonus content is an intense Q&A with the audience, where the Crowd challenges the panelists on several points.

Required Reading:

* “Why Millennials Learned to Dread Motherhood,” by Rachel M. Cohen (Vox).

* “Men are Lost. Here’s a Map Out of the Wilderness,” by Christine Emba (Washington Post).

* Shadi Hamid, “The Dilemmas of Living in a Post-Religious World” (Washington Post).