*Katharine Birbalsingh CBE* is the Chair of the Social Mobility Commission and Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London. She has a lifetime of distinguished service in the UK education system, is a celebrated author and broadcaster, and is often referred to as 'Britain's strictest headteacher'.

Some democracies are highly homogeneous. Others have long maintained a brutal racial or religious hierarchy, with some groups dominating and exploiting others. Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating members of many different ethnic or religious groups fairly. And yet achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project in countries around the world. It is, Yascha Mounk argues, the greatest experiment of our time.