The Ballpark is the LSE US Centre’s media centre encompassing our podcast and explainer videos.
This is your chance to go beyond the headlines and get the facts, figures, quotes, and context to form a more informed view on the United States.
We’d love to hear what you think of our podcasts and videos – you can send us a message on Twitter @LSE_Ballpark, or email us at uscentre@lse.ac.uk.
The Ballpark is produced with help from the LSE’S KEI Fund and the Phelan Family Foundation. Our theme tune is by Ranger and the “Re-Arrangers”, a Seattle based gypsy jazz band.
Podcasts
The Ballpark is the LSE US Centre’s regular online audio show on US politics, policy, and research. In each episode, the hosts take a closer look at American politics, economics, policy and news. We’ll feature and dissect the research of academics from the LSE and around the world.
Season 4 – The State of the States (2020/21)
Season 3 – The State of the States (2018/19)
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.7: Politics and Policing in New Jersey
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.6: Polarization and deindustrialization in the Badger State
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.5: Missouri
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.4: The Lone Star State You Don’t Know
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.3: Healthcare politics and policy in Tennessee
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.2 Arizona: Immigration politics in the Grand Canyon State
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3.1 Textbooks in Texas and Cars in California
There are lots of ways to catch-up with upcoming episodes of The Ballpark podcast: this website, our SoundCloud page, subscribe on iTunes or iTunesU, or add this RSS feed to your podcast app.
Season 2 (2017)
Listen to Season 2 (9 episodes)
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.9 What can be done about fake news?
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.8 Where did the opioid epidemic come from?
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.7 The Rural-Urban Divide
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.6: Racism towards Latinos: Past, present, and future
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.5: The future of American progressivism
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.4: The Changing Face of American Conservatism
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.3: Trumpian Foreign Policy
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.2: Do state governments even matter?
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2.1: Populism and the new political spectrum
The Ballpark podcast Season 2: Back at Bat!
Season 1 (2016)
Listen to Season 1 (9 Episodes)
The Ballpark podcast Episode 9: The LSE and USA
The Ballpark podcast Episode 8: America’s contentious and complicated criminal justice system
The Ballpark podcast Episode 7: Federalism, the longest lasting debate in America
The Ballpark podcast Episode 6: Place Matters
The Ballpark podcast Episode 5: What’s a political poll got to do with it?
The Ballpark podcast Episode 4: The Almighty Dollar
The Ballpark podcast Episode 3: Power, Person, People: US Foreign Policy
The Ballpark podcast Episode 2: This is not a hot take
Introducing The Ballpark podcast and Episode 1: The Strongest Economy for Who?
Extra Innings podcasts
Every other week we post Ballpark Extra Innings podcasts where we spend some more time on an interview, topic or discussion that we cover in regular episodes of The Ballpark.
Listen to our Extra Innings
Coming Soon: The Politics of Race in American Film podcast with Dr. Clive James Nwonka
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: The Great Debate Over Race in America
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Russian Trolls and the 2016 Election: Professor Kathleen Jamieson interview
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: African Americans in a White House: an event with Professor Leah Wright Rigueur
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Black Republicans, Power and the Reagan Administration, interview with Professor Leah Wright Rigueur
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Russian Hackers, Trolls and #DemocracyRIP: an event with Professor Kathleen Jamieson
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: “Donald Trump and the Roots of Republican Extremism in the US”, an event with Professor Theda Skocpol
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: The Theft of a Decade: How the Baby Boomers Stole the Millennials’ Economic Future – an interview with Joseph Sternberg
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: “How Millennial Economics Will Shake Up US Politics” – an event with Joseph Sternberg
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Why American foreign policy since the Cold War has been a failure with Stephen Walt
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: New York City’s Planning Challenges for 2020 and Beyond with Marisa Lago
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Donald Trump and the Roots of Republican Extremism in the US, an interview with Professor Theda Skocpol
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: The Dangers of Brexit for the Special Relationship with Senator Chris Murphy
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Lessons from History and the Future of International Trade with Jeff Frieden and Doug Irwin
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: What the US-North Korea summit may have in store with Stephan Haggard
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: Conspiracy Theories in the Age of Trump with Joe Uscinski
The Ballpark Podcast Extra Innings: How Great Powers Transition: A Conversation with Dr. Kori Schake
Extra Innings: Summer Lecture from Professor Kathy Cramer “The Politics of Resentment in the 2016 US Presidential Election”
Extra Innings: Summer Lecture from Professor Tali Mendleberg “The Affluence Effect: College Socialization and Inequality in America”
The Ballpark Extra Innings: Anxiety, Fear, and National Identity, a public lecture from Professor Neil Foley
The Ballpark Extra Innings: The Yanks Are Coming! A lecture from Professor Mick Cox
The Ballpark Extra Innings: Conspiracy theories and Donald Trump
The Ballpark Extra Innings: Has Obama been a transformative president?
The Ballpark Extra Innings: Everything you wanted to know about Brexit but were too afraid to ask
Video Explainers
Ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, the LSE US Centre produced explainer videos which describe key parts of the US political system:
The Two Party System
Dr Nick Anstead of the LSE Department of Media and Communications discusses the history, evolution and the potential future of the two party system in American politics.
The Nomination Process
Derek Valles of the LSE Government Department discusses how the American political primary and presidential nomination systems work, and their history.
Voter Eligibility
Dr Daniel Laurison of LSE Sociology looks at the history of voter eligibility in America and recent trends and changes to voting laws and voting rights.
Lobbying
Dr Jordi Blanes i Vidal of the LSE Department of Management discusses what lobbying is and how it works in Washington DC, including the ‘revolving door’ between lobbyists and public sector workers.
Trade Policy
Dr Julia Gray of LSE’s International Relations Department discusses what trade deals are, their recent history, and who benefits and who loses from them in the economy.
Criminal Justice
Professor Nicola Lacey looks at the fragmented nature of the US criminal justice system and how judicial elections and ‘appeals to toughness’ have influenced the incarceration rate at the state level.
The Transition of Power
Dr Derek Valles from the US Centre looks at power transitions between presidents of the United States. He also considers the challenges facing the president-elect in the coming months.
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