Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Liberalism, Nihilism, and the Collapse of Sincerity

Today my guest is Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who is the Laurance Rockefeller Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton and former president and chief executive of the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi. He is the author of various books and edited volumes, has served on various government committees, and is a columnist for the Indian Express. We talked about the return of nihilism in political life, the hollowing of professional identities, the politics of vishwas, Adam Smith on concentrated power, what it takes to build lasting institutions, the assumptions behind nonalignment, and much more. Recorded April 3rd, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:11) - The Challenges Facing Liberalism (00:06:50) - The Erosion of Moral Authority (00:11:32) - Nationalism, Feminism, and the Arc of History (00:16:55) - Globalization and the Crisis of Community (00:22:06) - Sincerity, Context, and Intelligibility in a Digital Age (00:30:37) - Professional Identities as Sources of Moral Meaning (00:40:45) - Formal Inclusion and Continued Inequality (00:45:54) - Concentration of Power and the Distortion of the State (00:51:37) - The Politics of Vishwas (01:01:57) - On Caste and the Limits of Identity Politics (01:05:34) - The Question of Social Trust (01:14:08) - Trust-Building and Barriers to Desegregation (01:24:53) - Institutions of Higher Learning (01:39:31) - The Assumptions of Nonalignment (01:46:12) - Outro