LSE: The Ballpark

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.