Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Dr Lauren Sukin | In response to what the US sees as potential growing threats from China and North Korea, nuclear weapons are becoming a more and more important part of US alliance commitments and partnerships in East Asia. But what does this focus on nuclear weapons for both deterrence and reassurance mean for US foreign policy and for the security of the region? And could there be an alternative which puts a greater focus on conventional armed forces?

To discuss these topics, in June 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Dr Lauren Sukin about her recent article, in the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, with Samuel Seitz of MIT, “Deemphasizing Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear Deterrence: The Case for Conventional Counterforce”. Dr Sukin is Assistant Professor in LSE’s Department of International Relations and a Centre Affiliate at the LSE Phelan US Centre.

Further reading and resources

Seitz, S. and Sukin, L. (2025). Deemphasizing Nuclear Weapons in Nuclear Deterrence: The Case for Conventional Counterforce. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, [online] 8(1), pp.15–35.

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Angela Zhang | In January 2025, the release of a new model and chatbot by Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company, DeepSeek, sent shockwaves through the tech industry in the US and elsewhere. DeepSeek’s launch was only one milestone in the ongoing AI competition between China and the US which has seen the US try to restrict the exports of key components used in AI development to other countries.

In the second episode of The Ballpark’s miniseries on AI and the US, the Phelan US Centre explored the ongoing AI competition between China and the US with Angela Zhang, Professor of Law at the Gould School of Law of the University of Southern California. Professor Zhang is an expert on AI regulation, both in China and globally.

They spoke about China’s current approach to AI regulation, and how this compares with the US, and why China may be content with being a “close second” in the AI race.

Further reading and resources

High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy by Angela Huyue Zhang (Oxford University Press, 2024)

The Promise and Perils of China’s Regulation of Artificial Intelligence, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, 21 January 2025

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson | On May 7th, 2025, India launched missile strikes on Pakistan in response to a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on April 22nd. On May 10th a ceasefire was reached following mediation from the United States.

 

To discuss the US’ part in brokering a ceasefire, and the US’ responses to disputes between India and Pakistan over the past three decades, in June 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

 

The conversation covers the recent India–Pakistan crisis and the US’ role, how US involvement in the Kashmir dispute has evolved over the years, and how China’s growing influence has complicated how the US approaches India–Pakistan relations.

 

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

 

Further reading and resources

 

“How America Can Keep the Peace Between India and Pakistan”, Foreign Affairs, May 13, 2025

“Democracy in South Asia amid U.S. Aid Cuts What’s at Stake for Great Power Competition”, Center for a New American Security, May 15. 2025

Contributor(s): Dr Theresa Squatrito, Rohan Mukherjee, Agnes Yu, Farsan Ghassim, Tim Murithi | The US-led international order is under strain from without and within. Authoritarian powers such as Russia and China are challenging the core tenets of global cooperation and conflict management. Rising states of the Global South like India, Brazil, and South Africa demand reformed multilateralism in the institutions of global governance, and the US and its Western allies face a domestic surge of right-wing populism that seeks to reverse the eighty-year-old open and interdependent system of international relations. At stake is democracy, a core tenet of American political life and foreign policy.

To discuss and consider these issues, in May 2025, the LSE Phelan US Centre held the conference: International relations and Democracy in a Multipolar World. The conference brought together scholars and experts to examine how important these democratic discourses and practices are in the broader context of challenges to the US-led international order and the domestic contestation over the future direction of US foreign policy.

The conference was convened by Phelan US Centre Affiliates Dr Rohan Mukherjee and Dr Luca Tardelli of LSE’s International Relations Department, and by Theresa Squatrito also of LSE’s Department of International Relations and Mathias Koenig-Archibugi of LSE’s Department of Government.

In this episode of The Ballpark, we speak to Rohan Mukherjee and Theresa Squatrito about the main themes and takeaways from the conference. We also talked to three of the conference participants, Agnes Yu (LSE Department of Government), Farsan Ghassim (University of Oxford), and Tim Murithi (University of Cape Town), about their thoughts on the future of democracy and global governance.

This episode of The Ballpark was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

Contributor(s): Bhamati Viswanathan, Chris Gilson | Many institutions are now using artificial intelligence (AI) models as tools to think about solutions to a variety of challenges, from the everyday to the global. At the same time, many commentators have expressed concerns about AI and its effects on society, the economy and democracy.

In the first episode of The Ballpark’s miniseries on AI and the US, we explore the implications of AI for intellectual property. The rise of AI tools has been fuelled by the scraping of online resources as training data for the large language models that power them. This has important implications for how we think about intellectual property and the rights of those who created this training data.

To find out more, in May 2025, the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Bhamati Viswanathan of New England Law Boston. Dr Viswanathan is an expert in the areas of copyright law, intellectual property, innovation and creativity law, and on cultural property and appropriation.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

Further reading and resources

ChatGPT is eating the world - https://chatgptiseatingtheworld.com/

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Michael Latner | In February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Michael Latner, Professor of Political Science at California Polytechnic State University and Director of Research on Democratic Reform at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.

They discussed the recent history of voting rights and the state of democracy in America in 2025.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

Further reading and resources

Keena, A., Latner, M., McGann, A.J.M. and Smith, C.A. (2021). Gerrymandering the States. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108995849

The Guinier Project at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute - https://charleshamiltonhouston.org/events/guinier-project-roundtable/

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, John Minnich | In March 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to John Minnich, Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at LSE about why semiconductors are so important in the global economy, and why the US is willing to go to what Dr Minnich terms, economic war, over them. They also discussed how the semiconductor trade is framed as a national security issue in the US and China, and how President Trump may approach the ‘chip-war’ in coming months.

 

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

 

Further reading and resources

 

Ling S. Chen and Miles M. Evers, "'Wars without Gun Smoke': Global Supply Chains, Power Transitions, and Economic Statecraft," International Security 48, no. 2 (Fall 2023): 164–204.

Disaggregating China, Inc. by Yeling Tan (2024) | Cornell University Press - https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501759635/disaggregating-china-inc/

11 November 2024 - China’s evolving approach to economic security with Professor Yeling Tan | The Ballpark podcast - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2024/11/11/chinas-evolving-approach-to-economic-security-with-professor-yeling-tan-the-ballpark-podcast/

13 February 2023 - China’s Belt and Road with Professor Taylor Fravel | The Ballpark podcast - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2023/02/13/the-ballpark-podcast-extra-innings-chinas-belt-and-road-with-professor-taylor-fravel/

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-victory-shows-how-the-us-is-becoming-a-checklist-democracy/

Listen to and watch recordings of Professor Banerjee’s 5 March 2025 inaugural lecture, Citizens as cultivars: democratic values in paddy fields and universities - https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/03/202503051830/Citizens-as-cultivars

Professor Banerjee spoke at the Phelan US Centre event, ‘The 2024 US election: turning point for America?’ on 6 November 2024. Watch the event video and listen to the event podcast - https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/about-usapp/email-subscription/

Listen to The India Briefing podcast with Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari [Spotify] - https://open.spotify.com/show/4C3i0GTt101v9DnIqQf6Od

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+Armageddon-p-9781509557462

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

Cooperating Factions: A Network Analysis of Party Divisions in U.S. Presidential Nominations by Rachel M. Blum and Hans C. Noel (Cambridge University Press, 2024) - https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/cooperating-factions-network-analysis-party-divisions-us-presidential-nominations?format=PB

The MAGA Coup: Trump’s Takeover of the GOP (w/ Dr. Rachel Blum) – Deep Dive with Shawn C. Fettig - https://deepdivepodcast.buzzsprout.com/1983649/episodes/16215700-the-maga-coup-trump-s-takeover-of-the-gop-w-dr-rachel-blum