Collapse Of State Research Articles

Chuprinin, S. (2023). The Thaw as disobedience. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie. (In Russ.)

Chuprinin’s The Thaw as Disobedience [Ottepel kak nepovinovenie] is his latest in a series of research published in the last few years. The cycle opens with The Thaw: Events [Ottepel: Sobytiya] in 2020, followed by The Thaw: Characters [Ottepel: Deystvuyushchie litsa] in 2023. In his studies, Chuprinin draws on material from the press of the day as well as archives. His latest book consists of an author’s preface, six chapters, and an index of names ‘People of the Thaw.’ Each chapter constitutes an individual fragment of the history of the Thaw, whose timeline begins in March 1953, following Stalin’s death, and ends with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led armed forces in August 1968. In the 15 years of the Thaw, the USSR saw changes that, combined with other factors, eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet state. Chuprinin’s undeniable talent as a storyteller shines as he successfully demonstrates how a ‘critical mass’ of rejection of old stereotypes gradually and imperceptibly took over the mentality of Soviet people — a process greatly aided by writers.

EGALITARIANISM WITHOUT CATASTROPHE?

This paper explores the Teotihuacan civilisation’s low levels of inequality, challenging Walter Scheidel’s Four Horsemen theory which posits that only catastrophic events can significantly reduce inequality. Analysing Teotihuacan, a large pre-Columbian city noted for its egalitarian structure, the paper refutes the idea that only mass warfare, pandemics, revolution or state collapse can flatten social hierarchies. It suggests that Teotihuacan’s unique formation and governance, influenced by a multiethnic population influx following a volcanic eruption, fostered a decentralised and egalitarian society. The paper contributes to the discussion on designing equal and sustainable societies, offering an alternative historical perspective to the inevitability of social inequality.

State Collapse: Government Failure in Gaddafi's Libya

State Collapse: Government Failure in Gaddafi's Libya

Error-Tolerant Amplification and Simulation of the Ultrastrong-Coupling Quantum Rabi Model.

Cat-state qubits formed by photonic cat states have a biased noise channel, i.e., one type of error dominates over all the others. We demonstrate that such biased-noise qubits are also promising for error-tolerant simulations of the quantum Rabi model (and its varieties) by coupling a cat-state qubit to an optical cavity. Using the cat-state qubit can effectively enhance the counterrotating coupling, allowing us to explore several fascinating quantum phenomena relying on the counterrotating interaction. Moreover, another benefit from biased-noise cat qubits is that the two main error channels (frequency and amplitude mismatches) are both exponentially suppressed. Therefore, the simulation protocols are robust against parameter errors of the parametric drive that determines the projection subspace. We analyze three examples: (i)collapse and revivals of quantum states; (ii)hidden symmetry and tunneling dynamics; and (iii)pair-cat-code computation.

HOW THE SOMALI MODERN GOVERNANCE WORKS WITH THE TRADITIONAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM: LITERATURE REVIEW

Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa, has a complex history influenced by tribalism, colonialism, and internal conflict. During the colonial era, European powers collaborated with clan leaders, resulting in Somalia's division along clan and tribal lines. This division led to the creation of artificial borders, which fragmented the land and fostered regional and clan-based identities. After gaining independence in 1960, Somalia initially aimed to establish a strong, centralized state. The Siad Barre regime, which came to power through a military coup in 1969, tried to suppress clan and regional identities in favor of a communist ideology. However, the regime's downfall in 1991 plunged Somalia into a prolonged period of violence and state collapse. Warlords and clan-based factions fought for power, leading to a protracted civil war. This paper analyzes the intricate relationship between Somalia's traditional and modern governance systems. It examines the potential for collaboration, the challenges faced in nation-building efforts, and the lasting impact of clan-based structures. The study begins by exploring traditional governance, highlighting the important role of customary law, elders, and religious clerics in consensus-building mechanisms and maintaining social harmony. It emphasizes the historical significance and contemporary relevance of these institutions. The paper then delves into the challenges involved in establishing a modern state in Somalia. It examines the obstacles that hinder the realization of democratic ideals and the establishment of a centralized administration. A key focus is evaluating the potential synergies and conflicts between traditional and modern systems.

Random coordinate descent: A simple alternative for optimizing parameterized quantum circuits

Variational quantum algorithms rely on the optimization of parameterized quantum circuits in noisy settings. The commonly used back-propagation procedure in classical machine learning is not directly applicable in this setting due to the collapse of quantum states after measurements. Thus, gradient estimations constitute a significant overhead in a gradient-based optimization of such quantum circuits. This paper introduces a random coordinate descent algorithm as a practical and easy-to-implement alternative to the full gradient descent algorithm. This algorithm only requires one partial derivative at each iteration. Motivated by the behavior of measurement noise in the practical optimization of parameterized quantum circuits, this paper presents an optimization problem setting that is amenable to analysis. Under this setting, the random coordinate descent algorithm exhibits the same level of stochastic stability as the full gradient approach, making it as resilient to noise. The complexity of the random coordinate descent method is generally no worse than that of the gradient descent and can be much better for various quantum optimization problems with anisotropic Lipschitz constants. Theoretical analysis and extensive numerical experiments validate our findings. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Periodic quantum Rabi model with cold atoms at deep strong coupling

The quantum Rabi model describes the coupling of a two-state system to a bosonic field mode. Recent theoretical work has pointed out that a generalized periodic version of this model, which maps onto Hamiltonians applicable in superconducting qubit settings, can be quantum simulated with cold trapped atoms. Here, we experimentally demonstrate atomic dynamics predicted by the periodic quantum Rabi model far in the deep strong-coupling regime. The two-state system is represented by two Bloch bands of cold atoms in an optical lattice, and the bosonic mode by oscillations in a superimposed optical dipole trap potential. The observed dynamics beyond the usual quantum Rabi physics becomes relevant when the edge of the Brillouin zone is reached, and evidence for collapse and revival of the initial state is revealed at extreme coupling conditions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Future security threats arising from the UK’s deprivation of citizenship: a model to understand the human rights-security risk landscape

ABSTRACT Following the collapse of the Islamic State, the issue of “Returning Foreign Fighters” became a dominant global problem. The securitised response adopted by many states is a cause for concern, particularly in relation to human rights. Men, women and children with a range of physical and psychological trauma are now situated in camps across northeastern Syria, posing a complex security threat. The situation in these camps is far from secure, and the risk of radicalisation and indoctrination (among the children in particular) is high. Through the development of a model of risk analysis which emphasises both security risks and human rights risks, this paper presents an innovative exploration of the phenomenon of women and children associated with ISIS in north-east Syria. The impact of this study is wide-reaching and is intended to provide a foundation for resolving the heightened security threat these individuals pose in the medium and long terms.

Кризисы модернизации 1990-х годов в контексте исторических циклов России

The article compares the reckless socio-political dynamics in Russia in the 1990s, manifested in a series of crises and turning events, with the concept of mechanisms of the Russian historical cycles. The paper lists the main stages of dynamics — complexes of interrelated events that change the balance of power, structural conditions and the direction of subsequent processes. The author also lists the main actors and social groups involved in the political dynamics of that time period: supreme power, reformers, insiders, oligarchs, representatives of special services, “pro-soviet” and democratic opposition, urban educated class, workers and miners’ movements, “ordinary people”. The author concludes that the rapid sweeping changes in the politics of the 1990s took place, as they did before, in the parametric space with the axes of “state success” and “freedom”. Transitions occurred between the phases that were typical for much longer cycles of the Russian historical past — “crisis”, “liberalization”, “authoritarian rollback”, “state collapse”, “military-political triumph”. At the same time, the mechanism of the general democratic backsliding trend and the growth of authoritarian tendencies calls for clarification. The authors propose a phase model that explains this change through the patterns of response strategies of the supreme power to challenges and threats under different conditions. Weakness and failures of the state policy coupled with a shortage of resources led to mass disillusionment, delegitimization of the supreme power and reform policy, which manifested itself in elections and inspired the adherents of the restoration. The increase in the corresponding threats placed a premium on administrative and violent measures. Once sufficient resources were accumulated, those measures were becoming successful and received positive reinforcement. With each crisis, the supreme power took an upper hand, while the collegial separation of powers was reduced, and the reforms lost their original focus on economic freedom, the rise of small and medium-sized businesses, and the growth of democracy. As a result, the opportunities for the political modernization were missed, giving way to the authoritarian trends.

Conflict and democratization in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 terminated the country’s democratisation. The crisis was more an outcome of the two-decade-long flawed state-building and democratisation, and the escalation of the insurgency than an overnight change in the country’s politico-military landscape. This paper examines Afghanistan’s failed democratization from 2001 to 2021 by focusing on five variables including stateness, welfare, rule of law, political regime, and political community. The paper explains how flawed progress in the five areas gradually eroded the democratisation process resulting in state collapse and the restoration of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate.

MPX3 van der Waals magnets under pressure (M = Mn, Ni, V, Fe, Co, Cd; X = S, Se)

van der Waals antiferromagnets with chemical formula MPX3 (M = V, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cd; X = S, Se) are superb platforms for exploring the fundamental properties of complex chalcogenides, revealing their structure-property relations and unraveling the physics of confinement. Pressure is extremely effective as an external stimulus, able to tune properties and drive new states of matter. In this review, we summarize experimental and theoretical progress to date with special emphasis on the structural, magnetic, and optical properties of the MPX3 family of materials. Under compression, these compounds host inter-layer sliding and insulator-to-metal transitions accompanied by dramatic volume reduction and spin state collapse, piezochromism, possible polar metal and orbital Mott phases, as well as superconductivity. Some responses are already providing the basis for spintronic, magneto-optic, and thermoelectric devices. We propose that strain may drive similar functionality in these materials.

Kritik efter postkolonialiteten

How can we best forge a theoretical practice that directly addresses the struggles of once-colonized countries, many of which face the collapse of both state and society in today’s era of economic reform? David Scott argues that recent cultural theories aimed at “deconstructing” Western representations of the non-West have been successful to a point, but that changing realities in these countries require a new approach. In Refashioning Futures, he proposes a strategic practice of criticism that brings the political more clearly into view in areas of the world where the very coherence of a secular-modern project can no longer be taken for granted.

Going Local: An Agency-Based Approach to Collapse, Resistance, and Resilience in Hittite Anatolia

Abstract Crisis and collapse have long been prominent themes in Hittite studies (much more so than the related topics of resistance and resilience) and most of the extant body of scholarship on these themes have concentrated on the disintegration of the Hittite Empire around 1200 BCE. Though the events, conditions and processes that culminated in the disintegration of the Hittite Empire elude historical reconstruction, recent studies have unanimously rejected monocausal explanations of collapse in favor of the view that it was brought about by a combination of factors – internal, external, acute or chronic. In Hittite scholarship, the study of collapse and its aftermath have typically operated within a markedly state-centered and progressivist framework, focusing primarily on figuring out “what went wrong.” Meanwhile, especially in text-based studies, the agency and resilience of local, small(er)-scale, peripheral, and non-state individuals and communities, as well as their role in the construction, maintenance, and collapse of the Hittite empire, remain largely overlooked. The aim of the present paper is to shift the focus and scale of analysis away from the state, and to draw out from the textual record, the long-term agency, resistance, and resilience of local, small-scale, and often non-state individuals, communities, or socio-political institutions, which have typically been left out of text-based modern narratives. This paper will reassess the prominent view of the Hittite king (and state) as the absolute political, military, judicial, and religious authority, and argue that certain local and non-state communities and socio-political institutions exercised diverse kinds of agency, were remarkably resilient in the long term, and survived the final collapse of the Hittite state. In order to situate the inquiry in its broader scholarly and intellectual context, it will begin with an overview of where things stand in the study of the Hittite collapse. The next step will be to identify individual or collective local actors in the textual record. It will lastly focus on the interactions of diverse local agents with the Hittite state.

Keynan Somali Equation Theory: An Empirical Attempt to Explain What Led to the Collapse of the Somali State

With the introduction of the contemporary state structure in Somalia, there have been and still are ways to explain what led to the collapse of the state. There have been many attempts from scholars who viewed the Somali case from different perspectives to explain what led to the state crumbling. The Somali state collapse has rejected conventional wisdom and evaded almost all attempts to impose a particular structure, explanation, or conclusion upon it. Much has been written and said about the country, particularly since 1991. One serious attempt which may help explain the Somali case is the Keynan Theory of Somali Equation (KSET). KSET is a philosophical attempt to explain the Somali state's collapse by theorising the country's political and social context, the factors that contributed to its demise, and the steps necessary for the Somali people to reconstruct their state. This paper will attempt to analyse and examine the theoretical framework of the phenomenon of social order fragmentation, which is the foundation of KSET. Applying the theory will further attempt to shed light on the factors that led to the establishment and continuation of Somali society. It will also examine "the complex of ideas, values, beliefs and institutions that define and underpin the Somali society" by looking at the methodology applied in KSET.

Nonlinearity in the Medium for Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Induced by Quantum Mechanical Interaction of the Field With Finite-State Atoms

We consider the interaction between a classical time-varying electric field and the atomic electrical dipole moment operator of a finite state atom and calculate approximately the mixed state evolution of the atom with such an interaction Hamiltonian up to quadratic orders in the external classical electric field using Schrodinger’s equation for mixed state evolution. From this approximate expression for the state evolution, we evaluate the average atomic electric dipole moment as a linear-quadratic function of the electric field. Later on, we also take into account Brownian motion bath noise that couples to the atomic dynamics, so that the Schrodinger equation dynamics gets modified to the Lindblad dynamics of an open quantum system, i.e., the master equation. From the average atomic dipole moment, we obtain an expression for the average polarization field of atoms constituting the medium through which the classical electromagnetic wave propagates. This average polarization is a linear-quadratic causal functional of the electric field. The resulting Maxwell equations for wave propagation, taking into account this polarization current density, thus acquire a quadratic nonlinearity which can be used to explain higher harmonic frequencies at the output of an optical fiber when the input is excited by the electric field coming from a monochromatic laser. We are then also able to calculate the mean square fluctuations in the polarization field using the evolving atomic state, and hence the electric field propagating through the medium of atoms acquires quantum fluctuations which can be used to explain time-varying random shifts in the spectral lines. As mentioned above, we include in this article an extension of this problem to the case when there is white Gaussian noise corrupting the state evolution dynamics of the atom and also the case when there is a pairwise interaction between the spin dipoles of atoms at two different locations. In the former case, we derive an approximate formula for the polarization field as well as its temporal statistical correlations, and we show how this computation can be extended to the latter case too. When there is a pairwise interaction between the atomic spins, we use a version of the approximate quantum Boltzmann equation to calculate the first and second order marginals of the atomic states, which is then used to compute the average polarization as well as its spatio-temporal correlations. Temporal correlations using second marginals of the atomic states cannot be computed using classical probabilistic methods owing to Heisenberg uncertainty, so we propose a sequential measurement-based strategy involving computation of the joint probabilities of the atomic spin components at two different times by first measuring one component of the spin, allowing for state collapse, and then following it up with nonlinear time evolution from the collapsed two-particle state using the quantum Boltzmann equation, followed further by measurement of another component of the spin at the second time.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF ARMS PROLIFERATION AND INSECURITY ON HUMAN SECURITY IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF MALI AND NIGERIA

Mali and Nigeria are both faced with the presence of insurgencies, militia, terrorism and other violent non-state actors (VNSAs), who perpetrate large-scale violence; thus, creating daunting security challenges in these countries. This goes pari passu with the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALWs) in these countries. While these countries have inherent human security challenges, this spate of insecurity will not only inhibit the quest for human security, but further deteriorate it. Thus, this paper examines the interrelationship between arms proliferation, violent conflicts and insecurity in these countries and their implication on human security. The study is anchored on the State Collapse theory and the Ex-post Facto research design. The Documentary Observation method of data is utilised; hence, data is generated from secondary sources such as academic publications, organisational publications, databases, etc. For data analysis, the study adopts the Causal Analysis and Process Tracing methods of data analysis. The study found that the proliferation of SALWs and violent conflicts complement each other in Mali and Nigeria, thus, creating high-scale insecurity challenges in both countries. It also found that the implications of this state of affairs on human security are enormous in these countries; particularly in the aspects of physical security, food security, economic security, environmental security and political security. On these bases, the study advocates for relevant stakeholders such as the governments, ECOWAS, religious organisations and traditional institutions to play key roles in addressing the menace

Explaining Grover’s algorithm with a colony of ants: a pedagogical model for making quantum technology comprehensible

The rapid growth of quantum technologies requires an increasing number of physicists, computer scientists, and engineers who can work on these technologies. For educating these professionals, quantum mechanics should stop being perceived as incomprehensible. In this paper we contribute to this change by presenting a pedagogical model for explaining Grover’s search algorithm, a prominent quantum algorithm. This model visualizes the three main steps of Grover’s algorithm and, in addition to explaining the algorithm itself, introduces three key principles of quantum mechanics: superposition, interference, and state collapse at measurement. The pedagogical model, visualized by a video, is called the ant colony maze model. It represents the search problems as finding the exit of a maze, and visualizes Grover’s search algorithm as a strategy by which a colony of ants finds that exit.

Collective non-Hermitian skin effect: point-gap topology and the doublon-holon excitations in non-reciprocal many-body systems

Open quantum systems provide a plethora of exotic topological phases of matter that have no Hermitian counterpart. Non-Hermitian skin effect, macroscopic collapse of bulk states to the boundary, has been extensively studied in various experimental platforms. However, it remains an open question whether such topological phases persist in the presence of many-body interactions. Previous studies have shown that the Pauli exclusion principle suppresses the skin effect. In this study, we present a counterexample by demonstrating the presence of the skin effect in doublon-holon excitations. While the ground state of the spin-half Hatano-Nelson model shows no skin effect, the doublon-holon pairs, as its collective excitations, display the many-body skin effect even in strong coupling limit. We establish the robustness of this effect by revealing a bulk-boundary correspondence mediated by the point gap topology within the many-body energy spectrum. Our findings underscore the existence of non-Hermitian topological phases in collective excitations of many-body interacting systems.

Protecting quantum correlations of negative quantum states using weak measurement under non-Markovian noise

The weak measurement (WM) and quantum measurement reversal (QMR) are crucial in protecting the collapse of quantum states. The idea of WM and QMR has recently been used to protect and enhance quantum correlations and universal quantum teleportation (UQT) protocols. Here, we study the quantum correlations, maximal fidelity, and fidelity deviation of the two-qubit negative quantum states developed using discrete Wigner functions with(without) WM and QMR. To take into account the effect of a noisy environment, we evolve the states via non-Markovian amplitude damping and random telegraph noise quantum channels. To benchmark the performance of negative quantum states, we calculate their success probability. We compare our results with the two-qubit maximally entangled Bell state. Interestingly, we observe that some negative quantum states perform better with WM and QMR than the Bell state for different cases under evolution via noisy quantum channels.

Prospects for Ethnic Harmony in Post-GoHomeGota Protest in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of #Aragalaya on Twitter

In early 2022, in the wake of the state collapse in Sri Lanka (due to a severe economic meltdown with near-political anarchy), we observed an extraordinary ambience of ethnic tolerance and togetherness among masses gathered under the slogan #GoHomeGota to protest the corrupt regime. The nexus between state collapse and ethnic identity construction is puzzling. Does state collapse facilitate the disintegration of ethnic attributes? To find answers, this paper draws on protest materials publicly posted on Twitter from April to June 2022. Rather than the collapse of the state in Sri Lanka weakening the ethnic ties of all ethnic groups equally, findings suggest that the state’s collapse has hindered the ability of Sinhalese nationalism/majoritarianism to take hold, which may give the impression that the Sinhalese are becoming less tied to their ethnicity. However, while Aragalaya is largely represented by all ethnic, religious, and language groups in the country, it has been unable to erase minorities’ strong in-group attachment, as well as their suspicion of Sinhala majoritarianism.