The Ballpark podcast

AI has become easily accessible, easy to use, and for many people, it’s a useful tool. This means that AI is being used by individuals and institutions to help solve a variety of challenges, from everyday decision-making to pressing global issues.

In 2026, the Phelan US Centre ran an essay competition for LSE master’s students with the prompt, “What role can democratic citizenry play in shaping America’s role in the world as it enters its 250th year?"

The global economy is undergoing profound transformation. Geopolitical realignments, rising economic nationalism, climate disruption, trade fragmentation, and technological upheaval are reshaping the foundations of international economic relations.

The 1990s were an important decade. They saw the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, falling trade barriers, an expanding capitalist democratic order and the rise of what came to be called the liberal international order.

The last two decades have seen significant growth in the relationship between China and the EU. Now, China is the EU’s biggest import and third-largest export partner. But this relationship is becoming increasingly one sided.

While Trump’s foreign policy record has not been very successful elsewhere as wars continue to rage in Ukraine and in the Middle East, the exception is Europe which Trump seems to want to divide and weaken.

Donald Trump’s first presidential term meant that many allies, including in the EU and Europe, were forced to consider the possibility that the United States could no longer be a reliable partner in global affairs.

To talk about Donald Trump’s foreign policy, in February 2026 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Walter Russell Mead

From the rise of Donald Trump in the US, Brexit in the United Kingdom and Victor Orban in Hungary and National Rally in France, anti-system populists have seen a resurgence in many western democracies in the last decade.

From China’s growing influence in Europe to deepening Russia–China cooperation and the ripple effects of Trump’s America First policies, Eurasia has emerged as a single, highly contested geopolitical space.

Understanding China’s role in the world has never been more important — or more complex. China projects itself variously as a moral global actor, a fiercely defensive power guarding its core interests, and a pragmatic, opportunistic player.

America is undergoing profound change. Demographic transformation, shifting global power dynamics, and a foreign policy establishment in transition are reshaping how the United States sees itself—and how the world responds.

To talk about the current state of US-China relations, in October 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Contributor(s): Chris Gilson, Scott Kennedy | To talk about the current state of US-China relations, in October 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a leading authority on Chinese economic policy and US-China commercial relations. The discussion conversation covered the October 2025 deal between US president Donald Trump and China’s president Xi Jinping, the state of relations between China and the US two countries during the first months of the second Trump presidency, and the insights that can be gained by speaking to scholars and experts on the ground in China. This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata. Further reading and resources China Field Notes podcast – with Scott Kennedy The Center for Strategic and International Studies China’s Tech Obsession Is Weighing Down Its Economy – Scott Kennedy and Scott Rozelle – Foreign Policy, 10 October 2025 Red Ink: Estimating Chinese Industrial Policy Spending in Comparative Perspective by Gerard DiPippo, Ilaria Mazzocco, Scott Kennedy, and Matthew P. Goodman – CSIS – 23 May 2022 Take the Ballpark Listener survey and enter the prize draw for £250 in vouchers! The Ballpark is ten years old in 2026, and we want to hear from you to make the podcast even better, so we’re running a listener survey: Fill in our listener survey – it only takes 15 minutes – here: https://forms.office.com/e/Vcj8V8uGM1 Voucher prize draw terms and conditions are available here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/the-ballpark/ballpark-listener-survey-prize-terms-conditions-2025

Join us for this public lecture where Kenneth Rogoff will discuss his recently released book Our Dollar, Your Problem: An insider's view of seven turbulent decades of global finance and the road ahead.

The famous epithet that “the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters”, is most often attributed to the Marxist thinker and revolutionary Antonio Gramsci.

For the past two centuries, growth in energy supply has been fundamental to human progress and economic development. But fossil fuel dependence is driving climate change at an unprecedented scale. Can emerging technologies for producing and using electricity help deliver a sustainable future?

Ralph Miliband has written poignantly on the limits of parliamentary democracy. But are revolutions justified?

What does the future of work really look like?

Professor Coyle argues that the way we measure the economy—developed in the 1940s—no longer fits today’s realities. The outdated framework underpinning economic statistics distorts how policymakers understand and respond to the digital economy.