The Ballpark Podcast

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Mukulika Banerjee | Description: In February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to spoke to Mukulika Banerjee, Professor in LSE’s Department of Anthropology. They spoke about using anthropology to better study politics, how the US might be turning into what she terms a “checklist democracy” and how seeing the US from an outside point of view might help Americans to understand their own politics better. Professor Mukulika Banerjee was inaugural director of the LSE South Asia Centre. Her books include Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India, Why India Votes?, The Pathan Unarmed and The Sari (with Daniel Miller); and the series Exploring the Political in South Asia. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   Further reading and resources Donald Trump’s election victory shows how the US is becoming a ‘checklist’ democracy – LSE USAPP blog – 6 November 2024 - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2024/11/06/donald-trumps-election-vict

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Nicola Leveringhaus | The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has brought the spectre of potential nuclear conflict back into the public consciousness for the first time in decades. But what’s behind the potential for nuclear conflict and what issues are at stake for nuclear powers other than the US and Russia, like China? To discuss these and other questions on the current state of global nuclear tensions and development, in March 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Dr Nicola Leveringhaus of King's College London. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   Further reading and resources Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security by Fiona S. Cunningham (Princeton University Press, 2025) - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691261027/under-the-nuclear-shadow The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon by Ankit Panda (Wiley, 2025) - https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+New+Nuclear+Age%3A+At+the+Precipice+of+Armagedd

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Rachel Blum | Donald Trump’s links to the right, including the far right and the alt-right date back to least to his 2016 presidential campaign and continued through his first term and then into his 2024 election campaign where Trump faced accusations of being an authoritarian populist. To discuss Donald Trump’s links to the far right, in February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Dr Rachel Blum of the University of Oklahoma. They also discussed Dr Blum’s research on party factions and their impact on contemporary US politics, and the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, which limits the number of times someone can be elected as President of the United States to two terms. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   Further reading and resources   How the Tea Party Captured the GOP: Insurgent Factions in American Politics by Rachel M. Blum (The University of Chicago Press, 2020) - https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo48408420.html Cooperat

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Minxin Pei | President Trump has made his feelings about US competition with China plain; one of the early acts of his second presidential term has been to place tariffs on Chinese imports. China has since responded with its own tariffs on certain US goods and restrictions on the import of important minerals.   To talk about US-China relations with the return of Donald Trump, in February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Minxin Pei, the Tom and Margot Pritzker '72 Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. They also spoke about China’s surveillance state and the concept of preventative repression, and how China might respond to US escalation on trade.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   Further reading and resources The Broken China Dream: How Reform Revived Totalitarianism (Princeton University Press, December 2025) - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691223339/the-broken-china-dream?

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Shiping Tang | In the past decade, many commentators have increasingly spoken of growing competition between the United States and China in areas like trade, industrial policy, but also on foreign policy and global influence more generally.   To discuss these issues and how the social sciences can learn from evolutionary thinking, in January 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Shiping Tang of Fudan University. The conversation ranged over how Professor Tang’s early career as a biologist has informed his thinking about social science issues, whether we should talk about the US and China being in competition at all, and how democracies promote growth.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   Further reading and resources The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development by Shiping Tang (Princeton University Press, 2022) Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, New Edition by Gary King, Robert O. Keohane,

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Douglas Fuller | In December 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke Dr Douglas Fuller, Associate Professor in the Department of International Economics, Government and Business at Copenhagen Business School.   They spoke about how the Chinese high-tech and semiconductor chip industry has evolved and the recent history and effectiveness of US chip controls towards China. They also discuss how the US has achieved a multilateral consensus for the implementation of chip controls, and whether these are likely to remain in place in the new administration of Donald Trump.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Michael Mastanduno, Dr Jennifer Lind | In October 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Michael Mastanduno, Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and Dr Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College.   They spoke about US export controls against China and about their history and effectiveness   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson, Luke Digweed and Anderson Tan.   Further reading  Lind, J. (2024). Back to Bipolarity: How China’s Rise Transformed the Balance of Power. International Security, [online] 49(2), pp.7–55. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00494  Lind, J. Half-Vicious: China's Rise, Authoritarian Adaptation, and the Balance of Power (forthcoming, Cornell University Press)‌

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Kishore Mahbubani | In November 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. From 1971 until 2004 he was a diplomat with the Singapore Foreign Service. He served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN from 1984-1989 and then from 1998 to 2004 and as President of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He was appointed the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in 2004.   They spoke about the evolving relationships between Asian countries and the United States, the India-China relationship, and the role of Southeast Asia within the greater context of US-China relations.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.   Further reading Has China Won? The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy (Hachette, 2020) - https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kishore-mahbubani/has-china-won/9781541768123/?lens=publicaffairs

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Yeling Tan | In October 2024 the LSE Phelan US Centre spoke to Yeling Tan, Professor of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. They spoke about how China understands economic security and its evolving economic strategy, and how public attitudes in China towards international trade influence the country’s trade policy. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan. Further reading• Global economic influence and domestic regime support: evidence from China. (2023). Review of International Political Economy. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.108…90.2024.2402817   

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Lawrence Lessig | In October 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to spoke to Lawrence Lessig, the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School. Cited by The New Yorker as “the most important thinker on intellectual property in the internet era”, Professor Lessig now focuses on “institutional corruption”, especially as that affects democracy. He is the author of many books, including They Don’t Represent Us: Reclaiming Our Democracy, Fidelity & Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has Read the American Constitution, and most recently, How to Steal a Presidential Election.   They spoke about how AI and the media can affect the legitimacy and conduct of elections, how policymakers have attempted to govern and control the use of AI and about how citizens’ assemblies could be a way to protect democracy against AI’s influence.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.   Further reading and resources Podcast and video of the 8 October 2024

Contributor(s): Professor Fawaz Gerges, Chris Gilson | In October 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Relations at LSE, and holder of the Emirates Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. They spoke about his new book, “What Really Went Wrong: The West and the failure of democracy in the Middle East”. We also discussed the history of US involvement in the region, and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan. Further reading What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East – Yale University Press, 2024 - https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300259575/what-really-went-wrong/ Review of What Really Went Wrong at LSE Review of Books - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2024/09/24/what-really-went-wrong-the-west-and-the-failure-of-democracy-in-the-middle-east-fawaz-gerges/

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Nick Lewis | In September 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Nick Lewis, a PhD student in LSE’s Department of Government and a recipient of a Phelan US Centre PhD Summer Research Grant in 2022. Nick’s research looks at how social media creates bias in democratic deliberation. They spoke about how Facebook discourages people from taking part in discussions via what’s called the “spiral of silence”. They also discussed the importance of social media in the 2024 presidential election. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Dr. Peter Harris | In September 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Peter Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University about his new book, Why America Can’t Retrench (And How It Might) which looks at the US’ dominant role in the world, how it got there and the factors preventing global restraint. They discuss the idea of America’s ‘primacist’ approach to international affairs and the role of domestic politics and systems in preventing a change to America’s role in the world. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Evelyn Ong, Callum Cleasby | In August 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Evelyne Ong, an undergraduate research assistant with the Phelan US Centre for the 2023-24 academic year.   They discuss her work with Visiting Professor Jeffrey Legro, on the project, ‘The Nuclear Revolution and Great Power Competition’. They also talked about her experience taking part in the Phelan US Centre’s undergraduate research assistantship programme.   This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson | In 2024, the Phelan US Centre ran an essay competition for master’s students with the prompt, ““How should the United States work to shape the future of capitalism in this age of insecurity?”. We speak to the author of the winning essay, David Millman, and the runners-up, Yazmin Baptiste and Manickam Valliappan. We discuss their essays, the competition, what it’s like for students to engage with a wider audience, and the opportunity they had to present their essays in the UK parliament to MPs and the British-American Parliamentary Group. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Nathan Lane | In July 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Nathan Lane, Associate Professor in Economics at Oxford University, about industrial policy in the United States and its history, including recent policies from the Biden administration like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act. They also discussed how US industrial policy might change depending on who wins the 2024 presidential election. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Patriann Smith | In 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Patriann Smith, professor in the College of Education at the University of South Florida. Dr. Smith's transdisciplinary research examines how differences in languages, Englishes, and English language ideologies affect Black Caribbean students’ immigrant literacy practices as they cross cultures and languages between their home countries and the United States. In this episode, they spoke about her new book, Black Immigrant Literacies: Intersections of Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom.   This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Adia Wingfield | In June 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Adia Harvey Wingfield, the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Arts & Sciences and Vice Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity at Washington University in St. Louis. They spoke about Professor Wingfield’s new book, Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It. The discussion also covered US labor activism, and the role US federal and state governments have in addressing racial inequalities in the workplace This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan. Further resources Gray Areas: How the Way We Work Perpetuates Racism and What We Can Do to Fix It (HarperCollins, 2023) - https://www.harpercollins.com/products/gray-areas-adia-harvey-wingfield

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Maxwell Stearns | In May 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Maxwell Stearns, the Venable, Baetjer & Howard Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law about his new book, Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken Democracy. The book argues that the solution to many of America’s democratic challenges is to amend the Constitution to reform the US government to become a parliamentary democracy. We talk about why he thinks American democracy is in crisis, the lessons he has learned from how other countries govern, and what reforms are now needed in the US. This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Dr Lauren Sukin, Debak Das, Matthew Fuhrmann, J. Luis Rodriguez | In June 2024, the LSE Phelan US Centre held the conference, US Nuclear Strategy in a Changing Indo-Pacific. The conference brought together scholars and analysts with a strong record of policy-relevant research on nuclear strategy and expertise in the security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific. The conference was convened by Phelan US Centre Affiliates, Rohan Mukherjee and Lauren Sukin, both Assistant Professors of International Relations in the LSE’s International Relations Department. In this episode of the Ballpark, we speak to Dr Lauren Sukin about the main themes and takeaways from the conference. We also talk to three of the conference participants, Debak Das (University of Denver), Matthew Fuhrmann (Texas A&M University), and J. Luis Rodriguez (George Mason University), about what they saw as the nuclear security dynamics in their region of focus, and how the US has been responding to these both within that regio