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? …

This event celebrated the work of Professor Charles Tripp through a new edited volume by Toby Dodge, Daniel Neep and Ali Ansari.The work of Charles Tripp – professor at SOAS University of London for over three decades – has shaped a distinct approach to the study of Middle East politics: an analytical sensibility that is empirically rich, theoretic…

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…

On the 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…

13 What is it like to be interviewed by AI, and how will it transform research? Justine Nayral by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

12 Perceptions of inequality - what do we really know? Queena Chong by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

11 How can data help us to understand and address complex problems? Dr Alexandra Gomes by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

10 Children's visions of digital futures, Kym Sylwander & Aisling by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

09 The new facts of life, Professor Emily Jackson by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

08 Scaling social innovation at LSE, Kayleigh Cunoosamy by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

07 Insecure lives, secure futures? Laura Lane by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

06 Joining the dots: using data to support homelessness and addiction, Dr Michela Tinelli by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

05 The impact of climate-based natural disasters, Dr Kate Laffan & Dr António Valentim by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

04 Making and remaking tradition: a cultural history of shark fin, Dr Ron Po by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

03 Competing visions of the future: Colombia's Magdalena River, Dr Austin Zeiderman by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

02 Gawi: An ancestral Rarámuri dream on the care of Mother Earth, Myriam Hernandez by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

01 Introduction by LSE PodcastsOleh LSE Podcasts

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 …

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…

What does Yemen’s political, economic and social history and experience tell us about what is realistic for the coming decade and beyond? This keynote lecture delivered by writer and researcher Helen Lackner discussed the main socio-political transformations since the 1960s, and addressed the most relevant features for the country's future. Lackner…

This event was the launch of Seçkin Sertdemir's latest book 'Civic Death in Contemporary Turkey: Mass Surveillance and the Authoritarian State' published by Cambridge University Press. What does it mean for a government to declare its citizens 'dead' while they still live? Following the failed 2016 coup, the Turkish AKP government implemented sweep…

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us, offering increased productivity and promising to help tackle difficult problems like global warming. But behind the scenes, its environmental costs are mounting. From massive energy use to vast quantities of water required to cool data centres, AI’s footprint is growing fast. So, in an ag…

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 …

This event, co-organised with the Department of International Development at LSE, was a discussion with Professor Naila Kabeer and Professor Ragui Assaad based on their co-authored report 'Women's Access to Market Opportunities in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa: Barriers, Opportunities and Policy Challenges'. Despite this paper bei…

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 …

What type of person falls for an online scam? Who are the fraudsters and how does colonialism motivate them? And what’s the connection between criminality and pop music? This episode of LSE iQ looks at how we can avoid falling for online scams. We think it couldn’t happen to us, but incidents of online fraud are escalating at an alarming rate, affe…

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 o…

This event disseminated the findings of a series of papers produced for the LSE Middle East Centre by Ahmed Tabaqchali exploring the economic and financial interactions of the Iraqi economy with the outside world, particularly the use of the dollar in relation to Iran and the US. While the US’ Iraq policy is still fluid, there have been signs that …

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 stat…

This event was the launch of Dr Anne Kirstine Rønn's latest paper as part of the LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series on 'The Struggles of Labour Mobilisation in Lebanon and Iraq'. Despite facing significant challenges, including elite control and repression, labour movements in both Lebanon and Iraq have sought to assert their independence and chal…

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 Phela…

With the cost-of-living crisis leading to the closure of community spaces around the UK, and the pressures on urban development projects, this episode of LSE iQ asks, are we in danger of losing our communities? Speakers: Professor Shani Orgad, Dr Divya Srivastava , Dr Julia King, Dr Olivia Theocharides-Feldman Research links: “Listening in times of…

The return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 comes on the back of extreme violence in the Middle East, led by Israel and with great financial and political investment from the United States. What impact will Trump's second term have on the Middle East region, and what can we learn from his policies in his first term as President of the Uni…

President Trump has made his feelings about US competition with China plain; one of the early acts of his second presidential term has been to place tariffs on Chinese imports. China has since responded with its own tariffs on certain US goods and restrictions on the import of important minerals.To talk about US-China relations with the return of D…

This event was the launch of Dr Marouf Cabi's latest book 'Iranian Kurdistan Under the Islamic Republic: Change, Revolution, and Resistance' published by I.B. Tauris. Cabi presents a social, political, cultural, and socioeconomic history of Iranian Kurdistan since the 1979 Revolution. In this study, Marouf Cabi shines a spotlight on the modern hist…

In the past decade, many commentators have increasingly spoken of growing competition between the United States and China in areas like trade, industrial policy, but also on foreign policy and global influence more generally. To discuss these issues and how the social sciences can learn from evolutionary thinking, in January 2025 the Phelan US Cent…

This episode of LSE iQ looks at whether we should still be driving, whether public transport in cities has helped alleviate the need to drive and how driverless cars are still a distance away from really helping solve the issue of the number of cars on the road.Contributor (s) Dr Phillip Rode, Professor Rachel Aldred, Dr Chris Tennant and Indira Ra…

This event was the launch of Jerome Drevon's latest book 'From Jihad to Politics: How Syrian Jihadis Embraced Politics' published by Oxford University Press.Drevon's timely book offers an examination of the Syrian armed opposition, tracing the emergence of Jihadi groups in the conflict, their dominance, and their political transformation. Meet our …

This event was the launch of Dr Sana Murrani's latest book 'Rupturing Architecture: Spatial Practices of Refuge in Response to War and Violence in Iraq, 2003–2023' published by Bloomsbury.Written by an Iraqi architect who has lived through the trauma of several wars, 10 years of UN-imposed sanctions, an invasion, and the subsequent violence, this b…

This episode of LSE iQ explores a national scandal: widespread illegal sewage dumping by our privatised water companies, and why they are all under criminal investigation.Speakers: Professor Gwyn Bevan, Dr Kate Bayliss, Jo BatemanHow Did Britain Come to This? A century of systemic failures of governance by Gwyn Bevan: https://press.lse.ac.uk/site/b…

In December 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke Dr Douglas Fuller, Associate Professor in the Department of International Economics, Government and Business at Copenhagen Business School. They spoke about how the Chinese high-tech and semiconductor chip industry has evolved and the recent history and effectiveness of US chip controls towards China. The…

This event, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, discussed the online exhibition and research project 'Bridging Identities: The Cultural Odyssey of Kurdistani Jews' exploring the identity and heritage of Kurdistani Jews.The stories in this research project shed light on this community's past through the lens of their memo…

In October 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Michael Mastanduno, Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, and Dr Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College. They spoke about US export controls against China and about their history and effectiveness This episode was produced by Chris G…

This event brought together academics and healthcare professionals to shed light on the healthcare crisis in Sudan.With more than 70% of Sudan’s healthcare facilities currently non-functional according to the International Rescue Committee, speakers will discuss the challenges of delivering care during this increasingly protracted conflict, with in…

This event was a conversation around the special issue 'The Academic Question of Palestine' published by the journal Middle East Critique. This issue was guest-edited by Walaa Alqaisiya and Nicola Perugini.Drawing on the various contributions of the special issue, speakers discussed the sense of intellectual and political emergency that has trigger…

In November 2024 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Distinguished Fellow at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore. From 1971 until 2004 he was a diplomat with the Singapore Foreign Service. He served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the UN from 1984-1989 and then from 1998 to 2004 and as President o…

This event was the launch of 'Making Sense of the Arab State' edited by Steven Heydemann & Marc Lynch, and published by University of Michigan Press.No region in the world has been more hostile to democracy, more dominated by military and security institutions, or weaker on economic development and inclusive governance than the Middle East. Why hav…

This event, organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of International Relations, LSE was a discussion around the book 'How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare' by Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Ali Vaez published by Stanford University Press.Sanctions have enormous consequences. Especial…

With companies, like SpaceX or Blue Origin, getting into space exploration and the cost of launching rockets dropping, could we see a lot more people heading into space in the future? What kind of possibilities does this new space age bring—and what dangers should we be worried about? Can any nation seize possession of the moon? Could it be mined? …

In this talk, Dr Olivia Mason traced the history of Jordan's nature reserves in the British archives, exploring how nature reserves bring global and situated resource narratives into conversation, how they continue imperial spatial imaginations after periods of administrative colonialism, and the connections between conservation agendas and imperia…