Episodes
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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) -
Missing episodes?
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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
Living the Asian Century (Hachette, 2024) - https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/kishore-mahbubani/living-the-asian-century/9781541703049/ -
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
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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 event, ‘What AI is doing to America's democracy’ – LSE Public Lecture with Professor Lawrence Lessig and LSE President and Vice Chancellor Professor Larry Kramer - https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/events/2024-events/What-AI-is-doing-to-Americas-democracy
How to Steal a Presidential Election (Yale University Press, 2024) - https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300270792/how-to-steal-a-presidential-election/ -
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 region and across the Indo-Pacific.
This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan. -
Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Professor Jeff Legro | In May 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Jeff Legro, University Professor at the University of Richmond, and Visiting Professor at the Phelan US Centre for 2023-24. They spoke about the US’ role as a “unipolar” country in the world, conceptions of sovereignty, both in the US and abroad, the potential future of US foreign policy, and the relationship between nuclear weapons and globalization.
They also discussed Professor Legro’s work with the Phelan US Centre’s Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme and students Ayush Das and Evelyne Ong.
This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.
Links mentioned in this episode
Phelan US Centre Undergraduate Research Assistantship programme - https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/for-students/us-centre-undergraduate-research-assistantships-current
Rethinking the World: Great Power Strategies and International Order (Cornell University Press, 2016) - https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501707322/html?lang=en
Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World (Harvard University Press, 2016) - https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674660212 -
Contributor(s): Brooke Gladstone, Chris Gilson | In 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Brooke Gladstone, host and Managing Editor of WNYC’s On the Media about the US’ changing media landscape, the meaning of truth and facts in the age of Donald Trump, and how we can teach the next generation to be better media consumers.
This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan. -
Contributor(s): Dr Fred Kaplan, Chris Gilson | In May 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to author and journalist for Slate magazine and Phelan US Centre Visiting Senior Fellow, Fred Kaplan about his 2020 book, The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War and the changing attitudes of US politicians and policymakers to nuclear weapons and nuclear war.
This Extra Inning was produced by Chris Gilson and Anderson Tan.
Listen to the podcast of the LSE Event ‘Is the risk of nuclear war increasing?’ on LSE Player: https://www.lse.ac.uk/lse-player?id=c1fc651a-d27e-46e2-8ae0-2078d24736e0
Fred Kaplan’s ‘War Stories’ column at Slate: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/war-stories -
Contributor(s): Elizabeth Ingleson | How did China—the world’s largest communist nation—converge with global capitalism? And when did this occur? In this event, held on 7 May 2024, Dr Elizabeth Ingleson of the LSE Department of International History and Phelan US Centre Affiliate argued that this convergence began in the early 1970s, when the United States and China re-opened trade and the interests of US capitalists and the Chinese state gradually aligned: at the expense of US labor and aided by US diplomats.
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Contributor(s): Elizabeth Ingleson, Ashley Tellis, John Van Reenen | A shining city on a hill. America the beautiful. The United States has long been mythologised as the land of dreams and opportunity. And since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s it has been undisputedly the most powerful nation on earth. But is it a fading force? The idea of an America in decline has gained traction in recent years and has, of course, been capitalized on by President Trump. Is America’s ‘greatness’ under threat?
In this episode of LSE iQ, a collaboration with the LSE Phelan US Centre's podcast, The Ballpark, Sue Windebank and Chris Gilson speak to LSE’s Elizabeth Ingleson and John Van Reenen and Ashley Tellis from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Contributors
Elizabeth Ingleson
John Van Reenen
Ashley Tellis
Research
Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade by Elizabeth Ingleson
The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms by David Autor, David Dorn, Lawrence F Katz, Christina Patterson and John Van Reenen, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2020.
Revising U.S. Grand Strategy Toward China by Robert D. Blackwill and Ashley J. Tellis
More Information
LSE Phelan United States Centre: https://www.lse.ac.uk/United-States
Listen to The Ballpark podcast: https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/the-ballpark/Podcasts; LSE Player, Spotify; Soundcloud
Related interviews on The Ballpark with guests on this episode
Dr Ashley Tellis - The Future of US-China Competition
Dr Elizabeth Ingleson - Made in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade - Show more
