Regional Devolution: pathway or roadblock? | Taming polarization: Reforming the American federal republic conference

On the 16th and 17th of October 2026 the LSE Phelan US Centre hosted the conference Taming polarization: Reforming the American federal republic. The conference brought together historians, political scientists, geographers, legal scholars, analysts, and practitioners from the US, EU, and the UK to consider the role of federalism in fuelling polarization in the US and how federalism may be leveraged to tame it. Adopting a comparative and historical perspective, the conference featured frank, sustained discussion of critical issues such as state autonomy, political representation, and fiscal equalization.

On Saturday 17 October, the conference held the panel session, "Regional Devolution: pathway or roadblock?" In recent decades, many countries have successfully explored the expansion of regional (subnational) powers in response to partisan and regional tensions like those whipsawing the US today. Would such a strategy work in America, or would it only intensify polarization given the regional alignment of the parties?

The session featured Professor Pablo Beramendi of Duke University, Ron Brownstein of CNN and Professor Emily Zackin of Johns Hopkins University. The session was chaired by Peter Trubowitz, Director of the LSE Phelan US Centre and Professor of International Relations at LSE

For more information about the Taming polarization: Reforming the American federal republic conference, including recordings from the other panel sessions, please see the conference website.

This event recording was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.