Checks and Balance from The Economist

By The EconomistNews Politics

Checks and Balance from The Economist episodes

July 23, 2021 Checks and Balance: Cuba libre?
The Biden administration has announced new sanctions against Cuba, as the communist regime cracks down on the biggest protests in decades. How might the president's pledge to support democracy around the world play out in Cuba?

Miami political consultant Fernand Amandi says liberating Cuba has political rewards. We look back at how Fidel Castro scored an early propaganda victory against America on a visit to New York. And technology writer Antonio García Martínez warns the rapid opening of Cuba to the internet will cause more disruption.

John Prideaux hosts with Roseann Lake and Jon Fasman.

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42 min
July 16, 2021 Checks and Balance: Trading places
What is President Biden's new China doctrine and will it work? The Economist's Beijing bureau chief looks back 20 years to the beginning of the era of engagement between the two superpowers. And, as their governments' relationship worsens, how do Chinese and Americans perceive each other?

John Prideaux hosts with Jon Fasman and Zanny Minton Beddoes.

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44 min
July 09, 2021 Checks and Balance: History test
Twenty six Republican-led states have legislated to stop critical race theory being taught in schools. Local school board meetings have seen angry protests. What should Americans learn about their history?

We speak to historian Gary Nash of UCLA, who helped devise national teaching standards, and look back on the West Virginia textbook wars of 1974.

John Prideaux hosts with Tamara Gilkes Borr and Jon Fasman.

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44 min
July 02, 2021 Checks and Balance: Steal works
Election administration used to be a sleepy corner of American bureaucracy. Now it’s the latest victim of extreme polarisation. A privately-funded audit of votes by Republicans in Arizona reveals how democratic norms continue to erode since Donald Trump left office.

Idrees Kahloon reports from Phoenix. Republican Senator Jeff Flake tells us American democracy is more fragile than we thought. Kathleen Hale of Auburn University, who trains election administrators, says many have been traumatised by partisan attacks.

John Prideaux hosts with Jon Fasman.

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42 min
June 25, 2021 Checks and Balance: Recovery time
As America reopens, new business creation is at record levels and there is upward pressure on wages for the first time in decades. How has the pandemic restructured the American economy?

The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes joins the panel. President Obama’s former chief economist Jason Furman assesses the shift in fiscal policy. And Ryan Avent, our economics columnist, looks at the strange labour market.

John Prideaux hosts with Jon Fasman.

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44 min
June 18, 2021 Checks and Balance: Agenda bender
In his first one hundred days Joe Biden looked ruthless, but his ambitious legislative agenda has since hit a wall. A series of crucial votes are expected in the coming month. Is gridlock inevitable?

Sarah Binder of George Washington University says Congressional logjam has become the norm. The Economist’s Lexington columnist James Astill profiles Krysten Sinema, the Senator who may yet break the deadlock.

John Prideaux hosts with Idrees Kahloon and Jon Fasman.

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44 min
June 11, 2021 Checks and Balance: After math
On his first overseas trip as president, Joe Biden has promised to send 500m covid-19 jabs to countries that need them. America’s vaccine success is making up for its failure to control the virus last year. Is the pandemic over in America?

Kavita Patel, a primary care doctor, tells us new covid cases have all but vanished and Bruno Maçães, author of “Geopolitics for the End Time, From the Pandemic to the Climate Crisis”, says vaccination success is salvaging America’s global prestige.

John Prideaux hosts with Tamara Gilkes Borr and Jon Fasman.

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39 min
June 04, 2021 Checks and Balance: Merit where it’s due
The belief that people should advance according to their abilities rather than family pedigree is one of history’s most revolutionary ideas. But the meritocratic ideal that has inspired Americans since Thomas Jefferson has lost its lustre. Social mobility has stalled and critics on both right and left see a country captured by self-serving elites. Can America’s meritocracy be mended?

John Prideaux, US editor, hosts with Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist’s political editor and author of “The Aristocracy of Talent”, US policy correspondent Tamara Gilkes Borr and Jon Fasman, US digital editor.

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42 min
May 28, 2021 Checks and Balance: Texas carry’em
Texas legislators only meet every other year. Their most conservative session in a generation just relaxed gun laws and restricted abortion. Might Republican strength in Texas ease the hangover from the Trump presidency?

Mark Jones of Rice University, Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, and James Astill, The Economist’s Washington bureau chief, contribute.

John Prideaux hosts with Alexandra Suich Bass and Jon Fasman.

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40 min
May 21, 2021 Checks and Balance: One year on
The idea that racism is resistant to laws meant to end it originated in academia a generation ago. It’s become more mainstream since the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed. How helpful is this way of thinking about race in America?

In this episode we assess how the debate on race is changing with historian Yohuru Williams; find out how "Critical Race Theory" entered the culture wars; and speak to Kimberlé Crenshaw, one of its leading scholars.

John Prideaux hosts with Idrees Kahloon and Jon Fasman.

For access to The Economist’s print, digital and audio editions subscribe: economist.com/USpod

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49 min

About Checks and Balance from The Economist

From the publisher's feed

Unlock American politics with The Economist’s John Prideaux, Charlotte Howard and James Bennet. Taking one big theme every week, they dig into the data, the ideas and the history behind it. Politicians, pollsters and political scientists join them to discuss where the great experiment of American democracy is headed. Published every Friday.

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