Much of what we have taken for granted for the last half century is now in question as populist movements sweep through the United States and Europe.

Worried liberals are struggling to explain the appeal of populism, protectionism, and ethnic nationalism. Liberal societies have faced these challenges before, most recently in the 1930’s, but never before have the United States and Britain, the apostles of liberal democracy, led the way. How can this have happened?

One explanation is the large gap between the universal languages that many global elites speak, and the “ordinary virtues” of citizens that come to life in local contexts in local languages, languages which bear little or no relationship to the global discourses so cherished by the elites. 

Michael Ignatieff set out to listen to ordinary citizens. He went to New York, Los Angeles, Rio, Bosnia, Myanmar, Fukushima, and South Africa to listen to the languages ordinary people use as they confront extraordinary challenges. The result is his new book Ordinary Virtues. He spoke with DTGO host Janice Stein about what he has learned about virtue at this difficult moment in history.