Historical Precedent Research Articles

Telegraphic Surveillance, Psychic Dislocation, and the Data of Black Biography

Abstract: Scholars have turned their attention to digital technologies' role in surveilling Blackness, but the ideas of privacy, data, and exploitation that inform this emerging research cannot be understood apart from their interlocked histories. This article examines encounters with the telegraph in mid-nineteenth century Black biography, focusing on the technology's role as a surveillance network that reshaped freedom-seekers' concept of American location. This historical precedent to location tracking inflicted a severe form of psychic dislocation that calls into question conventional understandings of the data of slavery. The existential disorientation recorded in this genre challenges inherited notions of history, while also guiding our navigation of contemporary technoculture and the social disparities it sustains.

Charting a Course in Troubled Waters: Towards a New Cold War in Global Commons

The global commons, encompassing the vast expanses of the world’s oceans and beyond, have emerged as the battlegrounds of a new era of great power competition. This article scrutinises the escalating great power competition in the global commons. Integrating geopolitics, maritime strategy, international relations theory and historical perspectives, we illuminate the multifaceted dimensions of this rivalry and its implications for global security. Our analysis examines U.S. naval strategies, China’s ascendance and the role of emerging technologies in naval power. Our findings unveil a rapidly evolving landscape where nations escalate their contest for pivotal sea routes, resources and strategic locales—a rivalry deeply rooted in historical precedents; within this context, China’s naval modernisation and Belt and Road Initiative are recalibrating the extant power equilibrium. As we enter a new era of competition, the global commons present both opportunities and challenges, requiring collective action for mutual benefits.

Beyond Borders: Unpacking us Military Involvement in Afghanistan as a Case Study in the Islamic World

Purpose: This study seeks to assess the adherence to international law in the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, prompted by the September 11 attacks. Additionally, it aims to investigate the impact of the Greater Middle East Initiative on U.S. policy towards the Islamic World, specifically Afghanistan, providing insights into legal intricacies and broader consequences. Theoretical Framework: This article engages in discussions among Western scholars on the Afghanistan war and U.S. military involvement but distinguishes itself by incorporating insights from Middle Eastern scholars. It aims to enrich the discourse by integrating perspectives from within the Middle Eastern scholarly community, offering a comprehensive view of these complex subjects. Methodology: Employing historical, descriptive, and in-depth analytical research methods, this study examines events around September 11, 2001, providing essential context for the subsequent U.S. military intervention. Descriptive methods offer a detailed account of the post-9/11 shift in U.S. policy, while in-depth analytical methods scrutinize legal dilemmas arising from the intervention, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of historical context, U.S. policy decisions, and legal complexities. Results: The results and discussion section explores the historical evolution of U.S. military engagement in 21st-century Afghanistan, analyzing its strategic shifts and the Taliban's adaptation to guerrilla warfare. It critically evaluates the international legal aspects of the Afghan War, assessing the legitimacy of the U.S.-led military intervention based on UN conventions, historical precedents, and key principles such as the right to legitimate defense, urgency, and proportionality. Conclusions: The aftermath of September 11, 2001, marked a transformative moment in U.S. policy towards Afghanistan and the broader Middle East, leading to the consequential Afghan War. Despite its geopolitical significance, the absence of explicit UN Security Council authorization prompts a critical examination of the war's legitimacy, revealing lapses in meeting criteria for the right to individual or collective legitimate defense and urging a reevaluation of established narratives in international relations and global politics.

Optimal filters for ERP research I: A general approach for selecting filter settings.

Filtering plays an essential role in event-related potential (ERP) research, but filter settings are usually chosen on the basis of historical precedent, lab lore, or informal analyses. This reflects, in part, the lack of a well-reasoned, easily implemented method for identifying the optimal filter settings for a given type of ERP data. To fill this gap, we developed an approach that involves finding the filter settings that maximize the signal-to-noise ratio for a specific amplitude score (or minimizes the noise for a latency score) while minimizing waveform distortion. The signal is estimated by obtaining the amplitude score from the grand average ERP waveform (usually a difference waveform). The noise is estimated using the standardized measurement error of the single-subject scores. Waveform distortion is estimated by passing noise-free simulated data through the filters. This approach allows researchers to determine the most appropriate filter settings for their specific scoring methods, experimental designs, subject populations, recording setups, and scientific questions. We have provided a set of tools in ERPLAB Toolbox to make it easy for researchers to implement this approach with their own data.

The Superhumanities, Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities

The Superhumanities, Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities

Interdisciplinary Approach to Overcoming the Persistence of Patriarchal Islamic Interpretations: Gender Equality, the Development of Empathy and Children’s Rights, and Insights from the Reformist Eurasian Scholars of Early Twentieth Century

Abstract Gender equality and women’s rights are among the most discussed issues in the context of Islam. Any thorough analysis of the persistence of conservative patriarchal religious interpretations in Muslim communities should also consider social factors. The conservative appropriation of Islam is not only the result of theological factors but also a manifestation of a conservative and patriarchal habitus. This article draws attention to the vitality of empathy in establishing universal equal human dignity. It dwells on the idea of the universal innate nature of the child to offer some solutions to overcome the persistence of conservative religious interpretations and develop gender equality in the Muslim context. Also, the reformist views of the Jadids and Alash intellectuals, the Eurasian Muslim reformists of the early twentieth century, are analyzed as authentic historical and conceptual precedents to develop gender-egalitarian Islamic interpretations. Overall, this article establishes a connection between women’s rights in Islam, the universal innate nature of the child (and the universality of children’s right-friendly parenting and education that fosters empathy and critical thinking), and the intellectual legacy of the Jadids and Alash intellectuals, who wanted to transform the conservative and patriarchal habitus through educational reform, literary works, and a rationalistic, thematico-holistic approach to Islam.

Past, present and future of the Smart City in India: An institutional perspective

The present contribution analyses the Smart City Mission launched in the year 2015 in India from an institutional perspective and examines how it is mobilized for coordinated action. Relying on theoretical guidance provided by Ostrom's (2005) ‘Institutional Analysis and Development’ (IAD) framework and González-Arellano's (2022) and Scott's (2008) formulation of ‘Institutional Construction of Futures of Cities’, we analyse a corpus of empirical data to suggest that SC has historical precedents in the way it is institutionalized. Further, to substantiate our findings, a structured literature review of empirical contributions (34 nos.) within the SCOPUS database is undertaken. In conceptual terms, the anticipatory praxis of Smart City Mission leverages the institutional structure of doing flagship programmes and a cultural-cognitive affirmation of neutrality in data-driven governance. The initiative blurs the political city as the action arenas of structuring SC initiatives at the local levels lack operational rules to construct desired outcomes. The paper argues for a need to make the action-to-outcome linkage legible and endow agency to participants to act and control the outcomes by framing collective choice rules. Strengthening action arenas at the city level emboldens the capacity to envision collaborative futures and bridge the gap between anticipation and experience.

The Baltic and Nordic responses to the first Taliban poppy ban: Implications for Europe & synthetic opioids today

The 2000–2001 and the 2022–2023 Taliban opium bans were and could be two of the largest ever disruptions to a major illegal drug market. To help understand potential implications of the current ban for Europe, this paper analyzes how opioid markets in seven Baltic and Nordic countries responded to the earlier ban, using literature review, key informant interviews, and secondary data analysis.The seven nations’ markets responded in diverse ways, including rebounding with the same drug (heroin in Norway), substitution to a more potent opioid (fentanyl replacing heroin in Estonia), and substitution to one with lower risk of overdose (buprenorphine replacing heroin in Finland). The responses were not instantaneous, but rather evolved, sometimes over several years.This variety suggests that it can be hard to predict how drug markets will respond to disruptions, but two extreme views can be challenged. It would be naive to imagine that drug markets will not adapt to shocks, but also unduly nihilistic to presume that they will always just bounce back with no lasting effects. Substitution to another way of meeting demand is possible, but that does not always negate fully the benefits of disrupting the original market. Nonetheless, there is historical precedent for a European country's opioid market switching to synthetic opioids when heroin supplies were disrupted. Given how much that switch has increased overdose rates in Canada and the United States, that is a serious concern for Europe at present. A period of reduced opioid supply may be a particularly propitious time to expand treatment services (as Norway did in the early 2000s).

Gavin W. Jones: demography detective and the mystery of the MURs

ABSTRACT Meeting for the first time in Jakarta in the early 1980s, Gavin Jones and I encountered a great mystery: how had decades of slow-growing, involuting cities in Asia suddenly become a new era of accelerated urbanisation producing mega-urban regions (MURs) with population sizes having no historical precedent? With collaborators in 6 MURs, in 2000 we launched a book project presenting our solution to the mystery. We showed how MUR formations extended far beyond core cities by incorporating towns and villages into their daily orbits. Our findings illuminate key issues at stake, including increasing disparities in life chances over space, rising risks of global climate change, and complexities of MUR governance.

Preserving ‘the intellectual garbage of the past’: a call to action

ABSTRACT This article considers the persistent impulse to deaccession, destroy, or remove historical collections of pornography, erotica, and obscenity. In the USA and Europe, calls to clean out collections come from all sides. Some call for purging collections because of their origins. Others call for purging because of the immorality of the materials. To help provide background for institutions facing these calls, the article will consider the historical precedents and what they mean for today’s choices. By considering what is lost when we allow institutions to purge documents and hide the evidence, the article hopes to provide a necessary justification for the maintenance of these collections.

Charles W. Moore and the Uses of History

Charles W. Moore (1925–93) was one of the most important architectural educators in the second half of the twentieth century in America, earning the Topaz Medallion in 1989 for excellence in teaching and scholarship during a career spanning four decades. The theme of “untimely teachers,” applied cautiously, can help clarify Moore’s achievements as a pedagogue. Like other postmodern architects, Moore saw no contradiction between practicing as a creative agent and learning from history. His career thus challenged the radical, iconoclastic rhetoric of modernism that sought rupture with historical precedent and that argued for a uniquely modern Zeitgeist as a determinant of architectural form. Despite this historical turn, Moore was neither a revivalist nor a historian. His enthusiasm for history was mediated by a sense of contemporaneity. Based on archival research and interviews with former students, this essay focuses on the years Moore taught at the Yale School of Architecture, where he decisively reworked the design curriculum to reflect his interests. What emerges is a time in architectural education when precedent could shape the future.

Stochastic terrorism: critical reflections on an emerging concept

ABSTRACT This paper critically discusses the recent concept, stochastic terrorism – broadly, the idea that influential individuals may demonise target groups or individuals, inspiring unknown actors to take up terroristic violence against them. I collect together different strains of thought on the emerging concept, reflecting critically on what a suitable definition of the phenomenon would look like (or whether it would be needed), what the social urge to coin the concept may reveal about authoritarian power and violence, and what makes this form of political violence possible. I argue that present commentary fails to emphasise sufficiently the role of mistruth and deceit in such rhetoric, as well as its historical and mainstream precedents. Moreover, I understand the phenomenon to be specifically authoritarian in nature, which not only demonises but dehumanises its targets. In light of this, I suggest that given both the mainstreaming of racist conspiracy theory and the historical and continuing presence of centrally constructed “folk devils”, the authoritarian problem which can manifest into stochastic violence is very much endemic to modern liberal democracies. With this framing of stochastic violence in mind, we ignore it simply as a buzzword at our peril: even if the theoretical issues I have highlighted continue to persist, even if we struggle to pin down the concept with desired clarity – it bears a phenomenological significance and reflects an ongoing political structure of violence.

Civilization Collapse: Analyzing Historical Civilizations to Inform Strategies for Sustainable Adaptation in Modern Societies

This study examines the complexities and interrelated factors contributing to the collapse of ancient civilizations, including the Roman Empire, the Maya civilization, the Akkadian Empire, and the Indus Valley Civilization, to draw lessons applicable to modern societies. Through an analysis of environmental stressors, socio-political dynamics, and the decline of marginal returns on increased complexity, the research highlights the vulnerabilities inherent in complex societies. It explores how climate change serves as a global catalyst for collapse, exacerbating systemic risks within a globalized context. The findings underscore the importance of societal resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of challenges, emphasizing that historical precedents can inform contemporary strategies for sustainability. This study ultimately provides actionable recommendations for modern societies to enhance resilience, emphasizing sustainable resource management, community engagement, and innovative governance to avert potential collapse while fostering a sustainable future

Discursos parlamentares, economia política e as Leis do Trigo (1839-1846)

ABSTRACT Debates in the British House of Commons between 1839 and 1946 revealed four distinct positions on the controversial Corn Laws. The Radicals, led by Richard Cobden, fought for overall free trade. The moderate Whigs, headed by Lord John Russell, leaned toward a fixed duty on imported corn. The Conservative Peelites, rallied behind Robert Peel, supported the prevailing sliding-scale system, while the landed Tories, who coalesced around Lord George Bentinck, wished protection all around. This article analyzes how the principles of political economy got entangled with political considerations in the speeches delivered by the leaders of each parliamentary faction. It concludes by highlighting the crucial role of political economy, especially the free trade doctrine, along with material evidence and historical precedent, as the key concurring factors in the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.

ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСКИЙ КАПИТАЛ КАК ОСНОВА ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ИННОВАЦИОННО-ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ РЕГИОНА: СИСТЕМНО-КРИТЕРИAЛЬНЫЙ ПОДХОД

Focusing on current dynamics, the article examines trends in regional development and innovation activity in Russia. In the context of the growing role of local communities in innovation processes, their influence on the overall economic situation in the country is emphasized. The variety of unique features of each region, which can become the basis for innovative development, is analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the negative impact of economic inequality between regions on the effective use of human capital and the formation of a national innovation system. It is noted that economic inequality can be a significant obstacle to economic growth, both at the regional and federal levels. In the context of global practice and historical precedents, the article discusses the impact of economic isolation on accelerating the development of innovative technologies. Data from a Bloomberg study on world leaders in innovation are presented, while Russia occupies a relatively modest place. The need for a systematic approach to regional development and innovation policy to effectively manage economic challenges and incentives is emphasized. The article emphasizes the importance of developing innovation systems, including supporting innovation infrastructure and stimulating innovation activities. Strategic issues such as international competition, the role of human capital in economic development, and resource management with a long-term perspective are also discussed. The complex nature of human capital and its impact on the economic and social dynamics of society are highlighted. The importance of investments in education, healthcare and innovation to stimulate economic growth is noted. The article also discusses the challenges and difficulties in managing human capital in a rapidly changing economic and technological environment. To develop models of human capital development, the authors recommend taking into account its unique characteristics, as well as the principles that ensure the effective functioning of human capital development models and allow the transformation of theoretical concepts into specific practical recommendations and actions based on available data.

Building Nusantara: a comparative study on capital city relocation and the path towards a smart, sustainable urban future

Nusantara, the planned new capital city of Indonesia, aspires to be a green, smart, and sustainable city. This paper explores the political, economic, and social dimensions of Nusantara's development, focusing on the strategic decision to relocate the capital from Jakarta. The research analyzes the challenges and trade-offs involved in balancing environmental conservation with the need for urban development. It evaluates the policies and initiatives implemented to achieve the vision of a smart and sustainable city, considering the integration of technology, digital infrastructure, and data management. Drawing on comparative analysis, the paper examines historical parallels and precedents in capital relocation projects worldwide to derive lessons for Nusantara's development. The findings highlight the importance of environmental governance, public participation, and stakeholder engagement in achieving a sustainable and inclusive urban environment. The paper concludes with recommendations for policymakers and identifies avenues for future research in the field of sustainable urban development and capital relocation.

THE IMPACT OF RUSSIA’S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE ON THE GLOBAL SPACE SECTOR

Russia’s war against Ukraine has had a significant impact on both global security in general and the space sector in particular. The article explores the specific uses of satellites, including civilian and dual-purpose, in relation to both combat and national security in broad terms. The purpose of the study is to analyze the impact of the Ukrainian-Russian war on the global space sector. The author argues that although the use of space technologies in military conflicts has historical precedents, the Russian-Ukrainian war has launched processes that have led to fundamental changes in the field of space security. The factors motivating these changes include, firstly, the growing independence of the EU space segment, which has long relied on Russia. Secondly, there is an increase in demand for satellite images, including radar images. Thirdly, the importance of low-orbit Internet for both military and civilian users in combat zones has been growing. The war has also changed the practices of space launches, which need to become even faster and cheaper to quickly replace satellites that have been attacked.
 This war revealed the weaknesses of space systems and a number of threats, including: the possibility of using satellite data for criminal purposes, the vulnerability of space infrastructure (for example, cyber attacks and signal jamming), as well as the limited range of suppliers of goods and services in the space sector, which makes supply chains unstable and vulnerable.
 Conflicts on Earth increase the risks of satellite collisions in space. Escalation can occur not only due to the deliberate action of one of the participants in space activities, but also accidentally due to the increase in the number of objects in near-Earth orbit. The author argues that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has more than clearly demonstrated the role that space plays in modern warfare. The United States, China and other major players are now carefully studying the experience of combat operations in Ukraine and in the near future we will see the launch of new satellites and the strengthening of existing groups of spacecraft.

THE EVOLUTION AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE NAVAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN INDONESIA AND ASEAN

This essay explores the evolution and institutionalization of the naval partnership between Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The background reveals the maritime challenges faced by these entities in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region, necessitating collaborative security efforts. The purpose of the study is to analyze how this naval relationship has developed over time and its impact on regional maritime stability. The design/methodology/approach encompasses historical analysis, policy examination, and case studies of joint naval exercises. The results demonstrate that Indonesia and ASEAN's naval partnership has evolved from historical precedents to structured cooperation, incorporating joint exercises, information sharing, and capacity building. This collaboration contributes to regional maritime security and exemplifies the collective approach to addressing common challenges. In conclusion, this essay underscores the significance of such partnerships in shaping maritime security dynamics and promoting stability in an increasingly interconnected world.

Windfall Profit Taxation in Europe (and Beyond)

In 2022, the European Commission introduced, for the first time in its history, a windfall profit tax to be applied on “excessive” profits realized by qualified businesses operating in the “Oil and Gas” sector. Immediately after its implementation, questions arose as to its sustainability and its consistency with constitutional principles of the different member states regulating the domestic power to tax. To assess the consistency with the aforesaid rules, the article samples two countries, inside and outside the EU (Italy and Australia, respectively), and the historical precedents of the matter. Italy has been chosen due to the particularly stringent set of principles regulating the power of the legislature to tax, and Australia has been chosen because of the long-standing experience with superprofit taxes. In most of the scenarios analyzed, one common feature emerged: the complexity in defining the “Extra” nature of the profits and, consequently, the uncertainties in the calculation of the taxable base. In the case of Italy, for instance, the legislator had to intervene in several different moments to fine-tune the taxable base and restore certainty to the tax system. As a conclusion, while the taxation of extra profits should not per se be disregarded, its implementation demands a more robust and precise legal framework together with the understanding that the introduction of such a levy would be a one-way journey for the tax systems: windfall profits taxes would be here to stay.

Effects of Nitrogen Application Rate on Dry Matter Weight and Yield of Direct-Seeded Rice under Straw Return

Straw is an agricultural byproduct that results from the production of many crops, such as cereals, yet it is often considered a waste product. However, straw has both historical precedent and future potential as an agricultural resource. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of returning straw to the soil on rice cultivation. To this end, we used the hybrid rice variety Luliangyou Jingling as the test material to study the effect of straw return under four different nitrogen application levels (0 kg N (N1), 120 kg N/hm2 (N2), 150 kg N/hm2 (N3), and 180 kg N/hm2 (N4)) on rice tillering dynamics, leaf area index (LAI), dry matter accumulation, and yield. We found that rice under straw return had a higher number of effective panicles, along with a higher number of grains per panicle, compared to those without straw return. Additionally, the tiller number, LAI, total dry matter, and yield of rice in each main growth period under straw return were higher than those without straw return, and these values increased with an increase in nitrogen application rate. The yield was the highest at 9520.63 kg/hm2 without straw return, while the highest yield with straw return was achieved at 10,738.26 kg/hm2. Our results revealed the optimal nitrogen application level for high yield of two-line direct-seeded rice under straw return, which provides a theoretical reference for the precise reduction of fertilizer application in rice cultivation.